Kill Your Stuttering Demons

Apparently one percent of British people suffer from the speech impediment called stuttering. Only people who stutter can ever really know how difficult life can become when you are unable to speak fluently in all situations.

This article looks into examples of what I call, the stuttering demons and options of how to eradicate them once and for all.

When I had a stutter, I used to be afraid of certain words beginning with certain letters. Words which began with "b" were especially hard to say. If somebody asked me where I lived, I would have a voice in my head, which is what I call my demons, which would tell me that I could not say the word "Birmingham". It would also advise to say "West Midlands" instead. This word substitution is something that I regularly did. I was not happy though and was desperate to stop this voice and believed if I could stop it, then I would be able to overcome this stuttering disablity once and for all.

I would see a potential job in the newspaper, the demons would tell me not to apply for it as the interview would be too difficult for me with the pressure of having to answer all of the questions which would be asked. I used to listen to these demons and therefore would not apply for these positions, I stayed in the same dead end job for six years.

When I was about sixteen I became drunk for the first time and the alcohol gave me a huge but somewhat false confidence boost. I now had no fear and the demons did not appear, I was also able to talk superbly. Now I am not saying that you should all be in a permanent drunken state, however this showed me not only was I able to talk well but that the stammer must not only be a physical impediment but also physcological.

There are many forms of stuttering help out there including tradional speech therapy, group speech courses, one to one speech courses and even hypnotherapy. I personally believe that the way to go is one to one speech courses as every person who has a stutter is an individual and has an individual stutter.