What Causes Stuttering & Treatment for Stutter | Dr. Erich Jarvis & Dr. Andrew Huberman 

This clip is from the Huberman Lab episode "Dr. Erich Jarvis: The Neuroscience of Speech, Language & Music." The full episode can be found on RU-vid here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LVxL_p_kToc.html

So here's the thing. I had a stutter when I was a kid. It went away, and I even used to be praised for my public speaking skills. It came back when I was 12 years old due to extreme stress in a class and stayed for a big part of my life. I'm 27 now. It hasn't gone away completely, but I've learned to deal with it. I've realized taking a B12 tablet the night before a big day where I have to speak helps me speak much more clearly. Does it calm my nerves? Maybe. Also, know that your words matter. You matter. Don't try to say all your words in one breath. Speak slowly. Speak with confidence. You got this!

Bro it's such an embarrassing moment that people judge you by seeing stammering problem they think we are Illeterate because we don't communicate with them in the fast way 😕.

One of my friends has very bad stuttering and we had some weed couple of times together . And when he is high and relaxed his stuttering stops. I was shocked

I’m loving this convo of stuttering. I’ve stuttered my whole life and I love your perspective. That being said, it’s not about any rhythm and finishing sentences. I truly believe any strong minded individual can overcome a lifelong stutter

I once had a job interview and the interviewer said to me, “Do you realize you stutter?”. He then said he wouldn’t hire me because I could make the children stutter. It was a teaching job. Of course I wasn’t hired but the nerve of the interviewer surprised me. I went on to get hired at a different school system and later became a school psychologist. I often wonder what happened to that man. He thought stuttering was contagious. Maybe he helped me in a strange way. Nobody ever asked me about stuttering since that day.

I am suffering from stammering and it affecting my academic life my entire life 😭

There is without a doubt a link between oxidative stress and stuttering, whenever my oxidative stress is too high, I begin to experience stutter like symptoms

Man, this stuff drives me crazy. The Docs are wrong and right at the same time. I did it, my best friend did it, all those famous people did it, and we did it the same way. Just like every other person who did it. It never goes away but it gets so minimal that it doesn't ruin your life anymore. The thing is it's really hard and you gotta have balls to do it. But most stutterers won't cause it feels good to feel sorry for yourself and success is actually scarier than failure in the paradigm of a victim. It's simple immersion therapy. To stop stuttering you have to live like you don't stutter. Make 20 calls a day to random stores and ask random questions. Walk up to 10 strangers a day and ask what time it is. Life your life, make your appointments verbally. I beat my obscenely brutal blocks in a month. You have to really want it. It's scary, you'll cry, the anxiety is terrifying but it freaking works. Anyone who has actually overcame their stutter will say the same freaking thing. I still stutter but I don't care, it's so minimal it doesn't matter anymore.

I found a book earlier this year called “How to Stop Stuttering & Love Speaking” by Lee Lovett. It’s a really good read for stutters as it will help you greatly reduce stuttering, but more importantly improve your mind. I highly recommend it because I’ve tremendously improved my life because of that book.

I have a severe stutter. Strangely, I found if I speak with a different accent, I don't stutter at all. Also if I'm in a room by myself and I speak, I do not stutter.

I Suffer from stuttering and the feeling of not being able to express what you are trying to express is so frustrating. This makes a big difference in life.

I never stuttered until I experienced severe ptsd from a near death work accident. The thing that helps me is to pause think about what you’re going to say and then say it. I don’t always stutter, it’s just extreme under stress which is frankly too common in my life at the moment. I repeat words and phrases, forget what I’m talking about, stutter on syllables and sounds. I often mix the wrong words together or use speech that is entirely wrong. I am 36 years old. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m not ashamed of my disabilities. I am strong for what I’ve been through and my ability to fight and live. Mental injuries, like physical sometimes never recover. But the strongest people are the ones who have been through the worst. Never feel bad or ashamed for being different or having trauma. Treat people kindly and apologize for stuttering if it happens and let them know that you have a disability. Sometimes you’ll talk to an extremely rude self centered person who will hang up on you or ignore you in real life. Those people are miserable and always will be. Their life is worse than yours. Stay strong guys and never give up.

I have been stuttering since I was 5 years old, and I would love for it to go away. It has caused many problems in my everyday life, whether in school, university, or work. I secluded myself from socializing with my classmates and peers due to it. I love talking with people I share the same mentality with, but because of my stuttering, I stayed away from socializing, which you need to do to work in society. It hurts me so badly now.

I had a severe stutter as a child but it was out of pure anger I stopped lol I’d practice every letter I had trouble with for years and singing also. I don’t stutter anymore and never went to any kind of speech therapy.

I’m a 29 year old who has stuttered since he could speak. Only over the last 5 years have i made serious progress in addressing it using Wim Hof and other styles of breathwork. I feel strongly enough about this that i intend to be speaking with you about it eventually, Dr. Huberman. I think the territory is ripe for exploration, and i feel strongly that i’m slated to be a soldier at the forefront of it. I feel that bringing the introverts into extroverted reality is where this game needs to/is going. MAPS might even agree…let’s get this party started!!

In the 70's I sought out a book on stammering in my local library. The theory advanced was that stammering related to too much testosterone in the womb before birth. That seems to have been dumped-no harm. My theory now is that there is a short circuit in the brain while talking which interrupts the flow and causes tension and stammering. Love to hear the latest learning that this curse through my 70 years has led to so much unhappiness

I’ll give you guys some personal input. I never stuttered before I was 19. When I was 19, I had a life threatening, very severe traumatic brain injury on the mid right side of my head and brain. I stopped breathing, couldn’t move, went into a coma, forgot how to talk and swallow, and had to have immediate life saving brain surgery to save my life. After this, I have severe stuttering whenever I get anxious, nervous, or even just indecisive about something. Idk if that helps, but I’m saying, to me, getting brain damage in the area of behind your right ear, and the area of the skull near there, to me, personally had caused my stuttering.

I stuttered really bad as a kid.. I was abused really bad and didn’t fully over come my stuttering tell I loved myself and got a lot of confidence . It was def from child hood drama for me

My parents are abusive to me and my parents and the rest of the family says it’s lying when I stutter but the truth is me stuttering is a language processing issue and it has nothing to do with lying

Finishing the end of someone else's thought is particularly common in neurodivergent people, specifically ADHD and Autism. Like you said, its a way of acknowledging that you are following the conversation and you understand it well enough to predict the outcome. I try to hold myself back from doing this as much as possible because i understand it can come across rude, but its really difficult as its such an unconscious thing. I have great anxiety over being misunderstood or misunderstanding others, and so this has become a sort of coping mechanism to show that im on the same track with the conversation. Nothing annoys me more than when im talking to someone and theyve been saying "yeah, totally, yeah..." etc, and then I get to the end of my thought/speech only for them to misunderstand the entire point or not see the outcome I was getting to. Makes me feel like they were just vocalizing while pretending to listen but didn't understand a word I was saying. So if i get to the end of sentence and say "it just made me feel so..." and the other person fills in "awful. Yeah, i totally get that" then im going to feel like i communicated well enough that they could put themselves in my shoes and interpret exactly how i felt. When I'm with my one friend who is also AuDHD, we tend to fill in eachothers sentences and thoughts a lot and the conversation just flows so natural between us, like we are the same person. But talking with other people, even my own family, feels like a weird performance ... like having to learn all the etiquette and rules for addressing royalty or something. Feels foreign to me. I have such a deep need for feeling understood and so I love conversations that are engaging in that way, that encourage others to empathize and get so passionate that they can't help but chime in. Its also the same reason us neurodivergents will often interject with our own similar stories or experiences unprompted. Its viewed as rude, but its our way of saying "I understand you, because..." and proving that we have the experience to be able to understand and we aren't just agreeing or offering platitudes because its socially expected. My husband expressed his feelings of not really caring about his deceased father's wife anymore, that he basically views them as being divorced because his dad wasn't happy in the marriage before his passing, and how he wishes he could straight up tell her that he doesn't want anything to do with her anymore but feels almost forced to be nice and include her in things still. I followed up with my own example of my dads ex wife and how i don't feel any connection to her anymore and could care less if i never see her again, but that i too feel this need to be nice to her and keep up this front that she is still a mother figure to me. While anyone else would have thought i was rude for interjecting the way i did, my husband has a similar way of talking and this actually helped him not feel so guilty about the way he was feeling. (Especially because he saw my ex-step-brother the day before when he was shopping and he gave my husband a hug ... husband thought it was so weird because he's not even family anymore). Anyways, that was a really really long way to say that neurotypical and neurodivergent speech styles and patterns are often vastly different, but it doesnt necessarily connect to a speech impediment like stuttering.

I practice word replacement. It’s the only way I can speak with minimal stuttering. People still notice but it’s less detectable. I know word replacement is more of an avoidance tactic but it works for me.

My teachers and school wanted me in a special needs school for being shy and having a stutter !! thank god I have such a good mum who told them I was okay! And I just have a stutter they treated me horribly for years in school but it made me a strong person I just hope kids today don’t get treated like this! Once I got to secondary school I had a stutter but I did so well for myself without the need of a special school I’d hate to think of how I’d of ended up :( probably forgotten about

No seriously interrupting is being participant in the conversation like it sounds like it’s rude but it’s actually a compliment!

If you think you're life is hard try going to interviews with stuttering i really lost a lot of great jobs because i was unable to say my name 💔

Love your work sir, thanks for everything.

I have stuttering, but I'm a future doctor 😊 Now i am confident 😌

I had a huge problem in childhood and puberty. Went to therapy without big success. Accidentally I found out that it has to be with insufficient meat consumption and happened to me after low protein meals, because my family was very plant -based eating. When I go keto it disappears completely, I am talking about 100 % . The diet is not sustainable longterm for myself so I stay at 80-90 % cure when I eat enough protein.

I was a Speech and Language Pathologist for 35 years. I NEVER stuttered. I was SEVERLY traumatized over 5 years ago which impacted my brain. I was paralyzed for close to a year and spoke like I had a SEVERE stroke which I did NOT have. When I started speaking again so others could understand me I severely stuttered. Now I STILL severely stutter when the stress I STILL have to deal with which caused the trauma to begin are too overwhelming for me to deal with. SOME conditions of trauma DON'T JUST DISAPPEAR AND ARE RELICS OF THE PAST AS THEY ARE VERY MUCH STILL OCCURRING IN THE PRESENT so unlike what you said in a prior podcast it does NOT become a BORING story to repeat as it's STILL occurring. And yes I am a thousand percent better in my trauma symptoms because I WORKED day and night for over five years to reduce and eliminate them but I still have a few because the conditions that caused them ARE STILL PRESENT.

I sometimes have the confidence to stutter in front of people when am happy.

I have been stuttering ever since I was in 2nd grade, theorized to be due to a traumatic event from my parents, and what i have noticed is it is very hard to come at stuttering as a whole, because most people have a small mess up in the mouth, while ones like mine are more neurological. I like how he was able to make an accidental connection between them with the idea of the neurodanglia though. Also, when he was speaking about the brain hearing a word and then saying it, I thought about how I stutter less on a word when I hear it from someone else, which is a really interesting topic to think about.

Overcoming stuttering can be a great challenge, I'm glad you are sharing good knowledge on this subject. /Arman Torabi M.D.

I have a life long stutter a very very bad stutter... To me there is a massive connection between stuttering and anxiety. Speech techniques are bullshit

There is so much more to stuttering than what this speaker is sharing. The simplicity of learn to speak slower and tap out a rhythm are so out dated and as a board certified stuttering specialist and speech therapist myself, this is a lot of misinformation and a disservice to those who stutter. We need to educate the public to accept stuttering as a different way of speaking. The experience of stuttering and societal stigma that views stuttering as wrong and bad and something to fix fuels the ongoing quest for fluency which can backfire and imprison someone who stutters. I suggest speaking to true experts in this field versus someone who does not work with those who stutter on a daily basis. This misinformation makes it that much harder for those who stutter, kids and adults. The fear of stuttering and resulting avoidance behaviors fuels the stuttering cycle and can be one of the biggest issues for many and misinformation like just do some behavioral therapy, tap something out, or speak slower again totally shows the lack of understanding of the complexity of stuttering and how each person is different and how the art of therapy is required along with a more up to date current understanding. This is disappointing to watch and to hear being a speech therapist that works with incredible people who stutter each day. One of the most frustrating things my clients here is "slow down" and listeners who think they know more about stuttering and speaking than they do.

i find it strange how this doctor stutters and said he doesn't haha I had a major psychoses related to my speech disorder because i truly can't believe that could happen to someone to have a stutter. Then I read viktor frankl and honestly.. so I already rarely stutter but I do sometimes and it still haunts me as usual but there was a time i went to university and I legit couldn't afford to stutter AND keep up with partying, school work, and the works - so each night when I used to play my video game, anytime a stutter thought (so like a vowel or saying my name the next day or whatever, the phobic fear of speaking) I would literally shut it off immediately. 'Nip it in the bud'; that way the hyper-intention mechanism can't actually seep into your brain causing the stuttering; let me know what you guys think! It truly might be as simple as 'just don't think about it - and you won't end up doing it'.

Bro stretch your mouth and speek with confidence,. When you speek don't over think about your stuttering. Its really work and your stuttering become reduced 90 to 95. % trust me ❤😊😊😊

I think it become worst when we remind those words in mind which. We are going to stay..like this is the problem when we concentrate on pronunciation of words in mind not the meaning or way of saying ..my personal experience is whenever i say words without repeat in mind i says it with fluency but when i pre say the word in mind before telling it become worse ..so this is also a habit of saying....in my point of view or what i predict is that normal people dont think of pronunciation of words they only think about effect of words on next person

Neurogenesis isn’t innately possible for humans however psilocybin is able to facilitate in neurogenesis. Under specific circumstances I believe it’s possible for psilocybin to cure stuttering.

High levels of dopamine can also cause speech blocks and stuttering

Though I appreciate the scientific method here studying stuttering, it isn' t helpful to constantly be pushing for a 'cure.' As a person who stutters and has been in speech therapy, the problem is not actually stuttering; rather the real problem is how society perceives stuttering as negative. Yes, it's a disability, but we don't appreciate others telling us that we're a problem and we need to be 'fixed.' The same goes for most other disabilities. Stop trying to fix other people and concentrate more on what you can do to be more accepting, patient, and kind. Please read the book 'Life on Delay,' by John Hendrickson and you'll learn a lot about what it means to be a person who stutters. In the end, no matter how much you study and observe, there is only one rule: be nice. That rule solves all problems.

If you talk with your hands and get a rhythm going you won't studder

To the people that are stuttering, you are not alone , i suffer too , my whole life has been turned into hell

Doctor okouromi. Your support and encouragement have meant the world to me, and I am thankful for your unwavering belief in my ability to overcome stuttering. You have not only helped me improve my speech but also boosted my self-esteem and overall well-being. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping me find my voice. I am forever grateful..🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

Do you have tips to outgrow stuttering?

Time continues to go by and be wasted....yet another summer has gone by and Ian has made no progress and no speech therapy. A damn shame. But this is yalla doing so I hope you feel accomplished.

One of the biggest cures for stuttering is rough housing for children and an excessive amount of positive touch... it calms the brain and helps the brain figure out boundaries

Love the great work sir 🎉❤❤❤

There is moments when my Brain locks up and it’s like I have to force the word out but I know that would be a bad idea, it would be stuttering mess. so I have to take a second or 2 reset my self.

I can speak properly when I'm alone but I stutter whenever I talk to other people... Idunno why... I hate myself because of this stutter :(

There is so much puzzles about it First Why we don't stutter when we are alone ? Stress trigger stuttering but it is not the case and sometimes stuttering happened without stress feeling Third there is some research about low brain metabolism or low brain blood flow Also high dopamine in people who stutter has been noticed in fmri There a lot to talk about i wish dr Andrew that you make a special episode for this 🤍

Ive stammered all my life and im not too bad now but still its totally ruined my life.

I have a brother, who when alive, was an accomplished actor. He stuttered, but not when acting. I would like to discuss this with you if you would like to. I m open to you contacting me.

Ive had one my entire life ;-;

When listening to someone speak whether in person or in a video, I’m able to say in my mind the words they’re saying as they say them. But I can only do it if I’m focusing on what they’re saying; it’s harder to do it if I’m distracted or in the case of a video, playing a video game while listening

When I was born, the doctor had to use forceps on my head. The nurses said it made my face have a “ perpetual smile.” Do you think that could’ve caused my stuttering?

thanks for this. now im actually very interested by the idea of the person saying words along with you + the sound going through the brain, processing it and activating the throat muscles. could there be a connection that videos are subtitled now and we can read sentences before they are spoken?

I have found that lipophilic beta blockers help my stutter.

I find I have an air blockage when I try to speak, and my tongue and jaw seem to lock up.

That's a good topic to derail a conversation

i hate when i don’t talk for a while because when i start talking a lot and long conversations i stutter because i can’t get to connect my sentences together and i stutter like my mind don’t comprehend what i’m trying to say it’s hard what can i do?

Why would an adult become stuttering while not having one as a child

Huberman just derailed the conversation

The main reason why we studder is because we’re to think what vocabulary words we’re going to use out are mouth

Since I'm shy in nature whenever I'm attracted to someone I totally stutter and get tongue tide. Has that happened to any of you?

im 42 and ive stuttered my whole life , best remedy that gets it as close to fluent is taking Psilocybin while on ketosis , 99.9 cured it

Weed is a cure for stuttering I live in Ireland I’m 26 stuttering since I was 5 no help over here so when I turned 18 I tried cannabis and it’s helped me to live to get a job and helped me to continue to survive

I am not stammering but have a problem that sometimes I can't pronounce the world correctly

I have been prescribed sertraline by my doctor to help my anxiety that increases stutter chronically. However I’ve just read reports that sertraline can make stuttering worse , I’m concerned and scared it could make my stuttering worse.

It’s breathing holding air in

It’s genetic, you need medications to modify the brain activity. SSRIs benzos etc.

Trauma, insecurity and the amount of sleep

Hmmm i even don't know what to do again

i also have this problem but i remember i wasn't like this from the start it just showed up when i was 7

I'd like to know about my personal case of stuttering. I did not stutter as a child, but as I developed psychological illnesses in teenage and adult years, I got to a point where I stuttered very badly. It seems to be related to my emotional instability. Is there research showing these kinds of things?

Neurogenesis is a great discovery and it’s proven to happen in humans! It takes only 3 days to build a new neuropath in our brain by MOVING CORRECTLY THE BODY MUSCLES responsible for performing a skill we want to learn:-) Including speaking. Anyone can get used to using correctly their tongue in only 3 days.

Speecheasy virtually cured my stuttering.

So basically what you’re telling me, is that some hidden childhood trauma caused my stutter?

There is an famous brazilian meme of a woman trying to give an interview but she was hearing her on words delayed on a headphone and she started to stutter but she was repeating the end of the words, not the beggining

IF YOU STUTTER - LOOK INTO THE WORK OF LEE G LOVETT. ! FUCKING DO IT. !

Don't fight with stutter, don't hold back, don't repress, don't hide stutter. Do not label it bad, do not try to speak fluent, ,do not control it but accept expressing stutter, give stutter it's total freedom,then transformation happened own its own, accepting whatever negative inside you, transformation happen, Root cause of sluttering is repression and fighting , we repress and fight with it because we have fear of judgement of people, what will people think if I express it, so instead of expression we hide it and we fight with it , that causes more sluttering, the more you fight with it , the more you will stutter, that'how blockage occurs "Acceptance is the alchemical process of transforming everything, in accepting your ugliness beauty arises, accept and ugliness disappear,grace arises, accept and sin is transformed into saintliness, accept and madness is no longer madness, let it happen and accept it, ". said by Osho He said"By hiding your misery you are not going to get out of it,you will create more misery,the first thing is to encounter it, if you are miserable then be miserable,just be yourself,never pretend to be somebody else,face it, go deep into it,take it out,uproot it from the unconscious and bring it to the conscious. Bring your whole mind to light and you will see all that is miserable ,start dying.."

I stutter everyday

I am stammer nd also my brother nd father also stammer . when I am alone in home. and read a newspaper alonely at that time I have no stammer nd also when I am in 1st yr I gave my introduction and sing a song infront of my senior also at that time I have no stammer bt when I try to explain something to other i stammer How I overcome my stammer in 1 month ? my age is 22 nd I am from odisha. What should I do for this ?

Has anyone else who stutters ever had problems with writing in front of someone?

Why can’t it go away permanently

I do not stutter when speaking but i do when i write, not sure if thats even a thing. It is effecting my life and studies so much. I cant write properly.

Is stuttering also belongs to genetics because in my family blood relation 3 person have stuttering problems more or less, And which is in blood relation? So any relation of genetics plays a role in that ?

Magic mushrooms helped with Emily stuttering

Can stammering cured by surgery?? Plz tell me carefully.

Im a spastic. Im talking and start stuttering? Wtf

Tf is Dan Campbell doing here?

If I didn’t stutter I would of been a manger in a big manufacture company.

The stuttering only goes away for me when I do H

Heavy metals In the brain

People can stop stuttering with psychedelics

Magnesium and vitamin D decreases around 95%!

I hate my life because I stutter.

I bite my tongue 😮

You guys smoke to much !! Cure for stottering: DELL FERRO AMSTERDAM PLEASE GO THERE

Sir, I have paid to you and after taking money from me there is responsed from you. You have cheated me and might be cheating so many others

Nah I stutter bad cus of weed