Stuttering: recovery generates conflicts

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What happens to the child, the schoolboy, the student after he gets rid of  stammering? How does he feel in a new fashion? What do his old friends think of it? Are all his folks   glad for him or  is it not so  simple? The director of RC for biocybernetics Andrey Bludov tells us about "reefs" of stuttering treatment.  
 

The friends in a new fashion

 Each person has his own  environment - psychologists call it the informal microsocial groups or in private  life - a friendly environment, which arises at the place of study or  residence. Such groups usually consist of three-five people,  maximum seven. Recall the known TV show "Friends" – there are six basic characters in it. 

 The structure of friendly groups is very remarkable.  There  is always a leader - the informal leader of  the group, the driven people, who hold  the subordinated position and the "opportunist", who competes with  the leader. As a rule, children with stuttering are almost never leaders. Mostly they conducted with sympathy for the "opportunist". When  the child’s stuttering  decreases or disappears, he starts to feel more confidently. His status increases. He does not wish to put up  with a role of "beaten up" and "oppressed" person. He is united with the "opportunist". The part of group supports the revolt, the other part adjoins the leader. The friendly group is under the threat. 

 There are two variants of the resolution of conflict. The first one – the revolt is suppressed. Everything  remained unchanged. The second variant – the roles have changed, the group has ceased to exist and has broken up on two parts. There is an old leader with a part of his driven guys.  But the most important thing  is that  the new leader with his own team was detached, to which the former stuttering adjoined,  already in higher rank. 

 I would like to emphasize – the process  of roles change inside of any microsocial group is always very painful. Anyway, the group as a small state had its history,  laws, taboo, the system of punishments and encouragements. The revolt will be suppressed and, it cannot be even doubted, that our hero will feel pressure from the old leader. It is very important to bypass this reef carefully, without insults and with understanding of the situation . However, there is one more way – voluntary, if it is possible, to leave the old group, to find new friends and, if some old friends are very dear, after a while to renew friendship with them, but already in a new fashion – as a not stammering, confident person.  

What is going on inside

 Except for external changes, the internal changes should take place during treatment of stuttering.   They are connected with the perception of oneself  in a role of the more or less  confident person with the new style of speech and a timbre of a voice. 

 Our method of treatment of stuttering  and logoneurosis demands of elimination of the overtones, responsible for stuttering, and addition of missing overtones from the patient. They, depending on quantity, present at speech, can do a voice either  confident and convincing, or soft and friendly 

 At the first stages of treatment within first two weeks, when stuttering already starts to leave, but the voice is not ground yet, some patients, as they tell me, hesitate to speak in a new fashion. However we have noticed, that they hesitate solely owing to the unfriendly pressure from the old microsocial "team". Really even not  ground voice "looked" very decently.  Better, than speech spasms and stupors. As we discussed in the previous publications, the trained voice influences the style of thinking. It becomes positive and constructive. The number of useful  effects in a unit of time increases. The inner confidence increases. One’s own voice starts to please oneself.  

Is there any way back?

 We can guarantee, that process of recovery from stuttering or logoneurosis becomes irreversible, only at presence of two compulsory symptoms. 

 The first one - you own voice began to please you: its timbre and sounding. You have ceased to be ashamed of it. The second one – You have a new team of friends in which your status has certainly raised. The friendship with some old friends can  remain, only if they support you in a new role. However the break with the leader of the old team, into which you had entered before You stopped stammering, is inevitable.  You should be ready for it.