The King's speech

April 3rd, 2011 by Rudi Dorenbeck-Werth

I guess that it is almost impossible not to have heard about this remarkable film.  It goes without saying that I have not chosen the title of this month’s news letter to discuss the value of the awards the film has received nor what Queen Elizabeth is known to refer to as the ‘Firm’ (as did her grand-father King George V) i.e. the Institution of the British Monarchy, but rather to reflect on the speech impediment of King George VI and the benefits hypnotherapy can bring to others who live with that condition.

According to the British Stammering Association there are 720,000 adults and children in the UK who stammer. Still according to the BSA there is no single answer to the question why do people stutter or stammer nor is there a one single type of stuttering or stammer. I came across the page http://neurology.health-cares.net/stuttering-causes.php which suggests that the exact cause for stuttering is unknown; however there are three leading theories that propose how stuttering develops:

Stuttering is a learned behavior Stuttering is a psychological problem The cause of stuttering is organic.

The article suggests further that all children at the language learning stage are at some point “ disfluent i.e. speak rapidly, searching for the right words, etc. […]If the child is critised or punished for this it may develop anxiety about this disfluencies, causing increased stuttering and increased anxiety. “  If this were to be  the case, then, as any learned behavior, it can be un-learned.

Harltand’s Medical and Dental Hypnosis (p449) gives some re-assuring evidence how hypnosis can help the client to deal with their stutter and likewise the BSA agrees to the benefits hypnosis can bring to our clients.