Dr. Schubiner TMS and stuttering

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Question

Please tell me if late-onset (after age 50) stammering is a possible TMS manifestation. My TMS pain increases usually between 3-5 P.M. I have always been fluent and talkative but in the past year I have trouble getting "s" words out. This mostly happens later in the day, and when I am seeing clients. It is generally when I am experiencing the most anxiety during the day. I doubt very much that I have had a stroke and feel it is psychogenic, given everything else my body does to fool me. I have a feeling neurological testing will be another endless road, like the MRIs for my spine...

My brother stuttered in early childhood, and even now has unclear speech. I am aware of being anxious for a good part of the day.

If you are unfamiliar with stammering as a TMS person who is already diagnosed as having mind-body syndrome, I should probably ask for some tests to be performed.

Although I would rather be in Philadelphia!

 

Answer

I forwarded your question along to TMS physician Howard Schbuiner, and this was his response:

If you've seen The King's Speech, you will understand that stuttering (or stammering to the British) is definitely TMS.So, of course, it can occur as a manifestation of TMS at any age.It seems obvious that this is TMS from the description of it occurring during times of stress!I hope this helps.
Best, Howard

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Wow, yet another manifestation of TMS . What I observed many years ago was that stuttering can definitely be contagious! This actually happened to me after I was introduced to somebody who stuttered slightly through a mutual friend. Both myself and mutual friend started to stutter frequently especially when talking to eachother! I knew it had come from socialising with the guy, definitely psychological IMO!

Mine passed and I'm sure yours can too if you convince yourself it doesn't need to happen!

Good luck!

 

I received speech therapy when I was quite young and have found on occasion when talking with friends getting the initial word out is difficult. Once I get into the flow its fine.

 

I'm going back through some of the posts in here, and I stammer. I was reading something by Steve O (I think), and I must paraphrase his energetic, playful writing but I remember a line which basically said, 'when you're not aware of your obsession with your pain, it goes away.' The parallel with stammering (I'm a Brit...), is that when I'm not aware of speaking - ie, I'm in the flow - I don't stammer, either. There are plenty of neurological studies which purport to show 'why' stammering happens, but no-one really knows, so exploring the mind-body connection with this issue is probably a highly therapeutic approach.

 

I wrote a book, "Stuttering as a mindbody disorder", in 2020 and it is on Amazon. I am fully convinced that stuttering is a type of TMS. I also have a Facebook group with the same name as the book. But it is a difficult form of TMS ... partly because developmental stuttering (the most prevalent form of stuttering) is an early onset problem, usually beginning at age 2 - 5, so if you don't outgrow it (which most children fortunately do) so that it continues into adulthood, it has had years or even decades to reinforce itself through habit (learning / conditioning). Dr Sarno's ideas and journaling have helped me to an extent, but Alan Gordon's book The Way Out (2021) was a true breakthrough moment for me. My conclusion is that the brain of a child who stutters probably decided, for some reason and at some stage, that speaking / orally expressing himself is unsafe. So when he speaks, it is with some tension which then affects his speech. So the treatment should entail sending "safe" messages to the brain, and avoiding "danger" messages. Do join me at my Facebook group if you're interested! Regards, Peter Louw