Feelings and Emotions

What are emotions? Every person develops the concepts of "self" and "right and wrong". Each of us also develop "person meanings"; ideas, desires, goals which are important to us. When situations arise in which we perceive actions challenge these constructs self, right/wrong, and personal meaning,our emotions are engaged. For example, if a stranger were to open your wallet or purse and take money out, you would most likely feel that your "private space" (or personal belongings) had been intruded upon. You would also feel that the stranger's action was "wrong". You may also feel that you had worked hard for that money and that taking it was unfair. There may be many emotions that be engaged: anger, fear (threatened), violated, and injustice -- negative emotions at that.

Now compare that to the situation in which a stranger (bus boy) takes the dirty dishes from a patron's table after they have completed their meal at a restaurant. Very few emotions are likely engaged because neither your "self", sense of "right and wrong", nor your "personal meanings" have been threatened.

So a display of emotions is an indication that a person has perceived a threat; a threat to their sense of self, their sense of fair play, or their person meanings. Emotions then are an important tool in learning about your client's self-constructs.

How are emotions important to stuttering? When emotions are engaged volitional control of many bodily functions is yielded to the emotions. Emotions dramatically increase of capabilities for combat -- respiration rate and heart rate increase, bloodflow increases to large muscle groups, the ability to reason is diminished, and muscular tension increases all over the body. Specifically about ability to control the highly coordinated, fine motor movements necessary for speaking is greatly diminished. When emotions are elicited -- when we are anxious or afraid -- speaking ability suffers. For the person who stutters, they are more likely to block or be disfluent.

What emotions do people who stutter commonly experience? Each person who stutters experiences their own "set" of emotions; it is very important that the clinician work to inventory these emotions early in the course of therapy. Many people who stutter experience embarrassment, specific anxieties, shame, guilt, anger and frustration related to speaking. (Another section of this site defines these emotions in the context of stuttering.) These emotions have a strong effect on their ability to use therapy techniques in many situations.

What is the speech-language pathologist's role in therapy? Because emotions have such a major influence on stuttering, they need to be addressed in the counseling component of stuttering therapy. The clinician must develop an understanding of what emotions the client experiences and incorporate this information into the design of therapy, being able to establish hierarchies of difficulty, progressively affording more challenging speaking situations, and working to modify the personal meanings that elicit the emotions.

Working with emotions is a process; usually not an easy one. Emotions range from being "frozen" with fears to being "unaware" of their full impact. For some, the emotions are so strong and painful that they literally block them out of their conscious awareness. But finding a long-term successful resolution to stuttering depends heavily on better emotional management.