Nicholas Brendon faces down stuttering demon

USAToday.com
May 15, 2001

By W. Reed Moran, Spotlight Health
With medical adviser Stephen A. Shoop, M.D.

As Xander Harris on TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nicholas Brendon lives in a world where demons are a normal part of adolescent life.

But off the set, Brendon knows that many of us have a host of real demons we ultimately must face, and if we avoid confronting them we do so at our peril. "No one escapes being haunted by something that absolutely terrifies them to the core, but very few feel it's okay to admit what it is that haunts us," says Brendon.

The fear that beset Brendon at an early age was the onset of his uncontrollable stuttering. "I was seven or eight when it really became apparent. The more anxious and embarrassed I became, the worse it got," notes Brendon. "Of course, the snowball effect of fear and failure soon took over and soon my life became a living hell."

Brendon remembers being afraid to talk in public, afraid to talk to strangers, and feeling ostracized by the rest of the world. "The truth is that people were generally nice to me, but that's not what I noticed," says Brendon. "I couldn't help feeling people thought I was a moron, and my self-imposed insecurity constantly bedeviled me."

Brendon regrets that his self-consciousness about his stuttering significantly interfered with his social life throughout high school and beyond. "Look, I know what it feels like to believe you're 'different' in a bad way. I didn't even get it together to date until I was 21 or 22," says the handsome actor who plans to get married this summer.

"I just don't want people to suffer the unnecessary pain that I went through," adds Brendon, who is this year's honorary chair for National Stuttering Awareness Week, May 14-20.

Devilish disability

Stuttering is a communication disorder in which the flow of speech is broken by repetitions, prolongations or abnormal stoppages of sounds and syllables. Unusual facial and body movements may also be associated with the effort to speak.

According to the Stuttering Foundation of America (SFA), over 3 million people in the USA, or approximately 1% of the population, suffer from this disorder. Stuttering affects four times as many males as females.

The SFA emphasizes that those who stutter are as intelligent and well-adjusted as others, but they suffer a self-consciousness about their condition that often limits social and professional activities. Stuttering typically becomes a formidable problem in the teen years as dating and other social activities become increasingly important.

But the condition need not impede success in adulthood. Winston Churchill, John Stossel, Bill Walton, Carly Simon and even James Earl Jones are among the many people who overcame their stuttering.

Despite decades of research, there is no absolute consensus regarding the causes of stuttering, but factors contributing to its development include genetics, neurophysiology, child development and family dynamics, according to the SFA.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association recently revealed progress in the genetics of stuttering. One study involving a genetically homogeneous group of Americans identified three genes that are believed to cause stuttering within these isolated populations. Studies among more diverse American populations should provide their results over the next few months.

Experts have also studied anatomical differences among those who stutter. Anne L. Foundas, associate professor of neurology at Tulane University, used MRI technology to map the differences in the brains of those who stutter.

The results provide strong evidence that adults who stutter have certain anatomical anomalies in various regions, according to Foundas. The study also suggests that these distinct features may be more common in men than women, supporting the observation that 75% of stutterers are male.

Understanding and treatment

"The proper reaction of family and friends is instrumental to helping those who stutter react positively to their condition, and often create an environment where people ultimately seek help," says Lisa Trautman, assistant professor of communicative disorders and sciences at Wichita State University.

Trautman and the SFA advocate the following approach when interacting with a person who stutters:

• Pay attention and maintain eye contact — Acknowledge the condition, and wait patiently and naturally until the person is finished speaking. Avoid a reaction that implies stuttering is embarrassing for you or the speaker.

• Refrain from remarks that attempt to finish the speaker's thoughts — Even well-intentioned statements like "slow down" or "relax" can be interpreted as demeaning and are not helpful.

• Speak slowly and easily, but not so slow as to sound unnatural or condescending. After listening, respond logically and confirm what you understood you heard the speaker convey.

Trautman advises those seeking treatment contact a "fluency specialist" endorsed by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. In general, people attempting long-term changes in stuttering attend twice-weekly therapy anywhere from six to 18 months.

"If you've stuttered your whole life, it's unlikely that therapy will eliminate the condition completely," says Trautman. "But a knowledgeable speech pathologist can certainly make positive changes is a person's communication skills."

Stuttering therapy usually means changing long-standing speech behaviors, emotions, and attitudes about talking and communication in general, advises Trautman.

A list of sample therapy goals for teens and adults includes:

• Reducing the frequency of stuttering.

• Decreasing the tension and struggle of stuttering moments.

• Working to decrease word or situation avoidances.

• Incorporating effective communication skills such as eye contact, body language and phrasing.

Crawling from the pit

Brendon describes his battle with stuttering as a long struggle climbing from a deep, dark hole.

"I learned special exercises, and every day I still have to remind myself to slow down and concentrate," he says. "Constant repetition of tongue-twisters was like lifting weights for me, but patience and persistence have paid off."

Recent and forthcoming advances may make it easier for those who follow him.

A recent study reported by the SFA found that a combination drug therapy may prove effective among some patients. The study suggests that the anti-anxiety drug alprazolam, used in conjunction with certain anti-depressants, such as citaloproam, holds significant promise in the treatment of stuttering.

Technology may provide even greater advances. Dr. Joseph Kalinowski, director of the department of communication at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., believes he and his colleagues are on the verge of a major breakthrough.

"We know that those who stutter don't need to be taught how to talk," says Kalinowski. "Instead of treating the symptoms of a neurological condition, we hope, through relatively simple technology, to intercept the problem at its source."

Kalinowski and his staff have developed prototypes of devices that when placed in the ear like a hearing aid, create both auditory delays and modify the pitch of a stutterer's speech. The results are both dramatic and instantaneous.

"This delay and pitch alteration simply but effectively highlights a speaker's own voice, so that without creating anxiety, a person attunes more closely to his own voice at a basic biological level," says Kalinowski, who stutters himself. "The results address the underlying pathology, while circumventing what we call 'psuedo-fluency' — the attempt to correct the sound of one's voice through traditional speech therapy."

Whatever the ultimate solution to this problem currently affecting millions of Americans, Brendon knows that hope is available to all who suffer the frustration and embarrassment of stuttering.

"It's not a problem of character, and it's nothing to be ashamed of," says Brendon. "Once you look at this demon in the face, and don't run away, the fear slowly dissipates like a fog and there's nothing staring back at you."

"The day I decided to conquer my demon was the day I knew, no matter what, it wasn't capable of killing anybody."

menu
contact
The Webmaster:
Your name:

E-mail address:

Comment/Question:



mailing list
To be notified of updates to the site:
Subscribe
Unsubscribe


search NB.com



  
recent entries
A FanGeek Production

© 2000-2007