International Stuttering Day | Why do I stutter when I’m nervous? ! ! !

In the TV series "The Big Bang Theory", there is a protagonist named Rajesh, who is an astronomer with social anxiety disorder. Every time he talks to a girl, his mouth is like a paste and he can't say a word. Unless he drinks or takes anti-anxiety drugs, he can't communicate with women outside his family.

Although this is designed as a joke in the drama, in real life, each of us may stutter when we are extremely nervous and anxious, especially for some people with social phobia. Once they get nervous, they can't even speak properly.

October 22nd of each year is designated as "International Stuttering Day". Why do we stutter when we are nervous? And how can we solve the problem of stuttering?

How do the words in your mind come out?

The brain is the center that controls all our behaviors. Although speaking is a very simple thing for normal people, when we analyze the language function of the brain, we will find that it is much more complicated than moving our mouth.

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When we speak, many areas of the brain need to work together. For example, we need to activate the hippocampus to recall the knowledge and information we need to express ourselves, and we need to activate the amygdala to add emotions to our language. The areas most closely related to language function are Broca's area and Wernicke's area .

Broca's area is located in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain, roughly behind our left temple and slightly closer to the ear. This area is mainly responsible for the production and control of language expression . When people want to speak, Broca's area is responsible for organizing and planning language so that we can speak fluently.

The Wernicke's area is located in the temporal lobe of the left hemisphere of the brain, roughly above the left ear. This area is responsible for language comprehension . What we hear and what we say are transmitted here for processing, helping us understand the meaning of words and sentences.

But these two areas are not completely independent, but are connected to each other through the arcuate fasciculus , ensuring that our language can be transmitted smoothly from one part of the brain to another.

Image source: Reference [1]

So, to put it simply, when we speak, we organize language through Broca's area. After we finish speaking, Wernicke's area will "review" whether there are any mistakes in what we said, and then transmit the review results to Broca's area through the arcuate fasciculus. At this time, we will decide whether we need to correct what we just said or continue to say the next sentence.

When we need to answer other people's questions, the Wernicke's area will first understand what the other person means, and then "convey" it to the Broca's area through the arcuate fasciculus, and then we can organize the language and answer the other person's questions.

How does nervousness cause stuttering?

However, when a person is stressed or anxious, the amygdala in the brain begins to interfere with the normal functioning of the language function area.

The amygdala is the emotional control center in the brain. When we face some threatening, challenging and stressful events, the amygdala will quickly identify these stimuli and "sound the alarm" to prepare the body for danger and challenges, including feeling nervous and anxious, increased heartbeat, rapid breathing, muscle tension, etc. This process is called the "fight or flight" response , which is to mobilize the body's resources to prepare to overcome danger or escape from the scene.

The "fight or flight" response helps us act quickly when facing real danger, and it is of great significance in human survival and evolution. For this reason, this response is also generalized to any situation that we think is very important or challenging. For example, when giving a public speech or being questioned and criticized in public, the tension and anxiety caused by it will cause the brain to enter an overload state in a short period of time, and also disrupt the normal function of other areas of the brain .

This will not only affect our attention, information processing and memory abilities, making it difficult for us to quickly understand what others mean or remember what to say, but will also affect the language organization function of Broca's area , making it difficult for us to speak fluently, which results in stuttering.

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In addition to the rapid operation of brain functions, the breathing rhythm and related muscle relaxation when speaking are also very important. Our vocal cords, tongue, throat muscles and oral cavity need to maintain a certain coordination to produce smooth sounds. You can try to recall when you or others are on stage giving a speech and are very nervous when speaking. Do you find that your voice becomes a little trembling, your breathing becomes rapid and unstable, you feel that you are not breathing enough, and your facial muscles become stiff or even twitching?

This is because a series of physiological reactions caused by tension will make our breathing unstable, and the muscles in the throat will become stiff due to excessive tension, affecting the voice. Not only will we stutter, but we will also realize that we are not speaking fluently or incoherently, which in turn will further increase the tension and anxiety, forming a vicious circle.

If you are particularly prone to stuttering, be careful!

It is normal to stutter to a certain extent when you are nervous, but severe and frequent stuttering needs our attention. According to psychological research, this is often related to the following factors.

1

Fluency disorders

In the clinical diagnostic criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, stuttering is considered a fluency disorder, which causes a person to unconsciously interrupt their speech when speaking or reading aloud . The prevalence of fluency disorders is about 0.72% in people of all ages, but most of them appear in childhood, with a prevalence of 4% in the child group . Generally speaking, most of them will recover naturally during adolescence to adulthood, and the prevalence of stuttering in the adult group is less than 1%.

Therefore, if a child has stuttered since childhood, it is recommended to seek medical diagnosis in time to avoid it continuing into adulthood. For adults who stutter frequently, it is necessary to pay attention to whether there are other more serious psychological events that may have affected their language function.

2

Social Anxiety Disorder

Social anxiety disorder is often referred to as "social phobia", which refers to an individual's excessive worry about others' negative comments about him or her in social situations, resulting in strong discomfort or avoidance behavior. Studies have found that this anxiety is particularly common among stutterers, with about 60% of stutterers also suffering from social anxiety disorder . Many stutterers experience high levels of tension and fear when they need to communicate with others, which further deteriorates their speech fluency.

3

Anxious personality

Research shows that frequent stuttering may reflect a person's chronic anxiety and trait anxiety levels . Chronic anxiety refers to a state of anxiety that an individual feels over a long period of time, while trait anxiety can be seen as the degree to which a person is prone to anxiety in their personality. Both factors can cause individuals to be in a state of tension and show high anticipatory anxiety when they are about to face social or speech occasions, that is, they cannot stop feeling anxious about upcoming events, and this anxiety will persist throughout the entire interaction process, leading to stuttering.

How to relieve stuttering?

For most stuttering caused by nervousness, there are actually many simple methods that can have a good effect.

1

Speak Slowly

Many people will unconsciously speak faster when they are nervous, which makes it even harder for our brains to keep up with our mouths. Therefore, deliberately training yourself to speak slowly and rhythmically, such as prolonging the pronunciation of words or adding pauses between sentences, can help the brain and mouth work in coordination and reduce unnecessary language jams.

2

Deep breathing exercises

Anxiety often causes shortness of breath, and uncoordinated breathing can aggravate stuttering. When you feel anxious, you can practice deep breathing or abdominal breathing to help regulate your heartbeat and relax your body, balance your emotions, and keep your tone stable.

3

Prepare and simulate in advance

When faced with a situation that may cause tension (such as a speech or an interview), you can simulate speaking scenarios at home. Practice by yourself, in front of a mirror, or have conversations with friends and family to help reduce anxiety and avoid stuttering.

4

Accepting imperfection

Many people become more nervous because of their fear of stuttering, forming a vicious cycle, especially those who have high demands on themselves. But as we mentioned before, it is normal to have language lags under tension. Learning to accept yourself and reduce the demand for perfect language performance can make us more relaxed and perform better.

References

[1] Hagoort, P. (2013). MUC (memory, unification, control) and beyond. Frontiers in psychology, 4, 416.

[2] Yang, Y., Jia, F., Siok, WT, & Tan, LH (2017). The role of anxiety in stuttering: Evidence from functional connectivity. Neuroscience, 346, 216-225.

[3] Craig, A., & Tran, Y. (2006). Fear of speaking: chronic anxiety and stammering. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 12(1), 63-68.

[4] Alm, PA (2004). Stuttering, emotions, and heart rate during anticipatory anxiety: A critical review. Journal of fluency disorders, 29(2), 123-133.

Planning and production

Author: ACC Psychology Popular Science

Reviewer: Fan Chunlei, Associate Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Planning丨Lin Lin

Editor: He Tong

Proofread by Xu Lai