THE EFFECT ON THE MIND
It is hardly necessary to describe to the stammerer who has passed
beyond the first stage of his trouble the effect of stammering on the
mind. Most any sufferer in the second or third stages of the malady has
experienced for very brief periods the sensation of thoughts slipping
away from him and of pursuing or attempting to pursue those thoughts
for some seconds without success, finally to find them returning like a
flash.
The stammerer who recalls such an incident will remember the feelings
of lassitude or momentary physical exhaustion, as well as the feeling
of weakness which followed the lapse-of-thought. This mental flurry is
but an indication of a mental condition known as Thought-Lapse, which
may result from long-continued stammering, especially a case which has
been allowed to progress into the Chronic or Advanced Stage.
A CASE OF APHASIA: One writer, in citing instances of thought-lapse, or
aphasia, tells of the case of a man unable to recall the name of any
object until it was repeated for him. A knife, for instance, placed on
the table before him, brought no mental image of the word representing
the object, yet if the word "knife" were spoken for him, he would
immediately say, "Oh, yes, it is a knife."
A chapter could be filled with instances of this sort, but I shall not
attempt to quote further any of the symptoms of aphasia in a stammerer,
for in cases that become so far advanced, there is considerable
question as to the possibility of bringing about a cure. I say this,
notwithstanding the fact that my experience with students having this
tendency has been very satisfactory indeed.
Cases of unreasoning despondency, which result in the stammerer's
desire to take his own life, are so numerous as hardly to require
comment. Very frequently you see in some of the large metropolitan
papers an account of a suicide resulting from a nervous and mental
condition brought on by stuttering and stammering. This condition seems
to be very marked in the cases of stammerers between the ages of twelve
and twenty, records showing that most of the suicides of stammerers are
persons between those ages.
The intense mental strain, the extreme nervous condition, the continual
worry and fear cannot fail, sooner or later, to have its effect upon
the mind. This is clear to any stammerer, who is familiar with the
mental condition brought about by the first few hours of one of his
periods of recurrence. Another case where the mental strain is
extremely great is that of the synonym stammerer--the mentally alert
individual who, in order to prevent the outward appearance of
stammering, is continually searching for synonyms or less difficult
words to take the place of those which he cannot speak. This continual
searching for synonyms results in a nervous tension that is sure to
tell on the mental faculties sooner or later, and I have found, in
examining many thousands of cases, that the synonym stammerer is
usually in a more highly nervous state than any other type.
MENTAL STRAIN EVENTUALLY TELLS: The effect of stuttering or stammering
on the sufferer's concentration is very marked. The sufferer notes an
inability to concentrate his mind on any subject for any length of
time, finds it impossible to pursue an education with any degree of
success or to follow any business which requires close attention and
careful work.
The power-of-will is also affected and the stammerer notes an inability
to put through the things which he starts and which require the
exercise of will power to bring to a successful conclusion.
A diagnosis of insanity is sometimes made in the case of a stammerer in
the advanced stages of his malady, while in other instances the mental
aberration takes the form of a hallucination of some sort, as in the
case of the boy who was of the belief that he was continually being
followed.
But regardless of what form is taken by the mental disorder resulting
from stammering, such cases are almost invariably found to have long
since passed into the incurable stage, although positive statements as
to the individual's condition should not be made, as a rule, without a
thorough diagnosis having first been made.