Fluency Disorder-Mental Health
Hello,
My name is Melanie and I am a student at the University of Akron in Ohio. My question is how has living with a fluency disorder such as stuttering effected your mental health if it has effected your mental health?
Thank you for your time and I look forward to seeing your answers,
Melanie
It is an old metaphore, but there is the iceberg of stuttering
https://ninagcomedian.wordpress.com/2014/07/06/the-stuttering-iceberg-gets-a-makeover/
There are a lot of strong emotions and protective behaviours that can eb created by stuttering and affect mental health. It is true for stuttering, but it is also true for everything in life (work, any other difference, love etc)
Best,
Its main effect on my mental health has come in the form of “avoidance”. Believing that stuttering is not acceptable to me or anyone else and choosing to avoid situations where I believe I will lose control over my speech. When that happens it is like driving a knife into my self esteem. In some situations that need to avoid the situation has invoked feelings of panic if speaking in that situation cannot be avoided or escaped. Stuttering is in the main a mental health issue but is seen as a speech issue and in that regard it is not always best treated by and SLP.
Hi Melanie.
My stutter didn’t effect my mental health. The reactions of others did. My paper for this year’s (and previous years’) ISAD conferences might answer your question.
https://isad.live/isad-2020/papers-presented-by/stories-and-experiences-with-stuttering-by-pws/there-are-no-failures-just-life-lessons-anita-blom/
Stay safe and keep them talking.
Anita Blom