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From: Luc De Nil
Date: 19 Oct 2007
Time: 11:04:12 -0500
Remote Name: 142.150.170.252
Very interesting question. The role of medication in stuttering treatment is somewhat controversial. Some recent reviews suggest that such treatment has no or limited success. However, this may be different for neurogenic stuttering. Typically the medication taken by these patients is not for the stuttering but to treat another neurological or medical problem. Sometime this medication may have a secondary effect in decreasing or increasing the stuttering. A good example is the client I worked with who was receiving injections for pain. The pain was a result of another physical injury and the medication was intended to treat that symptom, not to influence her stuttering. She found that the reduced pain had a beneficial effect on her stuttering, probably because it caused her to experience less stress and she felt physically more relaxed. The medication did not remove or cure her stuttering, but certainly had a temporary beneficial effect for her. Whether or not there will ever come a time that medication would be a good treatment alternative for some forms of stuttering remains to be seen. I think a critical step towards answering that question is to continue our discovery of the neurological underpinnings of neurogenic stuttering.