Clinical Hypnotherapy and Psychology to overcome Stuttering

For many people stutter creates fear of public speaking and is often the main cause of psychological discomfort.


How it works

Stuttering also known as Stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the person who stutters is unable to produce sounds

two hands exchanging sand

Traumas can develop with a single event or a repeated event or number of events. Emotions, images and thoughts about the event can overwhelm the individual unable to deal with the experience. The influence of the event can be so severe that the individual struggles to have a normal life.

The impact of stuttering on a person's functional and emotional state can be severe. This may include fears of having to enunciate specific vowels or consonants, fears of being caught stuttering in social situations, anxiety, stress, shame, or a feeling of "loss of control" during speech.

The impact of stuttering on a person's functional and emotional state can be severe. This may include:

  • Fear of having to enunciate specific words
  • Fear of being caught stuttering in social situations
  • Feeling of "loss of control" during speech
  • Anxiety
  • Stress
  • Shame

Types of stammering

There are two main types of stammer:

  • Developmental stammering is the most common type of stammering that many people are familiar with. It develops during childhood as a child is first learning how to speak.
  • Acquired or late-onset stammering can occur in older children and adults as the result of a severe head injury, stroke or a progressive neurological disease (disease affecting the nervous system). It can also be caused by certain drugs or medication, or psychological or emotional trauma.

The exact cause of developmental stuttering is still unclear, although it is largely thought to be the result of the parts of the brain involved in speech being 'wired' differently. Treating any physical cause of a stammer is advised and you should contact your GP if you haven’t done it yet, but when looking at treating psychological causes, hypnotherapy can be incredibly helpful. There are many areas related to stuttering which can be addressed, such as stress, anxiety and low self-esteem.

Past events – Often the stammer can be traced back to a stressful event in childhood. That event or events play an important psychological issue on your confidence as your memories of those events can make your stammer worse that in reality is, that is why it is important to remove any past traumas.

Triggers - For some people, the stammer is triggered by something. It may be a situation, an environment or even a person. If this is the case for you, hypnotherapy may be able to help you deal more effectively with your triggers. For instance, instead of feeling anxious about a situation, you can educate your brain to react to situations when you used to stumer or to new reactions with confidence and relaxed. This will ease your speech.