If You Live with Stuttering, There is True Hope, and Real Recovery

There is a way out. There is a way out of the state of mind that imprisons your thinking,
generates perpetually negative feeling states, distorts your thoughts, and limits your perceptions
about your own experiences. For a person living with chronic stuttering, there is a way out of the
conditions that generate this false reality.
This false reality is cunning, is born of fear, and can appear to be an omnipresent
naysayer, deep within the psyche of the stutterer, proselytizing erroneous information. This
misinformation is so baffling that it readily deludes one into believing its dark dictates; including
foremost that what the World appears to mirror back, how it responds to stuttering, is also
reality.
Therefore, it can be easy to believe in a perception of victimizationa belief that it's the
World that limits and judges the stutterer. This false perception is analogous to dressing oneself
in Victorian Era clothing in 2016, then resenting the World for not mirroring back expectations
according to the life and times of 1890. There's no victimization. It is only my inner reality
created, and what I bring to the conversation; not just the words...it is who I am Being.
Hard, handicapping, chronic stuttering is fiercely perpetuated by alienation. Some call it a
trap. It may seem to be a falling-under an illusionary spell. Its a belief in the netherworld of
knivesthat the outer World will simply highlight an already beat-up interior, seething from a
long history of communicative failure. It can be an unbridled journey into the dark side, so
palpable, so piercing and interpenetrating, that for sure the non- stuttering person cannot fully
understand it. And for the person living with stuttering whos fallen into this trap, it seems to be
their only reality.
There is a way out. The way out is by joining the Human Race. Drop out of isolation.
Decide to quit alienation. I do believe that, to the degree I isolate and avoid the verbal
communication I desire, to that degree I will proportionally struggle with stuttering. The further
into the rabbit hole I go (i.e., the detour into fear and isolation), the darker and harder the
journey. This fact is a fundamental principle I can count on reliably when I am on a conscious,
aware, and purposeful recovery track. Even if this simply means I want do the right thing for
myself by not continuing to live in fear and perpetual anxiety.
If nothing else, if only to gain more freedom from fear, isolation, self judgement, anxiety,
and struggle, is to gain a palpable and more genuinely comfortable self-acceptance. This is
experienced as a fully sensate lessening of tension, and a softening of the effort to speak. I have
learned that what is generally missing is my input, my contribution, my Love, my involvement in
the arena of my life...my voice.
1
James Hanny MA, MSc. CCC/SLP
There is True Hope

That too is what is missing...more of me, as I am the missing piece. I am the missing
Peace I seek. These are the essentials of recovery from stuttering, especially more severe and
handicapping stuttering. Is the primary need, to overcome perceived judgements from others, or
from the World? Or is it primarily a need to overcome self judgement? In my experience, I
know that the handicapping angst of stuttering can be reduced to the size and significance of a
pea. There is much hope.
I can have an experience of inner strength, security, and peace. I also know that there is a
need to go to battle, looking one's demons in the eye, and to slay one's dragons...one day at a
time. Stuttering is a tough adversary. I must be an active self-advocate for my own recovery.
This is a must. The World will never give this to me. I must be brave, be bold, and create this for
myself. One must adopt the warrior archetype. I know of no other way.
There is much Hope. Believe that, and you will already have the mindset that is forward
movingmoving you out of despair. You will be climbing over the mountain; not
insurmountable walls, unlike living the life of Sisyphus.
In 23 years as a Speech Pathologist and 50 years as a person living with the condition we
call stuttering, or dysfluency, I know that another essential ingredient in recovery is talking about
the experience with others who are receptive, who understand, or who want to understand. A
group therapy and/or support group is powerful and helps one feel they are not alone, and that
the condition is a human experience that can be overcome and managed.
There is hope, and real recovery. However, one must step out of isolation. You will learn
that the World wants to embrace you.

James Hanny MA, MSc. CCC/SLP

jhanny2571@aol.com
Beginning of Spring, 2016

2
James Hanny MA, MSc. CCC/SLP
There is True Hope