What CAUSES stuttering? (according to a master student in Neuropsychology)

What CAUSES stuttering? (according to a master student in Neuropsychology) This is my attempt to summarize [this ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/comments/pfzm0h/stuttering_is_not_a_problem_of_speech_because_it/)stutter theory. The author is someone who did his master’s degree in Neuropsychology (which was already 4 years ago lol) **Stutter theory**: *(personal view on what CAUSES stuttering)* Nobody really knows what causes developmental stuttering, it's still early to conclude anything.. there are plenty of theories though. yet the root cause remains a mystery. But when we live with stuttering every day, patterns start to show themselves. Over time, I’ve pieced together a few ideas that, at least for me, make a kind of sense about my own stuttering. This is my own way of trying to put the puzzle together. I have had many instances where I said something to someone fluently. Not a second later, they ask me to repeat what I said because they did not hear. 3 seconds later, I **can't** fluently say what I just said fluently. We might resort to avoidant behavior but it isn't a solution as much as it is a symptom of the problem. **Stuttering is not a problem of speech because it is not speaking that makes us stutter.** **Stutter mechanism**: Physiologically speaking, stuttering is a fear response - i.e., an autonomic function - that encompasses the entire organism, not just the mouth. I know when I'm going to stutter. We are not stuttering *because* we start talking. We're already caught in the stutter loop **before** the words even come out—during the *mental and emotional preparation phase*. Additionally, sensory feedback plays an important role in shaping rhythmic motor output. **Prior to a speech block**: Our thoughts become a hell loop. Our eyes escape with no apparent destination. Our stomach and rib cage contract, limiting or blocking the airway. **Stuttering** ('the manifestation'): Finally, the mouth follows the forceful shutdown and stutters because it is running on fumes. This stuttering is only the visible manifestation. **Subconscious message that judge us**: I think it's not the blocks or repetitions that make us judge ourselves, rather it's our **loss of control** to an unknown element external of our conscious understanding. It's like our **subconscious** tells us: "*You're weak. Watch as I make you completely submit to me. Everything you do is futile.*" This **subconscious** message makes us unable to view ourselves as a central actor in our own activity. **Catastrophization**: We overgeneralize and fall into despair. We feel weak compared to others and spiral into nihilistic rabbit holes. A good example is the self-fulfilling prophecy effect: we think about stuttering, and when we stutter right after, we assume the thought caused it. It seems obvious then that the solution is to just not think about stuttering—but that can’t be right I think. The real question is: *why does the thought arise at all?* We don’t get to choose which thought shows up when. As Sam Harris put it: “*Thoughts only appear in consciousness, but they do not originate from it*." **What is involuntary about stuttering**: The **subconscious** fear. The primal response my body derives in response to perceived threat. Here I've learned to make the **subconscious** more conscious. **Can I calm myself through certain thoughts to reduce this threat**: Sometimes, but not in high pressure situations. I let the fear be. Let my body do what it thinks is best for me. The amygdala, responsible for our fight-or-flight response and a range of our emotions, is the part of the limbic system that innervates our neural autonomic networks and functions. It'd be delusional of me to try and claim control over an autonomic bodily function. So: **What is voluntary about stuttering**: Movement of my eyes and breathing. **What overcomplicates it for us stutterers**: It's our fear response and its trigger - the person in front of us. **Should I lock eye contact with someone while stuttering**: If I'm about to block, I stop while maintaining eye contact (at all costs) and take a breath. When you look away as you struggle speaking, you lose sight of the reality of the person in front of you. Because you don't get to SEE their entire reaction to you and what you're saying, your brain imagines their reaction out to be the worst it has been in your traumatic past. This further fuels your fear and makes you stutter more. When you avert your gaze, you're no longer speaking to the other person. You're speaking to your shame. Thru my voluntary gaze and breathing, I am UPDATING the information I receive from the environment, which then signals to my emotional response that the threat may not be as dire as initially perceived. **So:** **You don't learn to speak in your path towards fluency. You already know how to speak. You decondition from fear that's an obstacle to speaking.** **I think a fantastic goal is to rewire (or recondition) how we respond to our autonomic nervous system. (i.e., rewire our interaction).** \_\_\_\_\_\_\~\~\~\~\`\`\`\`\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **Conclusion:** *Anyway*: I am going to keep experimenting and researching. If there's anything substantial to it that I can prove or disprove, I'll make it my masters thesis in my Neuropsychology degree, and perhaps further beyond.