Psychosocial Impact of Living with a Stuttering Disorder: Knowing Is Not Enough

Abstract

Stuttering requires a multidimensional perspective given that, in recent years, researchers have shown the impact of the disorder to reach far beyond the surface components with demonstrated psychosocial and anxiety effects for the individual living with a stutter. This article explores the impact a stuttering disorder has on the individual (child, adolescent, and adult) and on their family members (siblings, parents, and partners). These experiences include behavioral and social difficulties, self-awareness, reactions to stuttering, communication difficulties in daily situations, and overall quality of life. The influence of stuttering on the most intimate relationships of the person who stutters is presented. An overview of stuttering across the life span is discussed in terms of stuttering in children and adolescents, and the significant levels of adverse impact as a result of living with a stutter are described. In addition, the impact that the stuttering disorder has on the parents and siblings of children who stutter is also detailed through significant findings pertaining to lack of attachment and trust between the young people and their parents. The responsibilities and demands on parents and siblings in the family context are highlighted. Focus is also placed on the experience of living with a person who stutters from the perspective of their life partner. Perceived quality of life is explored with unexpected differences recounted between the quality of life experienced by the adult who stutters and their partner's perceptions of this disorder. Finally, the potential for a novel Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for individuals who stutter is presented.

Basic Psychological Needs in Stuttering and Non-stuttering Iranian Students Aged 13 to 17 Years

“…This result is supported by some studies [19][20][21]. It is often necessary to pay considerable attention to advanced stutterers' negative feeling and attitudes in therapy [22,23]. So, besides the classic speech therapy procedures, additional psychological-based treatment and counseling should address problems possibly linked to the stuttering (e.g.…”

Impactos da gagueira nas atividades e participação de adolescentes e adultos

“…(P16) No domínio de Profissionais da Saúde (e355) todos os participantes do G1 (n=20) consideraram o fonoaudiólogo como facilitador, por ajudá-los a enfrentar seu problema de fala. O participante P12 relata alguns aspectos abordados nas sessões Em relação aos Fatores Ambientais, relacionados primordialmente ao ambiente social e atitudinal, os resultados mostraram que nem sempre os familiares são facilitadores, achado semelhante a outro estudo 21 , o que reitera o impacto negativo nas relações familiares em algumas situações.…”

Cognitive bias and stuttering in adolescence

“…Further, stuttering severity has not been shown to relate to how much a speaker anticipates stuttering (Jackson et al, 2015) or their locus of control (De Nil & Kroll, 1995). While adolescents who exhibit mild stuttering behaviors may struggle to cope with stuttering and social interactions as much or more than those who stutter more frequently (Beilby, 2014), our findings challenge the results of other studies that have reported that higher stuttering severity is associated with lower self-perceived communication competence (Blood et al, 2001), lower social acceptance (Adriaensens et al, 2015), lower self-esteem (Adriaensens et al, 2015), greater social anxiety (Ezrati-Vinacour & Levin, 2004;Hollister, 2015), and more negative communication attitudes (Guttormsen et al, 2015). While our preliminary findings suggest that experience with stuttering did not influence how adolescents interpreted ambiguous social scenarios, there are likely individual differences in other cognitive and emotional processes that modulate the impact of stuttering on interpretation bias, above and beyond a diagnosis of stuttering or stuttering severity.…”

“…Stuttering is a multidimensional, neurodevelopmental communication disorder (A. Smith & Weber, 2017) that can deeply impact psychosocial outcomes for affected individuals (Beilby, 2014;Beilby, Byrnes, & Yaruss, 2012b;Boyle, 2015b;Briley, O'brien, & Ellis, 2019;Craig, Blumgart, & Tran, 2009;Erickson & Block, 2013;Yaruss & Quesal, 2006). Stuttering is characterized by an atypical frequency of stuttering-like disfluencies that interfere with the forward flow of speech including part-word repetitions (e.g., "a-a-and"), single-syllable word repetitions (e.g., "and-and"), prolongations (e.g., "aaaaand"), blocks (e.g., "---and"), and broken words (e.g., "o---pen") .…”

“…This situation is made more complex by the observation that the degree of adverse psychosocial impact on aWS is not generally correlated with the frequency or severity of overt stuttered disruptions while speaking. That is, adolescents who exhibit mild stuttering may struggle to cope with stuttering as much or more than those who stutter more severely (Beilby, 2014;Manning & Gayle Beck, 2013;Yaruss & Quesal, 2006). Therefore, examining the psychosocial experiences of aWS, above and beyond stuttering severity, is important for elucidating the impact of living with stuttering.…”