Stuttering in adults (logoneurosis): causes, fear, speech therapy

How to identify fear in a child

What should older family members pay attention to if the behavior of an infant or older child has changed dramatically recently? How to determine fear in a child?

1. Restless, shallow sleep;
2. Nightmares;
3. Increased anxiety and suspiciousness;
4. Increased moodiness and tearfulness;
5. Reluctance to be alone in a room;
6. Reverse development of acquired speech or everyday skills;
7. Panic fear of specific phenomena or objects (for example, darkness).

A frightened baby cannot tell himself what is bothering him, so it is important for parents in such a situation to observe how the behavioral reactions of a 6-12 month old child have changed.

In a calm environment, older children who can speak can share with their parents the reasons for their worries and describe what worries them.

If you suspect fear in your child and notice characteristic signs, then you need to find out its cause as soon as possible - this will help you figure out how to treat this condition and help your baby.

What causes fear?

Severe fear in a small child can affect his entire future life. Let's consider the main reasons that can cause feelings of fear and panic in young children. Little ones may get scared:

• Large animals;
• Weather phenomena;
• Darkness, loud sounds and bright lights;
• Negative characters from books and cartoons;
• Authoritarian parenting style;
• Stressful situations (quarrels between parents, fights on the street, etc.).

After experiencing a traumatic experience, a child may:

• Cry;
• Refuse to visit the place where the negative situation occurred;
• Suffer from a stutter;
• Suffer from bedwetting.

Having correctly identified the cause of fear, a competent specialist can build a strategy for interacting with the baby in order to save him from the results of the injury.

Causes of pathology

Speech disorders are much more common in preschoolers and primary school children than in adult men and women. Approximately 1% of the world's adults who have reached adulthood suffer from this disease. Today, a comprehensive method of getting rid of stuttering is considered the most effective.

Before starting treatment for logoneurosis, the doctor finds out what preceded its appearance, since healing requires a targeted, person-oriented approach. A preschooler whose nervous system is characterized by increased excitability may develop situational stuttering when excited. Treatment of the pathology is simple: you need not to overload the child with activities, protect him from stress, and talk to him more often in a relaxed atmosphere.

It will be more difficult to get rid of the disease forever if it developed as a result of perinatal damage to the central nervous system. The disorder appears as soon as the baby begins to speak. The psychoneurologist decides what means will help correct the situation.

Other causes of childhood logoneurosis:

• scandals in the family;
• sudden fear;
• consequences of infectious diseases;
• spinal injuries;
• hereditary tendency;
• attempts to retrain left-handedness in preschool age.

Children may stutter if they have witnessed parental conflicts.

Due to life circumstances (drinking parents, low family income), a preschooler may not receive competent medical care. Deviations in speech become chronic. When asked whether pathology can be treated in adults, neurologists answer: “Yes.” Doctors do not hide that the path to fluent speech will be long, but the problem can be overcome.

Speech disorders do not always stem from childhood. Men and women who had no problems pronouncing words at school age may experience speech impediments at 20–40 years of age. A properly selected individual program will save you from many unpleasant moments: difficulties in communication, decreased self-esteem, problems at work.

You cannot ignore this symptom: in situations that require increased stress (a test at work, a difficult conversation with relatives), you begin to stammer. Contact a neurologist. You may be prescribed physiotherapy, massage sessions and sedative pills.

The main causes of stuttering in adults:

• severe shock;
• diseases of the endocrine system;
• prolonged stress: few people know that long-term experiences and conflicts can lead to the development of stuttering in an adult - whether this pathology can be cured in a short time will be determined by a neurologist;
• previous traumatic brain injury;
• malignant tumor in the brain.

Representatives of the stronger sex are more susceptible to speech disorders than women. It is more difficult to treat logoneurosis in adult men than in patients of the opposite sex.

Speech accompanied by spasms creates a lot of problems for a person, preventing normal communication and expression of one’s thoughts. Modern doctors pay special attention to studying factors that can trigger the development of the disease. The causes of stuttering are divided into 2 large groups: organic lesions and neurological disorders.

Organic lesions of stuttering are associated with disruption of human brain activity.

• Concussion or any other physical damage that causes disruption of the nervous system. Stuttering, which leads to speech disorders in a person, can be caused by bruises, blows and concussions. This can happen both in childhood and in adulthood.
• Diseases leading to impaired cerebral circulation (stroke, hypertensive crisis, heart attack, diabetes mellitus). These diseases disrupt the functioning of the brain and the process of transmitting information. There is a violation of speech, motor ability of a person, and muscle motility. In this case, stuttering becomes a side effect of another, more serious illness.
• Tumor processes can cause speech impairment and stuttering. As the tumors progress, they disrupt the functioning of the brain, thereby having a destructive effect on a person’s speech and articulation abilities.

Neurological disorders are based on personal experiences.

Experiencing enormous nervous tension and prolonged depression, being exposed to systemic neuroses, a person provokes the occurrence of stuttering.

• Long-term exposure to stress. The pace of modern life has a negative impact on human health. The psyche especially suffers. Acutely experiencing failures, discord with colleagues, family quarrels and problems with children, we expose ourselves to strong emotions, experiencing daily stress, which negatively affects our overall well-being, including our speech abilities.
• Psychological trauma. We experience neuropsychological shock as a result of the loss of a loved one, an accident, sexual abuse, or a past childhood insult. The experience affects not only our emotional state and behavior, but also the ability of the speech apparatus.
• Nervous overstrain. People who lead an active social and business life, who are forced to give public speeches and speak in front of large audiences, experience stuttering when excited.

In order to prescribe effective treatment, it is important to accurately determine the factors that triggered the development of stuttering. This happens during individual consultations with the attending physician, who will then select the most effective treatment methods.

1. The most common reason (67.5%) is fear. Very often, out of fright, people lose, as they say, “the power of speech.” Most for seconds, and many for many years.

If stuttering occurs immediately after psychological trauma, the following conclusions can be drawn:

• - psychological trauma is the true cause of stuttering;
• — psychological trauma is a trigger (perhaps there was a neurological predisposition);

1. In second place are bruises and injuries (27.5%).
2. Infectious diseases and imitations.
3. Predisposing reasons. Among them, age occupies a special place. Children between two and five years old often suffer from stuttering. It has also been observed that boys are more likely to stutter than girls. And another predisposing reason is heredity. This is expressed in multiple cases of the disease in the family.

Signs and causes of stuttering

Stuttering is a speech therapy pathology that can be caused by various reasons.

Depending on the etiology, there are such forms of stuttering:

1. Neurotic;
2. Neurosis-like.

Neurotic stuttering (logoneurosis) is a defect in speech skills that occurs in children as a result of a traumatic situation experienced at an early age. Another type of this speech therapy dysfunction is neurosis-like, which manifests itself due to birth trauma, diseases of the central nervous system and other organs, which can affect the development and functioning of speech centers in the brain.

The main characteristic of stuttering is the occurrence of articulatory spasms (involuntary contractions of the muscles of the speech apparatus) in a person during a conversation.

Depending on the type of articulatory spasms, the following forms of stuttering are distinguished::

1. Clonic;
2. Tonic.

With tonic seizures, the child stops while talking, while clonic seizures are characterized by a symptom such as repeated repetition of individual sounds or syllables.

Speech impairments due to neurotic stuttering manifest themselves differently in young children and in high school students. Speech therapy correction gives the best results in preschoolers.

My child started to stutter, what should I do?

Traditional treatment of the disease

How to cure stuttering? Instead of the attitude “oh horror, now it’s going to start again,” choose the attitude: “this is such a feature of mine.” Internally accept the fact that you stutter and try to live with it. If you are afraid of how others will react to your stuttering, you can tell or hint about the problem in advance. The calmer you are about the defect, the less often it will appear.

Everyone has their own “recipes” for relaxation. Some people are helped by a rosary that can be fiddled with in their hands, a piece of paper whose edges can be folded and unbent, or perhaps a certain crossing of fingers that gives a peaceful state. When you are ready, begin your speech. You will see: its quality directly depends on your internal state.

Many stutterers, when talking with loved ones, completely forget about their problem. But she reminds herself in stressful moments. Rehearse in front of your sister, your man or your parents the speech that you are going to give at the meeting tomorrow. Remember the feeling of relaxation and self-confidence, and save them until the “X” moment.

Breathing exercises from yoga or qigong can help regulate breathing when stuttering. Learn to control the force of inhalation and exhalation, the rhythms of intake and removal of air from the lungs. Repeat the exercises every day without skipping them: soon you will feel that your stuttering has decreased.

People often stutter from the very fact of their uneven speech. This makes them lose the thread of the conversation and miss the point of the conversation. Try to shift your attention from your own voice to the idea you want to convey or to your interlocutor. Concentrate on processing speech information, put emphasis not on form, but on content.

Take breaks

How to get rid of stuttering? When you feel a stutter coming on, give yourself time to regulate your breathing. Pause the conversation and take a deep breath. Repeat inhaling and exhaling, listening to your breathing. This way you can control your speech, and light pauses will give you an interesting mystery in the eyes of your interlocutor.

Get inspired

While you are working on your speech, be patient and enthusiastic. And good literature and cinema will help you with this. For example, the Oscar-winning “The King's Speech”: feel yourself in the place of the main character and go with him all the way from complexes to complete victory.

Daria Mazurkina quickly looked for ways to get rid of stuttering

Stuttering, like any other disease, negatively affects a person’s personal and professional life. It is difficult for the patient to get a job and realize himself professionally, it is difficult to communicate with colleagues, and it is not always possible to build strong family relationships.

It should be taken into account that a person with a stutter will require enormous internal strength aimed at healing. In addition to the therapy prescribed by the attending physician, you will have to constantly work on yourself. Treatment of stuttering neurosis begins with the fact that a person must recognize the presence of a problem and admit that he needs medical help.

Homework should be a continuation of general treatment and carried out under the supervision of an appropriate specialist. At the first stage, all the patient’s strength will be thrown into the fight against fear and anxiety that arises in anticipation of communication. To do this, you can use auto-training, which relieves tension, restores a sense of self-confidence, and helps you believe in success.

At the next stage, using various special techniques, it is necessary to develop a proper breathing system. The most famous technique is the gymnastics of Alexandra Strelnikova. Various breathing exercises help cope with a huge number of diseases, including stuttering.

Gymnastics is aimed at relieving tension in the facial muscles and combating spasms. The only thing that is required from a person is regular, diligent repetition of the exercises.

The next stage is working on the correct pronunciation of words. Activities such as loud singing and reading texts will help you with this, during which the articulatory apparatus, vocal cords are perfectly warmed up and a breathing rhythm is established.

Psychotherapy for stuttering in adults is an effective method of dealing with the problem, since logoneurosis is partly a mental problem. Many doctors pay great attention to psychological work during recovery sessions. These can be either individual or group lessons. Taking into account the psychological and psycholinguistic aspects of stuttering mechanisms, 2 psychological techniques are recognized as the most effective methods of work.

• Rational perception. Work with the patient is aimed at helping the person learn to live calmly with the problem of stuttering, without considering himself worse or more defective than others. During the sessions, the doctor teaches his ward to use the knowledge acquired during rehabilitation and not to be ashamed of the fact that he is visiting a psychotherapist.
• Suggestive help. The main technique used in this therapy is hypnosis. To correctly establish the factors that influenced the development of the disease, the patient is immersed in a trance state. During hypnosis, a person ceases to control his consciousness, plunging into memories, describing forgotten emotional breakdowns and experiences. The doctor accurately determines internal attitudes that, at the psycho-emotional level, have a destructive effect on a person, preventing him from normal communication with people around him. An important role for hypnosis is played by trust between the doctor and the patient, as well as the level of qualifications of the specialist.

Classes with a speech therapist will help eliminate defects and restore the functioning of the speech apparatus. It is a mistake to think that this treatment method is only suitable for children. Adults who want to speak beautifully have no less success working with a speech therapist. Doctors warn not to count on instant results. Treatment will require significant time, perseverance and effort.

First, the doctor and the patient will work to restore speech skills. A person who stutters will relearn how to pronounce all the letters of the alphabet, gradually putting them into words and forming sentences. The patient must independently, without hesitation, learn to pronounce vowels and consonants, mastering correct gestures and facial expressions, learning the basics of breathing, working on the timbre and sonority of his voice.

At the second stage of rehabilitation, the stuttering patient will have to apply the acquired knowledge in practice. The patient will have to read aloud a lot, actively participate in conversations, and express his opinion. The final stage is to bring the acquired skills to automatism, including modeling various life situations that the patient may encounter.

Medicine does not yet have any injections or tablets that could instantly improve a patient’s speech. The drug treatment program for stuttering is aimed at eliminating pathologies that contribute to the development of the disease.

Neurologists prescribe drugs of 4 groups to men and women with speech disorders.

1. Antispasmodics. These tablets eliminate muscle spasms that impede the functioning of the vocal apparatus. In response to the disappearance of the spasm, the tongue-tied person who stutters disappears or decreases. To eliminate stuttering, neurologists often prescribe Mydocalm and Sirdalud tablets to patients.
2. Antidepressants and tranquilizers. Drugs of these two groups are often prescribed to people suffering from depression. If you withdraw into yourself and are afraid of communication, you will not be able to do without medicinal help. When the depressed state passes, it will be possible to continue the fight against stuttering.
3. Calming pills. These drugs are necessary for patients who experience frequent mood swings and a violent reaction to any minor event. To cure stuttering in an adult, you need to normalize the person’s emotional state. In order to eliminate excessive excitability, you may be prescribed Grandaxin, Afobazol, Tenoten.
4. Nootropic drugs. The action of these drugs is aimed at improving blood supply to brain tissue. The most popular medications in this group are Noofen and Cerebrolysin.

When deciding how to deal with stuttering, a specialist takes into account the following circumstances: the cause of the disease, the age of the patient, and the presence of concomitant chronic diseases (diabetes, asthma). Medicines alone cannot return a person to normal speech technique. Fluent speech pronunciation can be achieved through a comprehensive approach to overcoming stuttering.

Stuttering cannot be cured with medication alone.

The inner speech of a stuttering person is free. When the patient talks “to himself,” there are no hesitations or hesitations. This circumstance supports the assertion that chronic stuttering can be cured.

Neurologists have extensively studied the causes of stuttering in adults. Treatment options are tailored to each individual case. The longer a person stutters, the more effort and time it will take to rid him of the problem. If your speech skills are not formed correctly, you need to persistently practice.

Time-tested methods will help you get rid of stuttering forever:

• breathing exercises by A. Strelnikova;
• speech therapy classes.

Speech therapy session is an auxiliary method of stuttering treatment

It is worth mentioning the principles of Strelnikova’s breathing exercises:

• the patient takes short, sharp and noisy breaths through the nose: simultaneously with each breath, he needs to perform movements that compress the chest;
• the patient does not think about exhalation; exhalation should be passive;
• load volume: 300 movements in 45 minutes;
• there is no pain in the patient’s muscles, there is no excessive stress;
• exercises developed by the author of the method involve all parts of the body;
• each breath is carried out on turns and tilts - these exercises involve the diaphragm;
• in 2 weeks of intensive training according to the Strelnikova system, the patient’s respiratory muscles are strengthened; this achievement is the first step leading you to getting rid of long-term stuttering;
• a person’s lungs are used to their full “power”, all organs, including the brain, are saturated with oxygen;
• Strelnikova’s gymnastics program includes sound exercises: their goal is to correctly position the patient’s voice.

Risk group

A child is more likely to become scared and stutter later in life if:

• He was born premature, suffered from intrauterine hypoxia or experienced a difficult birth;
• Has suffered any diseases that affect the central nervous system;
• Parents make the following mistakes in parenting:

1. They overly care for and pamper the baby;
2. Excessively intimidate, excessively warn about danger;
3. Punishments and rewards alternate unpredictably;
4. The baby suffers from verbal and physical abuse.

Symptoms

Neurotic stuttering is a serious pathology that negatively affects the socialization of the child and the further development of his psycho-emotional sphere.

Stuttering in younger preschoolers can be recognized by the following signs::

• The child often stops in the middle of a phrase or sentence, while the muscles of the face, neck and shoulder girdle are tense;
• If there are defects in the pronunciation of sounds, the baby tries to actively gesticulate, move his legs, etc.;
• When pronouncing complex unfamiliar words, the baby experiences involuntary trembling of the lips, tension in the facial muscles, and the eyeballs actively move.

Stuttering in older children and schoolchildren can be easily identified by the following symptoms:

• The child pauses between words, pronounces syllables or individual sounds separately;
• A boy or girl repeatedly repeats a syllable or the first letter in a word during a conversation.

A child who stutters has difficulty communicating with peers, which can cause his self-esteem to suffer. It is important that children suffering from stuttering find support from their parents and do not withdraw into themselves. It is important for teachers to take into account the characteristics of children with speech defects when working with school groups.

Remember that if your child has been diagnosed with a stutter, he needs professional help as quickly as possible.

Treatment of stuttering with spells

Treatment of stuttering with spells should begin as soon as the child’s first symptoms appear.

Previously, a frightened child was immediately taken to the grandmother-healer. You can’t leave it for later and think that stuttering will go away on its own over time.

Fear can be removed with the following ritual spell:

1. fill a bowl with cold well water or holy water
2. melt 200 ml of beeswax in an iron bowl. You can use a church candle
3. make the patient face the door
4. You need to hold a bowl of water over his head, pour melted wax into it with the other hand and say the words of the spell.

The plot is as follows:

“The Mother of God walked along Mount Zion, collected drops of flowers, caused a commotion in the servant of God (name): dog, cat, fire, water and any other. Do not stand here in fear, do not spoil the blood of the servant of God (name), do not break a bone, Do not torment the body, do not dry out the throat. I cause fear, expel it from the body, from the heart, from the liver, from the eyes, from the hand, from the legs, from the tongue and from every hair. All evil spirits are burned out by fire, all enemies are doused with water. Amen."

A spell against stuttering must be done so that there are no consequences left after a strong fright. It is, as it were, taken out into wax.

There is a conspiracy that improves speech:

• read the spell over clean water
• give water to the patient and when he drinks in small sips, you, lightly patting him on the back with your palm, read the same plot again

The conspiracy against stuttering is as follows:

“The Lord’s lips speak, do not falter, the words are not interrupted, so you, servant of God (name), speak, do not falter and do not be interrupted by hiccups and tossing. Amen."

Folk remedies

If you are thinking about how to cure fear in a child, or how to overcome neurotic stuttering in a baby, then you should know that you cannot rely solely on folk remedies. It is especially dangerous to take the child to any “grandmothers” or other representatives of alternative medicine if you want to remove the fear.

The consequences of psychological trauma cannot be completely eliminated at home. Treatment of a child’s fear involves working with a psychologist or psychotherapist; therapy is built in a playful way and helps the child overcome negative experiences.

Where is neurotic stuttering in children treated, who does it? Parents who want to help their son or daughter overcome a speech defect need to find an experienced speech therapist. In his work, this specialist uses exercises to set sounds, breathing and tempo of speech.

If necessary, the speech therapist should be assisted by a pediatrician, neurologist and psychiatrist by prescribing medication.

Treatment by a neurologist

If it is necessary to relieve fear in a small patient, the neurologist will prescribe plant-based sedatives for the baby or may suggest using herbal medicine.

A child can drink medicinal herbs (valerian, chamomile, mint, lemon balm) only as prescribed by a doctor. Parents should not try to prepare herbal teas themselves, as this could easily harm the baby.

A neurologist can give advice on doing relaxation exercises and developing proper breathing when it comes to treating logoneurosis in children.

Ritual with 13 candles

Buy 13 candles and blessed water from the temple on the eve of the ritual spell. The patient is treated for 13 days, performing daily ritual spells and always during the waxing Moon.

At midnight, fill a container with water and light all the candles, saying the following words into the water:

“I turn to you at night and beg you, element of the Moon, like a thought and to words, like a word and to pigeons, like a stutter and to hell. The servant of God...name...will not stutter, may he begin to express himself clearly, may the illness recede and may the fear subside. Let it be according to my word.”

Afterwards, pour some holy water out of the container and add it to the patient’s food for 13 days. Let the candles burn down to the cinders and take them to the temple the next day. No one should know about the ritual performed, especially not the patient himself, in respect of whom the ritual was performed and to whose food you add the charmed water.

Soothing baths

Soothing baths can effectively remove symptoms of stuttering in children of all ages. This occurs due to its relaxing and restorative effects on the central nervous system. These procedures help relieve excess muscle tension and regulate the activity of the autonomic nerve centers.

For baths, use sea salt, aromatic oils, herbal infusions (chamomile, mint, sage, lemon balm, valerian, motherwort) or extracts of coniferous plants.

Prevention

Prevention of stuttering consists of creating a favorable environment in the family. Parents should adhere to an even, consistent style of raising their child and not make conflicting demands. A little boy or girl should feel loved and accepted for who they are. The use of verbal and physical violence in the family or at school is unacceptable.

A healthy lifestyle, balanced nutrition, and restorative procedures have a positive effect on the formation of speech skills and the development of the nervous system in children.

Breathing exercises for stuttering

Special exercises have been developed that help form proper breathing in children who stutter. They are aimed at relaxing the main muscle groups, lengthening the exhalation and increasing the depth of breathing.

Such exercises should be shown to the child by a speech therapist, and then the child can do them independently at home under the supervision of parents.

Features of the course of logoneurosis

Logoneurosis in children occurs in waves - periods of speech well-being can alternate with periods of activation of the defect. When re-experiencing a traumatic experience, the child begins to stutter much more strongly than before. Eliminating the factors that caused the injury accelerates the achievement of stable remission.

Drug treatment

The neurologist selects medications on an individual basis, based on the age and condition of the child. If a child is diagnosed with stuttering, then the necessary recommendations on the use and dosage of pharmacological agents can always be obtained from a doctor.

Neurotic stuttering is a speech defect that requires complex work of speech therapists, doctors and psychologists. It is important to prevent young children from becoming very frightened and to prevent traumatic situations. This will help keep the child’s psyche healthy, and will allow each child to develop harmoniously in the future.

Stuttering in children. Children's doctor

Speak your food to avoid stuttering

Food rituals can also be used against stuttering. To carry out this ritual, take sprouted wheat grains, which are soaked in advance so that they germinate - the sprouts should be 1 cm, and you can enhance the result if you soak the grain itself in holy water. The words of the conspiracy are spoken over food to which wheat sprouts are added. They sound like this:

“Lord, show your mercy, wisdom and all benefactors, give the servant of God... your name... your light and warmth, and endless love. Place your angels to help, so that they cleanse the soul of God’s servant…name…so that his speech flows from his lips exactly as you pour out your love and light on us. Along with the blessed food, the servant of God will accept...his name...his divine essence, he will bear your name on his lips, your will in his heart. Just as his speech is pure, according to your will, so is your reward with good deeds.”

Then they give food to the patient.