"As a teenager, I developed a stutter. Not just occasional hesitation-paralyzing anxiety about speaking. I'd anticipate making mistakes when reading aloud. Starting conversations felt like walking through a minefield. The fear of stuttering made me stutter more-a cruel self-fulfilling prophecy."
"During college, I learned my father's story. As a child, he had a lisp. His father-my grandfather-thought it was hilarious. He'd make my dad recite tongue-twisters in front of family and friends. Highlighting his speech impediment for entertainment. That cruel mockery created anxiety. That anxiety transmitted to me. Different manifestation-stuttering instead of a lisp. Same underlying pattern: fear of speaking, anticipation of judgment, dread of being heard."
A person blamed parents for anxiety, defensiveness, and the need to be right, then discovered those patterns came from earlier generations. A teenage stutter worsened with anticipation and fear of speaking, and studying psychology revealed that anxiety produced the stutter. Relaxation, breathing, and stopping anticipation removed the stutter, but a family history showed that a grandfather's mocking of a lisp created persistent anxiety in the father. That anxiety transmitted through observation and imitation, producing different speech manifestations across generations. No specific gene explained the pattern; learned behavior and modeled responses sustained the cycle.
Read at Tiny Buddha
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