THE INTERMITTENT TENDENCY

Paradoxical as the statement may seem, it is nevertheless true that one of the symptoms of least seeming importance marks one of the most dangerous aspects of both stuttering and stammering.

This is the alternating good-and-bad condition known as the Intermittent Tendency or the tendency of the stutterer or stammerer to show marked improvement at times.

This seeming improvement brings about a feeling of relief, the unreasoning fear of failure seems for the time to have left almost entirely; the mental strain under which the sufferer ordinarily labors seems to be no longer present; there is but little worry about either present condition or future prospects; the nervous condition seems to have very materially improved, self-confidence returns quickly and with it the hope that the trouble is gone forever or is at least rapidly disappearing. With these manifestations of improvement come also a greater ease in concentration, a greater and more facile power-of-will and an ambition that shows signs of rekindling, with worth-while accomplishments in prospect.

Hope now burns high in the breast of the stutterer or stammerer. They go about smiling inwardly if not outwardly, happy as the proud father of a new boy, at peace with the world. The sun shines brighter than it has for months or years. Every one seems much more pleasant and agreeable. Things which the day before seemed totally impossible seem now to come within their range of accomplishment. Such is the feeling of the confirmed stutterer or stammerer during the time of this pseudo-freedom from his speech disorder.

In his own mind, the sufferer is quite sure that his malady has disappeared over-night, like a bad dream and that freedom of speech has been bestowed upon him as a gift from the gods on high.

The higher the hopes of the sufferer and the greater the assurance with which he pursues the activities of his day, the greater is his disappointment and despair when the inevitable relapse overtakes him.

For disappointment and despair are sure to come just as sure as the sun is to rise in the heavens in the morning. The condition of relief is but temporary, and will soon pass away to be followed by a return of his old trouble in a form more aggravated than ever before.

Fate seems to play with the stammerer’s affliction as a cat plays with a mouse, allowing him to be free for a few hours, a few days or a few weeks as the case may be, only to drag the dejected sufferer back to his former condition or, as is true in many cases, worse than before.

The recurrence: With the return of the trouble, the bodily and mental reaction are almost too great for the human mechanism to withstand. Hope seems to be a word which has been lost from the life of the stammerer. The fear of failure returns with an overwhelming force mocking the sufferer with the thought of “Oh, how I deceived you!!”; the mental strain is exceedingly great so great, in fact, that it seems as if the breaking point has almost been reached. The nervous condition is alarming, the sufferer noting in himself an inability to work, to play, to study or even to sit still. An observer would note the stammerer or stutterer in this condition fingering his coat lapels, putting his hands in his pockets and removing them again, biting his finger nails, constantly shifting eyes, head, arms and feet about. If at home, the sufferer in this condition would probably be seen walking about the house, unable to read, to play or listen to music or to follow any of the accustomed activities of his life. If in business or in the shop, he would be noticed making frequent trips to the wash room, to the drinking fountain, to the foreman, picking up and laying down his tools, looking out the window, shifting from one foot to another, all of which symptoms indicate an acute nervous condition, brought about by the return of his trouble.

At this stage, the stammerer’s confidence is hopelessly gone, so it seems, and this feeling is accompanied by one of depression which finds an outlet in the expression of the firm belief and conviction on the part of the stutterer or stammerer that the disorder can never be cured, by any method, although just the day before the same sufferer would have insisted that his stuttering or stammering had cured itself and left of its own accord.

These conditions, both at the time of the so-called improvement and at the time of the recurrence of the trouble, will appear in greater or less degree in the case of every stutterer or stammerer whose trouble is of the intermittent type.

The dangers of this tendency: This period of recurrence is accompanied by almost total loss of the power-of-will, a marked weakening in the ability to concentrate, and if it does not result in insomnia (inability to sleep) puts the mind in such a state as to make sleep of little value in building up the body, replacing worn-out tissue cells and restoring vital energy.

The chief danger, however, resulting from these periods of temporary improvement, is the belief that it instills into the mind of the sufferer and more frequently into the minds of the parents of stuttering or stammering children, that the trouble will cure itself a fallacy greater than which there is none.

Stuttering and stammering are destructive maladies. They tear down both body and mind but they have not the slightest power to build up. And until a strong mental and physical structure has been built up in place of the weakened structure (which results in stammering and stuttering) a cure is out of the question.