Stuttering and Anxiety

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, social anxiety disorder is characterized by marked or intense fear of social or performance-based situations where scrutiny or evaluation by others may occur. Feared situations often include speaking in public, meeting new people, and talking with authority figures. There are several reasons to expect that stuttering may be associated with social anxiety disorder. To begin with, stuttering is accompanied by numerous negative consequences across the lifespan which may increase vulnerability to social and psychological difficulties. These consequences are intensified during the school years when children become more involved in social and speaking situations. As a result, children and adolescents who stutter frequently experience peer victimization, social isolation and rejection, and they may also be less popular than their non-stuttering peers.