I hope this will help at least one person. I started paying attention to what triggered my stuttering: What is the common denominator in stutter triggers? For example, we might speak fluently when we’re alone, but the moment we add just one other person.. we can stutter dramatically. What changed? I mean, maybe it’s the awareness that someone is listening to my speech.. or maybe it’s the fear of being judged. Or something else entirely? Then there are feared words—like saying our own name.. and feared situations where the pressure feels higher. But what do those actually change? I mean, maybe they increase our fear of stuttering itself or whatever? There are perhaps hundreds of triggers we are simply unaware of. but one big one is **fluency pressure**—for example, we feel the need to speak more fluently or normal or less inspicuous.. and what does that change? I mean, maybe it makes us worry that people will judge us negatively if we don’t speak fluently enough? So a quick summary of these triggers I just mentioned. **Triggers:** * Adding just one other person * Feared words * Feared situations * Fluency pressure (wanting to sound more fluent and more error-free) And what do those triggers lead to? **Consequences:** * The awareness that others are listening * Fear of external judgment. (or validation?) * Fear of stuttering * Fear that people might see our speech negatively But the fundamental question we should then ask ourselves is: What is the common denominator of these consequences? For example, why do we care so much about other people listening to us? Perhaps it's because we fear stuttering? Why do we fear stuttering? Perhaps because people may look negatively toward our speech? Why do we fear a negative reaction about our speech (performance)? Why do we fear external validation/judgements (or at the very least perceive it as an obstacle)? What is that final, fundamental consequence? At the end of the day, is it possible that external validation and negative judgements may lead to social rejection? Maybe the root consequence is this fear of social rejection (as the final link in the loop). So. Are all the triggers ultimately linked to the fear of social rejection? (not general anxiety, not stress, not doubt... but **fear of social rejection**) If we use word-substitution, or if we reduce general anxiety, or if we try to get past a block by reducing the fear of anticipating saying our name (etc etc and other tricks we use in general). **Won't these tricks distract us from the fundament fear of social rejection?** Food for thought Edit: If our fear of social rejection is often holding us back. Why is our first thought to desensitize to social anxiety or stress or stutter pressure, rather than its underlying fear of social rejection?