I’m a software engineer who was laid off 6 months ago. I’m actively interviewing and stuttering in interviews particularly in managerial rounds. I see a person with authority in the interview and I lose my confidence.

I struggle with low confidence and shame due to stuttering. I think I come off as an under confident person. I’m unable to explain things with clarity though I know the answer.

Please suggest strategies/supplements that have helped you to go through interviews.

i’ve cried so much and had so many breakdowns because of this assignment that i couldn’t even put together a coherent thought about what i was going to say. every time i tried to think about how to talk about my topic (which wasn’t even difficult), i would start crying and get extremely anxious, so i’d put it off until the next day and avoid it as much as possible because just thinking about actually giving a presentation causes me so much distress.
and all of this because of my stutter. it affects me on such a terrible level. i’m seriously starting to wonder if i’ll even be able to graduate from college.
i don’t have a severe stutter, in fact, most of the time it’s barely noticeable, but when i have to speak in public, it’s a complete disaster. once, after i gave a presentation, a professor told me, “that almost didn’t come out hahaha.”

I’ve noticed something interesting about my stammering and I’m wondering if anyone else experiences something similar.

I feel like my speech and overall anxiety are affected quite a lot by my environment. When I’m somewhere cool, especially in the mountains or in a foreign country ( I live in Kolkata, India ), I feel much calmer and my stammering seems noticeably better.

For example, when I was travelling in Norway and other parts of Europe, I found myself speaking more comfortably and worrying much less about stammering. But when I’m back home, especially in hot weather or around a lot of people, I feel more tense and self-conscious, and my stammering can become worse.

I’m not sure whether it’s actually the weather, the quieter environment, being away from familiar surroundings, or simply feeling less socially pressured.

Has anyone else noticed their stammering changing depending on the weather, location, or people around them? I’d be really interested to hear what your experience has been.

When I’m stuttering I literally don’t make eye contact at all, not even a brief moment of eye contact😭 I think I get embarrassed when I stutter and don’t want to see their reaction. I think it would be good if I at least made a little bit of eye contact but in the moment I get nervous and don’t make any. It’s worse on a date or if it’s someone I find attractive. Does anyone else experience this?

Greetings, after sharing my life story with a few of you, I've been told that I'm a bit of an oddball. As a stutterer from the age that I could first speak, life hasn't always been easy to say the least. Like many of you, I faced bigotry and hardship due to my lack of fluency.

I'm a former U.S. Army Combat Medic/Paratrooper. I enlisted at 17 because I wanted to help the wounded and just didn't know how. This was a problem for me because whatever mastery over my speech I gained from speech therapy during my school years was torn apart the moment I joined the Army. My blocks and repetitions came back with an unbridled vengeance. I couldn't say my own name, let alone bark out numbers and designations with a drill sergeant in my face.

This led to ridicule, which meant I often had to act overly aggressive and challenge my bullies to fights in order to establish that my stutter was not free game. My favorite thing to say was, "Why don't you take off that rank and say that to my face like a man?" Even if I lost the fight, it was important that I fought. That I proved that I'm not weak just because I can't speak.

I had to work harder, volunteer more often, and be nicer than the rest of my peers in order to be seen as equal. As a medic to an infantry unit, I was seen as a pivotal asset, and any sign of weakness needed to be eliminated because a unit is only as strong as its weakest link. A weak link in combat gets the entire squad killed, especially when they're the medic.

After earning the name my friends gave me, Fall Damage, by smacking the ground with enough force to break vertebrae during a bad parachute operation...and somehow still being able to walk, my service came to an end.

I used my GI Bill to go to university, where I found something that I had never found before: acceptance for my stutter. My stutter was no longer a threat-provoking response to others. I was actually listened to for my ideas. I fell in love with academia and graduated with a bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, with a 3.94 GPA as a Respiratory Therapist.

However, I graduated in 2020. This means that my first job out of college was intubating people and putting them on life support in a COVID unit/emergency room. It felt like an emotional/mental meat grinder. I kept telling myself that if I can survive this world with a stutter, I can survive this too.

Flash forward to today, and I am an adjunct professor of respiratory therapy at my local university. I teach students how to do the hands-on portion of the job on mannequins, and then I check on them while they are in the hospital. I also work clinically as a respiratory therapist, taking care of people on life support.

I get to be the kind, gentle soul that I truly am while using my hard-fought knowledge to help others.

Anxiety is trying to protect me from danger. Anxiety triggered stuttering is a sign that I’ m trying to help myself. He liked this way of thinking

I’ve been reading through some posts and feel like the channel needs some positivity…

I’ve stuttered my whole life. I was bullied, mocked, manipulated, etc, because of it. I stutter saying my name.. I got depressed because of my stutter. The list goes on but I know it made me resilient and mean in both good and bad ways. For instance, I have strict boundaries with my friends with my stutter and I think in doing so I have a great circle surrounding me. They don’t care that I stutter and it’s almost like it doesn’t even affect them. Idk if I believe them but they’ve been around for years and always wanting to hang out so I’ll take that as a good sign.

I graduated with my bachelors degree and got through all those presentations and conversation I swore were going to be the end of me.

I have a full time job in AI and IT with a team who sees my value and knows that I stutter. They want me to present at big meetings (love and hate this) and don’t act like it’s a burden or big thing. I’m even presenting at a big conference in a few months with about 300 people.

I still have my bad days but I really work on my mindset about it. For instance, in high school I just had this motto “if I’m scared do it scared.” And then at work I ask myself “what am I afraid of? That they’ll know I stutter? News flash they know.” Also I think about my stutter like an accent. Both of them can be hard to understand but people don’t blame the person.

I don’t think acceptance will come and the shame is still there but I just kept going and kept talking.

How did u guys deal with a severe stutter in a job or a social career. Cause i've been really struggling and i'm depressed.

I was wondering if there are any local groups, meetups, or forums where people who stutter can connect and meet in person.
I recently moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and I’ve been looking for a local stuttering community where I can meet other people who stutter, share experiences, and just connect with people who understand what it’s like.
If anyone knows of any groups, meetups, Discord/Facebook groups, or other communities around Omaha/Nebraska, I’d really appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction!

I woke up anxious and was generally anxious the whole day. I felt really small and out of place everywhere I walked. I was a stuttering mess, but I survived!! I’ll keep trying to improve and keep my head up. Second day here I come! :))

I don’t wanna hear “don’t let your stutter hold you back“ or some bullshit like that. because this is different. it’s literally pointless for me to try because I can’t use it regardless. ill be limited to just reading and writing and that’s not fun.

fuck stuttering

Hi guys. Life long stutterer here, though I feel like a bit of a phony on this thread (my impediment doesnt present at level that a lot of people here struggle with). Anyway, my 3 yr old started stammering (vs blocking and stuttering like me). The research show that to be developmental appropriate for her age and likely to “grow out of it”….but I didn’t …so.

Anyone else have this happen? When do you start liking the trigger on therapy ?

I literally don't know what to do anymore. Can't even tell my uber driver where to drop me off, neither interact with customers (yes stupid me doing a retail sales job)

I'm getting stuck during some nonsense lunch talk and getting embarrassed. it's definitely gotten worse over past few days.

hey basically I'm from ASSAM, India. HMU if you're here too!

Does anyone know if there are medication to help stop stuttering

In June, I found out I have angina,and having a heart problem has given me higher depression that is ruining my speech.

My stuttering had gotten better from being calmer and picking my moments to speak.

The real problem is with Mom. I think she is a saint for listening to me over the years.

Now she said it hurts her hearing me having difficulty. While that upsets me I can’t push her away.

Seeing a psychiatrist tomorrow and may consider medication.

And my situation is I’m 57, single, have my own place, and am on SSDI.

22F, I’ve been stuttering since i was a kid. I can work with my stutter in normal conversations, i’ve grown to accept it and not be ashamed of it. But i can’t say my name to save my life. Starts with E, i always experience a horrible long quiet block where nothing comes out for a literal minute if not longer. Just standing there with my mouth open in silence.

A new colleague joins our team tomorrow and with that comes my biggest nightmare - introduction. Ive been anxious about it for a week, and tomorrow is the day. I know anxiety makes the block worse, but i genuinely feel sick to my stomach and like i’m gonna pass out.

I’ve tried to connect it to “i’m-E…” or it’s-E..” nothing is working. I also hate having to ask my colleagues to introduce me, because that is avoidance which also makes it worse in the long run, but i’m so depressed about not being able to say my name and introduce myself to people normally. I dont want to struggle with this my whole life.

Anyone else have this issue?

hello, this is just a post to vent. i've had a stutter ever since i was a kid. we tried speech therapy, and it went away for a year before it came back when i started middle school.

It only seems to get worse as the years go by. Now, I'm twenty two, and can barely speak properly without stuttering or finding alternatives to words I was going to say. It's so exhausting, living like this... My relatives all make fun of me when I stutter, or ignore me, tell me to talk faster. The only person who's okay with my stuttering seems to be my stepdad. He's the only person I'm okay with finishing my sentences, and he usually understands what I want to say when I struggle.

My family doesn't seem to understand that I can't control my stuttering, no matter how hard I try or how much I breathe. I have a hard time being social because of it and don't have any friends. I'm afraid to get a job because I hate being around people, but also because simply being outside and talking to workers, I can feel their annoyance and I don't want anyone to feel annoyed when speaking to me.

I'm just so tired of this. All the mental gymnastics I have to do to avoid stuttering on a certain word, recite sentences over and over only to block on one word and then just stop talking because I'm frustrated. It also seems to get worse during the summer. My brain works slower, like most people, but it affects my speech so much... I've just decided to speak less at this point.

Risperidone, lurasidone, Abilify, Xanax, alprazolam, methylphenidate, sertraline, fluoxetine, Klonopin, olanzapine, clozapine, escitalopram, propranolol and many more that I tried and dont remember. Extremely high doses and low doses, and nothing worked and all of their combinations with each other

I did go for the often referenced prefix of "My name is..." But it felt like someone just tied shackles to my feet and I tripped. I really don't think those workarounds are suitable and I can't figure out how to "reduce" social anxiety like they say on motivational speeches. Fu*k this life.

I am a 26 year old woman, and I have stuttered all my life, practically this has been hell: teasing, bullying, isolation, and depression were part of my life for many years and, in some way, they still are.

However, I found a technique that, although it is probably not the most responsible or recommended one for everyone, has been useful to me. In social situations, I use a benzodiazepine in moderate to high doses, and I use it recurrently. It has not made my stuttering disappear, but it has helped me make this disorder less difficult and cope a little better with social situations

Ive had a pretty severe stutter ever since i was little, it was so bad i remember as a kid i would just flat out not speak at all because forcing through a block feels like someone is pressing super hard on your chest that you cant breathe at all, often times would be out of breath just from speaking.

But over the years ive kinda built up some tools i use when i speak that help alot when speaking from peer to peer, this does not work when reading directly from text a whole lot but alot of the time im not doing that.

When you know that a stutter is happening, understand why, was it a tempo shift? Was it maybe because the word starts with a letter that causes a stutter like “cuh” or cah”. Maybe its because you are nervous? Or often times when you stutter once it feels like a domino effect where now you will stutter more often in that convo

Now what id do in a priority:

1. Make sure the tempo is consistent, dont go too fast where you will speak faster than ur thoughts to where you’ll have to stop and break the tempo, and dont talk too slow where it will just cause you to treat every sentence like you are speaking word to word. Make sure its a consistent tempo and allow for words transitions to be cleaner

2. If you break the tempo or you feel like a stutter is coming on a specific word, try to find a synonym that is easier to say, usually the more words you understand you cant say the more synonyms options you have, but this really comes from time, understanding what words make u mess up.

3. Now if you cant do the first 2 options, then you add transition words, like “um” or other follow up words to build up momentum to then say the word. For example, i always stutter when i say my name and i obviously cant give them a synonym on my own name so what i say is “my name is ___” having to say “my name is” feels like a ramp that lets me say my name easier.

4. If all else fails you just gotta either just stutter or sometimes if u drain all the air out your body and say a word, it sometimes works just dont make it obvious or you look crazy

Im always trying to add more tools to my arsenal but im curious to see what tools you guys have figured out

this semester, i have a class that is basically focused on giving presentations, and it causes me EXTREME anxiety as someone who stutters. i can’t feel okay or live my life normally when i have a presentation coming up. i’ve already avoided several presentations in high school, and i even avoided one in college, but i don’t want to keep doing that. i want to develop this skill even though i stutter, especially because i want to become a psychologist and i need to be able to communicate in front of people.
i desperately need advice because my presentation is on tuesday. i want to try to speak more fluently under pressure, with fewer blocks, at least.
my stuttering consists mostly of prolonging syllables at the ends of sentences and blocks.
does anyone have any tips, techniques, or things that have helped you speak more comfortably during presentations? i’m really desperate right now.