Separating the Problem and the Person: Insights From Narrative Therapy With People Who Stutter
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.