The symptoms of stuttering and lazy tongue or crooked tongue can be greatly improved with basic stress management techniques and hypnosis.
The phrase “lazy tongue”, which I coined, basically speaks for itself. When the affected person tries to speak, the tongue appears to be lazy, crooked, and simply does not move fast enough to enunciate what is being spoken. The result is slurred speech or stuttering. It often feels as if the crooked tongue is enlarged, and because of this sensation it is often easy to bite the tongue or the side of the mouth, which is painful.
Usually, stuttering is not necessarily associated with a lazy tongue, but more often simply stuttering is associated with excessive tension in the mouth. Although one can begin to suffer from lazy tongue at any age, stuttering is often a holdover from childhood.
The problems related to lazy tongue and stuttering are similar. Stuttering is often associated with a less healthy self-image resulting from a conditioning experience of a shameful nature as a young person, or from having an overbearing and critical parent. Lazy tongue, on the other hand, is usually the result of a major stressor, such as the loss of a marriage, the death of a loved one, the loss of a job…
With both stuttering and lazy tongue, there is a situation of low self-esteem. However, an increase in self-esteem (albeit helpful) will generally not solve either problem without a stress management intervention.
For example, Carl was 19 years old and in college. Stuttering since elementary school, he successfully stopped all stuttering within three weeks of stress management training. He came home during semester break and promised his father to clean the garage on a Saturday.
Carl got distracted and never got around to keeping his promise. His dad came home from work later on Saturday, noticed that the garage wasn’t clean, and called Carl a “fucking fool” for not cleaning the garage. Carl’s stutter returned instantly.
This is a case of having an overly judgmental, overbearing parent who, in combination with the son’s sensitive nature, contributed to his son’s stuttering, often making overcoming stuttering a two-part program.
1. Use basic stress management skills involving deep rhythmic breathing and muscle tension relaxation exercises for the various muscles of the jaw, mouth, and tongue.
Deep breathing in the diaphragm is for composition. Muscular exercises consist of stretching the jaw in various directions, stretching the tongue and pressing it against various places in the mouth. It also involves tensing the facial muscles. Every time you tense your muscles, they tense to the point of extreme discomfort, almost to the point of fatigue. Then the tension is released and you do your own mental programming as to which feelings you prefer and which you don’t.
2. Self-hypnotic affirmations are used to change perspective in order to build confidence and build self-esteem. The focus is on dealing with the emotions of rejection, disappointment, and frustration. Through hypnosis, the individual moves to embrace the emotion and then move beyond it to benefit in some way from the experience.
An enlightened approach to stuttering and lazy tongue involves more than one approach. While many shows only focus on the mechanical, you wonder why obvious self-esteem issues are left out or only dealt with in passing. It is clearly a mistake to ignore stress management or self-esteem issues. Doing the physical exercises and dealing with the mental issues of building self-esteem produces real results.