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I had therapy for years as well, didn't help. Until one day. They had taught us a very artificial way to speak, a sort of very slow, very loose su-su-stutterin

I had therapy for years as well, didn't help. Until one day. They had taught us a very artificial way to speak, a sort of very slow, very loose su-su-stuttering on purpose. 15-year old me hated it. Then they made us go into stores, and ask for things using this technique. A couple of AA batteries, in my case, using that technique. I dreaded this, thought it was completely ridiculous. But the guy behind the counter didn't care one bit, bless him. He didn't appear to notice anything and just helped me with my batteries. That single exercise hammered home that it was ok for me to stutter. Completely unthinkable idea, before then. That realization reduced the problem by half in one day, and I never really cared about it anymore. It gradually disappeared in twenty five years or so after that without therapy or whatever. It ceased to be a problem for me on that day.

castlecrasher2 6y ago
I love this story, thanks for sharing it. It's interesting how frequent behaviors can be changed by seemingly unrelated things, like this tactic.
refurb 6y ago
Interesting. This is basically exposure therapy which is used to treat a number of anxiety related conditions. For example, for men who have shy bladders (and it can get so bad they can’t pee outside their own homes), the therapy is to go to a public washroom and stand at a urinal for 5 min. Yeah, 5 min. Don’t even try and pee. Similar to you, they realize that their anxiety around people caring or even noticing isn’t based on how people would actually react. The anxiety subsides and typically the physical manifestation of that anxiety also goes away. Apparently works for fear of heights, fear of flying, etc. in those cases the anxiety is less around other people’s reactions (though it can be - people are fearful they will freak out and embarrass themselves) but just the idea that exposing yourself to anxiety provoking situations for long enough (and in a controlled manner) will cause your brain to react less and less to it in the future.
- viraptor 6y ago
  > exposing yourself to anxiety provoking situations for long enough (and in a controlled manner) will cause your brain to react less and less to it in the future. Works for me with heights to some extent. When I go skiing, the first day of the season is terrible on the chair lifts. Then it gets better. There's still some height threshold I can't deal with very well, so it's not a perfect solution. But there is an improvement.

castlecrasher2 6y ago

I love this story, thanks for sharing it. It's interesting how frequent behaviors can be changed by seemingly unrelated things, like this tactic.

refurb 6y ago

Interesting. This is basically exposure therapy which is used to treat a number of anxiety related conditions. For example, for men who have shy bladders (and it can get so bad they can’t pee outside their own homes), the therapy is to go to a public washroom and stand at a urinal for 5 min. Yeah, 5 min. Don’t even try and pee. Similar to you, they realize that their anxiety around people caring or even noticing isn’t based on how people would actually react. The anxiety subsides and typically the physical manifestation of that anxiety also goes away. Apparently works for fear of heights, fear of flying, etc. in those cases the anxiety is less around other people’s reactions (though it can be - people are fearful they will freak out and embarrass themselves) but just the idea that exposing yourself to anxiety provoking situations for long enough (and in a controlled manner) will cause your brain to react less and less to it in the future.

viraptor 6y ago
> exposing yourself to anxiety provoking situations for long enough (and in a controlled manner) will cause your brain to react less and less to it in the future. Works for me with heights to some extent. When I go skiing, the first day of the season is terrible on the chair lifts. Then it gets better. There's still some height threshold I can't deal with very well, so it's not a perfect solution. But there is an improvement.