The Root Cause of Stammering (and How to Overcome It)

The Root Cause of Stammering (and How to Overcome It)

Understand the root cause of stuttering so that you can uproot it.
The root cause of stuttering is fear. Not speaking fast, not anxiety, not self-consciousness, not tension—fear.

People have wrongly speculated the cause of stammering for decades. They’ve guessed everything but the truth. I’ve stammered for 20 years, since I was a child. I didn’t know how it came, but it came. However, I wasn’t just suffering from it—I was studying it.

As a boy, I was helpless, I wished it'll go away, it didn't. I had no understanding of what I was experiencing neither did my mother, she wanted to help but she couldn't. Then as I grow, I started finding ways to stop stammering. I tried everything people told me, it didn't work. I read every book I could find on stuttering, and I tried all their many tricks and rules, they didn't work. Stuttering has never been, and can not be cured by tricks, only by understanding the truth.

Waste your time no more on tricks. But seek to understand. If you truly understand what stuttering is and it's cause you'll be free. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." Let's proceed.

I did not had therapy of any kind, but I was ardent to understanding and curing my stutter. I'm a Christian. And I believe the Bible contains the cure to all illness and disorders. One day I stumbled on a verse in the Bible that reads:

“The fearful heart will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.” – Isaiah 32:4

That was the beginning of my liberation. I was not in darkness anymore. I understood what it meant, and the verse was direct and clear.

Uproot the Root

You may think one million things causes stuttering, but I tell you with full confidence that it's only one. Fear; and nothing else. People say it's because you speak too fast, speak slow and you'll not stutter.

Consider this analogy and understand:
In school, our gate closes at 10:00 PM. If you stay longer, you’ll be locked out. So, students who fear being locked out walk fast—or run—when it’s close to 10.

That’s what stammerers do. They don't speak fast because they want to, but because they believe—wrongly—that if they don't speak fast, they will stutter. The fear of Stuttering makes them rush. Not the other way around.

The same thing with tension. People say tension is the cause of stuttering: just relax your nerves, meditate, and you'll speak well. But they never ask, what's making you tense? It's not tension that causes stuttering, it's fear that causes tension, that causes stuttering. And so many branches—not root—that people presume causes stammering.

Faith Over Fear

But be enlightened, if you can uproot fear: fear of stammering, from your life, you'll be free. One hundred percent free. Fortunately, there's only one way to conquer fear, that's to believe. Faith is the opposite of fear. Believe with all your heart that you can speak well, and you will. Don't focus on tricks. You can speak well. Every human being can—I mean there's nothing wrong with your speech mechanism—only your heart.

For sure if someone who has never stuttered in his life, start believing firmly, that he is a stutterer and that he cannot speak well, I tell you for sure that overtime, he'll not be able to speak well. That's the power of believe.

Stuttering is you believing that you cannot speak well, it's you seeing yourself faltering and failing in speech. Stuttering is fear in expression. Fear is the fruit of stuttering, if someone fluent is afraid they stutter naturally. Fear is believing in the negative, believing that you'll stutter. Start today, to believe that you'll say it well, believe that you have the power to speak—and I tell you, you do. Do not fear: only believe. Let your focus be on the positive side. Do not play to avoid failing, play to win.

Stop Trying. Start Trusting.

And finally, do away with the tricks you plague your brain with, trying to speak. You're not learning to speak—you already can. Believe me. Note this yourself—if you haven't, that when you don't try to speak well that's when you speak well. When you don't worry about speaking, that's when you speak fluent. Begin from today to stop worrying about speaking—I mean don't think about how you'll speak, believe God is helping you speak. And truly he is. As he helps everyone. Have faith in God.

No matter how you stress your brain, thinking how you'll speak, you'll never speak fluent. But if you believe—in your heart, that you can do it, and leave the how for God, you'll do it. Be concerned only about what you want to express—not worrying about the words. But expressing what you feel. Don't think, believe. Don't worry, trust.

A lot have been said, here is the light that can help you overcome fear. Fear is darkness. Understanding is light. In the analogy we used earlier, what made the students fear? They believed the gate will be shut soon. That was the cause of their fear. Like them stutterers fear because they believe (wrongly) that they might stutter, so they device means: speaking fast, tensing up, etc., for them not to stutter. It's not their fault, it's the reality they see. But they can change that through faith. Believing they'll stutter is fear, believing they'll speak well is faith. It's what you believe that determines how you speak. It's the same activity just different directions, choose faith.

Know Your Worth

Another thing is not to be afraid of stuttering, do not be afraid to die. Do not purposely stutter — so that you'll not be afraid of stuttering (it's nonsense), but do not be afraid of it. Have deep self-respect for yourself. Know your worth, stuttering doesn't reduce your worth the least. Everybody stutter occasionally. Don't care about stuttering, care about your message—what you truly want to say. Do not try to hide anything, you're the light of the world. Speak freely. Focus on believe not fear, and even when stuttering happens spontaneously, don't worry about it—don't become self-conscious, just keep going.

Persevere in Belief

Lastly, start today to believe that you can speak well. You have the power to speak well—truly you do, believe it. If things don't pick up immediately, do not worry—don’t doubt. Persevere in your believe. Fight the good fight of faith. Be serious. Meditate on the words I've written here, they can change your life. Persevere till you break out.

— Keneng Mathias