Hypnosis against stuttering + tips

Stuttering is very annoying, especially if you are super aware of it. In very innocent moments, stuttering can suddenly totally destroy your self-confidence. For example, when you talk to children who are not yet in control of their emotions and may laugh at you ad nauseam. Or even worse when adults add to your words, especially if they use the wrong word. Understandable if you want to get rid of it. Therefore in this article I discuss stuttering and give tips.

When you think of stuttering, your first thought may be the endless repetition of the letter t or s before the word comes out. But stuttering also includes accidentally skipping words and repeating words completely. In stuttering, something goes wrong in the transmission of signals in the brain. Doctors have not yet figured out what causes this miscommunication in the brain.

Stuttering can occur in anyone; probably 1 percent of all people suffer from stuttering. Worldwide, 55 million people suffer from stuttering. One famous stutterer was Winston Churchill. He practiced all his speeches as well as all possible questions and criticisms before he spoke in public in order to minimize his stuttering.

Bruce Willis, that Die Hard actor, started stuttering at age eight and then went to drama school to get rid of it.

Stuttering hereditary

Stuttering isn’t necessarily hereditary, but it’s more common in families where someone already stutters. It can develop as a reaction to stress or a developmental delay.

In rare cases, stuttering is caused by physical trauma, such as a hard blow to the head or a stroke.

People who stutter also often have issues with dopamine neurotransmitters in the brain. This is consistent with the observation that stuttering can worsen when you are, for example, excited or stressed.

Stuttering congenital or learned

Stuttering often runs in the same family which can make you think it is congenital. However, the parents' reaction to a stuttering child can be very decisive in whether the stutter stays or goes away. So on the one hand, stuttering has genetic factors that can cause your child to stutter, but triggers from the environment are also important.

Research on twins shows that stuttering in the 2nd year of life cannot be linked to future stuttering, but it can in children aged 3 and 4. In life years 3, 4 and 7, there was also a strong link to inheriting stuttering. The researchers concluded that stuttering is hereditary and environmental factors are less influential in the 7th year of life than in younger years of life for developing stuttering.

This information shows that there is some sort of mix between inheriting and learning stuttering, but that there are indeed genetic factors that make it common in the same families, so it does not have to be because people from those families react differently to the stuttering child because they themselves suffer from stuttering.

Stuttering in children

Stuttering can develop in children between the ages of two and seven, but can then automatically disappear again during adolescence. This is a normal development for fluency in children. Children are not affected by it themselves and sometimes do not realize they are stuttering at all.

It may also go away for a while and then your child will stutter again, but if it persists beyond adolescence you really should start to worry.

It’s also upsetting when stuttering only gets worse over time and when you see that your child is ashamed of it. That’s when stuttering can become a real problem. So if you notice that your child is struggling with it and that it isn’t getting any better, it’s wise to seek help.

You may notice that your child stutters more often when feeling a certain emotion, such as enthusiasm, anxiety, stress, or fatigue. It can get worse when answering questions or while explaining something difficult.

In order to receive a diagnosis for stuttering in children, your child often has to read aloud to an orthopedist. Your child will also receive another physical examination to see if other problems, such as deafness or hearing impairment, interfere with speech development.

Always see a pediatrician if you are concerned about your child's speech development. Do so even if the stuttering has been going on for more than six months and if stuttering runs in the family.

Stuttering in adults

In adults, it is often stressful moments that make stuttering worse, but during whispers, talking while alone, talking to pets and reading a book aloud, there may be nothing wrong.

If you’ve only started stuttering as an adult, it’s also important to see a doctor. Stuttering in adulthood is often caused by an accident, a health issue, or psychological trauma. To receive a diagnosis, you’ll therefore undergo a physical examination and be asked additional questions.

Sing Stuttering

It is often thought that someone who stutters will stop doing so if they start singing. This is true in most cases, but in some cases you can still stutter while singing.

In your subconscious, when you sing, you’re processing more than just the meaning of the words—you’re also processing the melody and rhythm. The brain responds to these differently than it does to speech. This is one of the reasons why you stutter significantly less—or not at all—when you sing.

Unlearning Stuttering

Stuttering is usually treated by an orthopedist who does speech exercises.

When stuttering in adults is caused by damage to the brain after an accident or stroke, stuttering is often unlearned through speech exercises.

In adolescents and adults, therapy is often the treatment to unlearn stuttering, as stuttering may be a result of a psychological problem. Stress and low self-esteem can make the problem worse, and therapy can help give people who stutter tools to better cope with stress and gain self-confidence.

To identify the trauma, hypnotherapy uses a technique called regression. This allows you to easily identify the issue that may have caused the stuttering. By examining the problem together with the hypnotherapist, it’s possible for someone who stutters to gain new insights into the problem and learn how to deal with it in ways other than stuttering.

During my career as a hypnotherapist, I’ve noticed that the trigger for stuttering is often the moment when the person suddenly became aware of their stuttering and began to find it truly problematic. Subsequently, a person who stutters develops all sorts of beliefs about what is going on that make it difficult to stop stuttering.

After mapping this moment and identifying the beliefs, it is possible to help a stutterer with the kind of installation of new beliefs that will make the stuttering decrease or even go away altogether.

Stuttering due to tension

If stuttering is caused by tension, it is important to remove the tension. Hypnosis is a state of relaxation that allows you to better focus on goals. During hypnotherapy, you as a stutterer can be given techniques that help you relax for a time when tension and stuttering strikes, such as before giving a presentation.

Also listen to this podcast:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/1888330-hoe-stop-je-met-stotteren-en-meer?play=true

Stuttering tips

Relax

Stuttering often gets worse during stressful moments. Therefore, try to relax using your breathing before such a moment. For example, breathe in for three seconds, hold your breath for one second, and then breathe out for three seconds.

Meditate

Meditating for 10 minutes a day can work wonders for your overall stress level. This can help you stutter less during everyday conversations. Plus, you’ll be better able to handle other tasks when you’re less stressed.

Relax your shoulders and neck

Your windpipe and vocal cords are important for your speech. If these are in a tense position due to tension in your shoulders and neck, this can worsen your stutter. Occasionally rotate your shoulders forward and back. Slowly circle your head to relax your neck.

I also got the tip from a physical therapist to sit up straight and look at your left hip with your left eye and then press your head down in that motion. Then you stretch a muscle that is, say, between your trapezius muscle and the back of your neck. Then you can also do the same thing with the other side.

Practice talking in front of a mirror

Did you ever hear Winston Churchill stutter when the old recordings came by? That was because he practiced his speeches before giving them.

You can also just talk to yourself about the weather, your plans or anything else to make your lips move. This helps in normal conversations. In the process, it also gives you the confidence to follow normal conversations.

Repeat vocal exercises

Singers use many vocal exercises to improve their articulation and timing. This can also be super helpful against stuttering. For example, you can repeat the following set of words.

Cucumber Pepper Tomatoes

The classic tongue twisters always do very well, too.

Sing

Of course you can't engage in a conversation while singing, although with friends who then sing back it might be something different and might be fun on a night out :).

But when you sing you are also working on breathing and timing, which in turn can help during a normal conversation.

Use self-hypnosis for your ego

Stuttering can severely undermine your self-confidence. If you’ve undergone hypnotherapy to determine why you stutter and it hasn’t fully resolved the problem, you can also try self-hypnosis. Just like with meditation, you start by relaxing.

If you are properly relaxed, you can repeat suggestions given to you by your hypnotherapist to strengthen your ego.

Use self-hypnosis to achieve your goals

In addition, you can visualize your goal. Like a conversation that goes well without stuttering and a perfectly given presentation. Besides visualizing what that looks like, you can also visualize how you feel during such a well-paced conversation.

Use self-hypnosis for your safe zone

Sometimes you can also apply self-hypnosis to shut out environmental stress. You then take a few deep breaths and can visualize a kind of safe bubble around you. That bubble keeps the negative energy from hitting you, which can help keep the stress out of your system during a presentation.

Stuttering due to XTC

This may seem off-topic, but as mentioned earlier, there appears to be a link between a disrupted dopamine neurotransmitter and stuttering. Ecstasy affects your dopamine neurotransmitters, which can cause them to become disrupted. As a result, using ecstasy can cause you to stutter, even after the effects of the drug have worn off. Therefore, simply avoid using these drugs, as stuttering can have major consequences for your professional and personal life.

If you’d like to learn more about hypnosis and self-hypnosis , check out the courses and events offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

Sources:

http://www.webmd.com/children/tc/stuttering-topic-overview

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC340949/

http://stutteringonlinetherapy.com/2012/01/why-don%E2%80%99t-people-stutter-when-they-sing/