July 4, 2010

Quiz time: answer

Some of you have written about the video in the recent Quiz. Most people have thought of the person featured as a PWS. The fact is - he is a person with 'normal' speech. He came to us looking for help for his younger brother who is a CWS. All the dis-fluencies shown in the video are well within normal limits. Then, why this discrepancy? One reason is- most of us may not show any interest in stammering outwardly, we are almost obsessed with it: we keep on googling about it, wondering about it and reading about, whatever bits we can get easily. This constant preoccupation leads to distorted cognition (perception). Whenever we see someone a little bit hesitant, we immediately conclude- Oh, he must be a stammerer. We do the same to ourselves too. Whenever we have a little dis-fluency, we get alarmed and say- O my God, my stammering is back! This makes our communication very guarded, hesitant and full of jerky movement, back and forth. This also makes the job of our therapist nearly impossible! With this mindset, no therapist can help us. What is the way out?
You can transcend a problem only by confronting it once for all. You can go beyond a problem by dealing with it thoroughly. Sometime, "going beyond" and "running away" might appear similar. But there is a difference. Running away is based on fear, resistance, non-acceptance and "Ostrich" policy. Unfinished business is bad Business. But dealing with it thru acceptance and self help takes you to the desired goal of "going beyond it".

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