speech impediment

[angryteabag]

Hey guys, i have a question about something ive been developing lately and need a second opinion.

two years ago i was at high school, I used to be really out there, i had a huge vocab and pronounced my words clearly/strongly and had a completely different mindset. i felt free enough to talk to strangers on the street, had goals and was energetic.

I finihsed high school and my life pretty much stopped. I spent the next year staying home and playing computer. the only conversation i have is with my parents or online and thats never longer then a few sentences. Ive lost motivation to go outside now and dont like talking on the phone, answering the door etc and i dont know why. whenever i talk to people i feel as though im limited in the words i use and my sentences are often badly structured and dont make sense.

i looked back at the past few years and wonder where the charismatic me went and why i cant wish him back at will. Ive started university now and i miss a lot of whats happening because i just dont get whats going on, i always end up looking weird when i talk to people so i dont and its making me feel like the weird guy who sits in the corner of the class. i went to a doctor and she refereed me to a councilor but she said it sounds like ive developed depression and anxiety and prescribed me citalopram. i cant take it because i have gastritis and my stomach ends up having a fit and i feel like shiiiit for 4-7 hours.

im worried that im going insane or developing a psychosis and thats why my thought trails and sentences have been lacking in sense.

But yeah, What do you guys think?

 

[addictivepersona]

While I don't have an answer for you, just figured I'd let you know that you are not alone... I, too, have developed a speech impediment over the past year or so of not really talking too much...

Hopefully someone can shed some light on this...

 

[malakaix]

im worried that im going insane or developing a psychosis and thats why my thought trails and sentences have been lacking in sense.

Whoa, lets not jump to conclusions

Im willing to guess that because you've spent such a large amount of time inside.. you havn't been required to maintain these social skills, so naturally your going to feel anxious because you've been use to a solitary environment for so long, which would more then likely be effecting your speech and sentence structure.

My advice would be to just get back out amongst it, build your social skills up again.. the only way to deal with it is to immerse yourself in it, over time it'll feel normal again and the anxiety will fade.

 

[angryteabag]

thanks for the advise!

Saw a councilor today and he outlined how therapy would help me, its supposed to detach me from my current situation and allow me to see my life from a third point perspective.

its so strange though, A few hours ago i smoked some bud for the first time in very very long. it was some potent sativa, i started reflecting on my life and i could see it from a totally different angle. analysed things about me that i never though about, for instance i dont go out with friends because im afraid of commiting to anything unless i have another option out. after like an hour of some serious concentrated thought i just started feeling like a million bucks, i felt like all of this depression was in my head and that i cycle how bad i feel in my head and i end up just feeling bad about everything.

I put on the best clothes i had in my wardrobe, did my hair, went out and had a blast with some mates i hadnt seen in ages. for the first time in so long i felt like i was the big character i knew and loved.

Maybe its just the weed? ill find out tomorrow when it wears off

 

[Fawkes]

^or maybe it was the confidence?

 

[Dave]

Speech, like any other skill, will fade if not used regularly. I stutter, and I've noticed over the years that during times when it is worse I talk less, which leads to it getting even worse, etc... Now, I've had the skills to control my stuttering ever since I was twelve, but it takes constant work to keep those skills sharp and useful. The more you hang out with your friends and talk, the easier it will become. Besides, being sociable generally feels good.

 

[iPKNHRD]

Yeah I think confidence plays a factor here. I sometimes develop a stutter and strangely enough it goes away.

 

[Dave]

In my case the stutter is permanent, but some people definitely stutter when they're nervous. I tend to stutter more when I'm tired, excited or upset, but more because I don't think about what I need to do to not stutter than anything else.

YMMV, etc...

 

[angryteabag]

i just got called awkward by a chick, for like the 7squillianth time. /downbuzz/downbuzz

 

[Dave]

Fuck 'em. Who cares what random people think?

 

[Mafioso]

dave i also stutter when im nervous or excited. sometimes i'll start sentences and not even be able to finish my thoughts because i get so nervous or excited. what are things you did to overcome and deal with your stutter?

 

[Dave]

A year of regular and intensive speech therapy when I was six, less regular speech therapy until I was ten and a very intensive (essentially immersive) speech therapy camp when I was 12. Lots of time, effort, and money that my parents didn't really have.

I owe my life to that therapy though. My stutter was quite severe, to the point of developing facial and even body tics to try to 'force out' stuck syllables. In essence, this therapy reroutes your speech pathways through a slightly different area of your brain by teaching you (more or less) how to project your voice. It was found that people with severe stutters often would not stutter at all when they sang. Early iterations of the therapy essentially taught people to change their speaking voice to a sort of monotone singing voice, which eventually mutated into the voice projection method.

It is a pretty involved process, but there are a few pointers that I can give out. The key is to make everything about your speech as smooth as possible. We actually started by learning to breathe smoothly, from the stomach (a real boon later on with playing the flute and yoga), as smoothly as possible. When speaking, especially when you know that you're excited or nervous, slow down a bit. Not enough to sound, well, slow, but maybe pull back 25% or so. Soften hard consonants, t, k and p were the worst for me, but I'd even get hung up on softer ones like d and m. Slur your words. This sounds weird, and it will be weird at first, but as you get better at it the slurring becomes less noticeable and more of a slight connection between the words.

This is all prevention though. Once a stutter starts, the simplest thing to do (and often the hardest) is to stop talking. Take a second, recombobulate a bit, and then start again, a bit slower and a lot smoother. Easier said than done, but practise and patience makes perfect.

There's a lot more to it, but this is a good start. Feel free to PM me if you had any other questions about it.

 

[SilverFeniks]

How often do you smoke cannabis?
I didn't realize it until a couple years ago, when I started using heavily, but cannabis severely messes up my speech skills/vocab. Not just when I'm high, the next day too.
I talk to hundreds of people a day (at work), and the difference between when I'm high (at work) vs. high after work vs. totally clean is quite frightening.
If my system is green, I stumble/mumble/slur my words, and my thoughts seem to get lost in translation as they exit my mouth .. even if repeating something I tell people every single day for months on end.
My overall quality of diction increases markedly after several days of abstinence as well.

Like you, I've also feared losing my once-impressive brain power after completing school and settling in a rather unchallenging career. I can't concentrate for sh*t anymore either, though that's probably a result of years of drug abuse.

But yeah, social isolation has a lot to do with it.
but hey, everyone's different. I can't get enough of strangers in my life, I go out of my way to be as helpful as I possibly can at work (this to a group of often-confrontational felons), simply because I love conversing with people .. but I've never made any attempt to meet any of my neighbors, for some reason I'm completely uncomfortable in personal social situations. I haven't made a new friend in years, never had a real girlfriend, never will.