Presentation of Dr. Antonio Bitetti’s book to the London public at Hub Dot:
Stuttering an Integrated Approach.

Hub Dot

Anthropologie Store

Kings Road – Chelsea – London

I still have a clear memory in my mind, the most painful memory of my entire history as a stutterer. When, in front of the whole class, I was mocked for my stutter. That day I was much more nervous than other times, I did not want to be questioned in front of my classmates, but it was not like that. Our teacher wanted to question me and I had to face a test that that day terrified me more than usual. I remember that I stuttered a lot. My classmates started laughing at me and the worst thing was when I realized that our teacher, who was next to me, near the desk, was laughing too. I wanted to sink from the humiliation and shame.

Many times I suffered for my problem, but I never gave up, I had the foresight to look beyond my bitterness and my difficulties, I always thought about what I would become. I became a psychologist-psychotherapist and I deal with stuttering therapy. I completely overcame my problem, after having done a five-year group analysis. This experience made me understand that psychological problems exist within us, in the form of incorrect ideas and beliefs, dictated by the need to remain anchored to a past that no longer exists. Only for the fear of detaching from situations and intra-family relationships that are now unproductive and regressive.

I understood many things about myself and I saw them confirmed in years and years of therapeutic work on my patients. I understood well the resistances that are present in each of us and the effort that each of us should make to free ourselves from fear and difficulties. I organized these internal dynamics of the problem in an interpretative and methodological model that I defined: “Integrated Approach” and I expressed them in my books, translated into English and German.

My reflections on stuttering start from the assumption that the stutterer thinks badly of himself, not because he has no qualities, but because he does not know how to adequately channel his internal energies, because he learned as a child to hold back his emotional resources. Then he tends to project the same negative judgment onto others and therefore, he constantly fears being judged badly by others. Finally, he adopts an unproductive strategy that I define: “phonation control”. The stutterer, unlike others, when he relates, tends to hold back his energy and therefore holds back the strength necessary to relate well with others.

It is necessary to know that the stutterer when he is alone, in the privacy of his room, never stutters. Instead, when he speaks in public he is strongly conditioned, precisely because he constantly lives in fear of being judged badly. This is because he thinks badly of himself and everything starts from this factor. To speak well it is necessary to think well of oneself. It is necessary to know one’s inner strength, and direct it with the right awareness of being a strong and determined person. Our language is supported by a certain amount of energy, as is all our behavior. Knowing how to properly direct one’s character energy is the basis of our relational success.

Since 1997, my research in this field has allowed us to open up a new scenario in the treatment of stuttering and now, I can say with a good deal of certainty, that by adequately moving control from the mouth and freeing control over oneself, the right energy is freed to confront oneself freely and without blocks, to the full advantage of a strong perception of oneself and without hesitation.

I still remember it as if it were yesterday. Standing in front of the class….. My hands sweating……. My heart racing. The Teacher called me to the blackboard to test my spelling. I wanted the floor to open up and suck me in. ….my mouth.. frozen… I couldn’t push any words out. The class started to laugh…louder and louder…to make it worse… the teacher joined in. I sank into humiliation and shame. That is the most painful memory of my stammering history.

I grew up feeling socially isolated but that didn’t stop me from having ambition, getting a degree and becoming a psychologist with one passion and commitment – ​​understand the nature of stammering. So, I have developed my own method, written books this is my English version and I have …and will continue to dedicate my whole life to helping teenagers getting rid of this paralyzing condition. Every human being deserves to have a voice and for that voice to be heard.

Stammering is the result of an incorrect idea and belief that we create in our head dictated by our need to remain anchored in a past that no longer exists. When the stutterer is alone he does not stammer. But as soon as he is surrounded by others, he tends to project the same negative judgment he has of himself onto others hers. He is constantly afraid of being misjudged, he is afraid of facing life, he doesn’t feel strong enough and so he adopts an unproductive strategy: “phonation control”. He thinks badly about himself, because he does not know how to channel his internal energies properly, because he has learned to hold back his emotional resources as a child.

The key to speak well is to think well about yourself. To think well of ourselves we need to stop controlling our emotions and start expressing them without fear.

Parents ask me all the time ‘Antonio…..what is the secret for teenagers to grow into confident adults?’ – and I’ll give you my answer ….straight from the heart. We need to stop pretending that life is always perfect and happy and stop filtering and shielding them. Talk to your kids talk talk talk …… about your successes, your defeats and your fears and your struggles – don’t give the illusion that life is always positive. When they see that you – their role model – have experienced the full spectrum of emotions – that you are real

only then they will reach their full potential. Thank you!!.