Original Articles

Separating the Problem and the Person

Insights From Narrative Therapy With People Who Stutter

Ryan, Fiona; O'Dwyer, Mary; Leahy, Margaret M.

Author Information

Clinical Speech & Language Studies, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (Mss Ryan, O'Dwyer, and Leahy); Health Service Executive, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland (Ms Ryan); and Health Service Executive, Rathass, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland (Ms O'Dwyer).

Corresponding Author: Fiona Ryan, BSc, Health Centre, Millpark Rd, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland ([email protected]).

This work is part of studies leading to PhD degrees of the first two authors, under the supervision of the third author.

The authors have indicated that they have no financial and no nonfinancial relationships to disclose.

Topics in Language Disorders 35(3):p 267-274, July/September 2015. | DOI: 10.1097/TLD.0000000000000062

Abstract

Stuttering is a complex disorder of speech that encompasses motor speech and emotional and cognitive factors. The use of narrative therapy is described here, focusing on the stories that clients tell about the problems associated with stuttering that they have encountered in their lives. Narrative therapy uses these stories to understand, analyze, and address aspects of emotional and cognitive aspects of stuttering. In this form of therapy, the therapist helps the client deconstruct unhelpful, but widely held, discourses about people who stutter. Externalization is a core process in narrative therapy, involving the separation of the problem from the person. This process is an initial step in the reauthoring of the person's narrative. It is explained and illustrated with details from therapy with an adult who stutters.

Copyright © 2015 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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