Hypnotherapy for stuttering or stammering

stuttering help warrington

Hypnotherapy for stuttering or stammering

Stuttering and stammering mean the same thing, its just that some people call it stuttering and some prefer to use the term stammering. But they are one and the same.

It is a speech difficulty where the stutterer will trip over certain words or syllables. They may also prolong the word or phrase or use a noise before they say the word they are trying to communicate.

Even if a person has been stuttering for some time, it can still cause stress and anxiety. And these are the very things that can worsen the stuttering. It affects boys three times more than girls and is developed in childhood. Most kids will grow out of the stuttering but for others it persists and becomes a long term problem.

Symptoms associated with stuttering.

  • Difficulties in starting a sentence or certain words
  • Prolonged hesitation before a word is spoken
  • Repetition of words, often the first syllable
  • Using a prolonged word such as “err” or “Uhm” before the word or sentence
  • Drawn out speech sounds
  • Pausing between words
  • Physical responses to stuttering such as tics, head movements, blinking eyes and tension.

 

What are the causes of stuttering?

Speech development.

In early childhood, when a child learns how to communicate they will often repeat or trip over words as they try to find the right way and speed to say the word. In a way, the speech cannot keep up with the thoughts. This tends to rectify itself as the child develops further, but for others, the stress of trying to speak may actually draw out the problem. Some stutterers remember trying to read or speak in front of their class at primary school and finding it embarrassing to do do so, trying hard to communicate, and faced taunts from other children or stress from the teacher trying to help them or even hinder them.

 

Neurogenic stuttering.

This is were the individual has had some sort of damage to the brain, such as a stroke or head injury. With the brain damaged, there are signalling and coordination problems between brain function and speech. The wires get crossed and the impulses get delayed or muddled up completely. The individual knows what they want to say but the mouth and tongue simply don’t respond to the mixed up signals.

 

Psychological Indications.

This is really a by-product of stuttering and probably not the cause of the problem. we know that having a stammer can cause the sufferer a great deal of stress and anxiety, normally driven by their own demands to speak fluently. And this can cause embarrassment to the person. This can make things far worse for the sufferer and will prolong or make the stutter seem more pronounced.

This will often cause the individual to have low self esteem and could display signs of social anxiety. Which is anxiety about social interaction.

 

There is a study which indicates that people who develop stuttering before the age of 4 are most likely to correct the problem later.

The later the stuttering starts, the more problematic it can become.

There is more in depth information on stuttering here.

Treatment for stuttering

There are treatments out there for stuttering. Here at my office in Warrington, Cheshire, is use Hypnosis and psychotherapy techniques, which could help the stutterer learn to be more relaxed and less stressed around their speech patterns. In some cases it can be completely eliminated and in other cases greatly reduced.

Hypnosis is great for reprogramming the brain and finding news ways to think and behave. I have used hypnotherapy many times to help stutterers as well as incorporating other techniques to reduce the stress and anxiety around speech. It is interesting to know that many people will lose their stutter in hypnosis. This indicates that when the mind and body are relaxed, the stutter is not there. It will normally return once the client is out of hypnosis, and this may continue until the unconscious mind learns a new pattern of speech.

 

 

Image courtesy of Stuart Miles/freedigitalphotos.net

 

 


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