Neurotic stuttering, also called logoneurosis, is a form of speech dysfunction caused by a psychological factor. This violation is expressed by a change in speech rhythm, the occurrence of repetitions and stammers. Neurotic stuttering is characterized by a convulsive syndrome of tonic and tonic-clonic type in the area of articulatory and respiratory-vocal muscles. It is included in the category of neuroses, as it is closely associated with mental trauma. Logoneurosis occurs mainly in childhood, most often it affects children 4-5 years old. At the same time, the bulk of patients with stuttering are males.
Etiology of disease
The main prerequisite for the appearance of neurotic stuttering is the situation when the psyche is traumatized. It can be a sudden stressful situation caused by a strong fright.or a fit of anger, and chronic emotional overstrain, for example, against the background of a long separation from loved ones or a difficult work environment. In the first case, most likely, the pathology will be of a short-term nature, while in the latter case, stuttering becomes permanent, and the likelihood of concomitant neurological diseases is high.
In childhood, the appearance of neurotic stuttering is mostly explained by the unfavorable speech situation in the family. This is due to the forcing of the child's speech skills, bilingualism, information overload, and so on. Some children imitate a stuttering family member.
Hereditary predisposition also plays a role in the appearance of neurotic stuttering. This may be due to a genetic deficiency in the speech apparatus.
The development of neurotic stuttering has not yet been fully studied. It is assumed that when logoneurosis occurs, a stable conditioned reflex connection is consolidated due to the formation of motor automatism. At the age of 2-4 years, the onset of neurotic stuttering is preceded by pathological fixation of speech stutters of natural origin as a result of the formation of speech. It is unreasonable to talk about pathology in this period.
Causes of development in children
Often there is a neurotic form of stuttering in children aged 2-5 years. Speech functions are among the last to be formed in a child, whilespeech can be imperfect and not fully formed for a long time. That is why the system may fail.
Scientists note the connection between the non-standard development of the child and the occurrence of stuttering. Some believe that at this age complex neurotic connections are established in the brain. If there has been an injury to this important organ, then the likelihood of stuttering increases. To date, you can find evidence that the pathology is getting younger and is increasingly common in children under two years of age. The causes of neurotic stuttering must be determined by a doctor.
Quite often, children who have been using a pacifier for a long time have difficulty pronouncing some sounds and suffer from stuttering. At the same time, the speech defect has the ability to develop rapidly. Stuttering is not typical for every child. As a rule, vulnerable, susceptible and emotional children who are predisposed to neurotic diseases suffer from pathology. Specialists characterize such children as neurotics. Consider several risk factors that can lead to the appearance of a neurotic form of stuttering in a child.
- Stuttering almost never appears out of nowhere. In any case, this pathology has a prerequisite and a factor that influenced its development. In the past, a strong and sudden startle was thought to be a typical cause of stuttering, such as when riding a ride, watching a horror movie or a loud firework display.
- The divorce of parents is considered a common cause of neurotic stuttering in children. Children suffer fromfamily conflicts, often hear quarrels of parents and talk about divorce, and sometimes even take a direct part in all the ups and downs. Due to age, a child cannot always understand what happened, as a result of which he acquires a feeling of self-doubt, uselessness and insecurity. All this can affect speech functions.
- Another reason for the formation of stuttering in a child is the appearance of a brother or sister and the accompanying jealousy. The child believes that parental care completely passes to the youngest member of the family, that he was left alone and no one needs him.
- Sometimes stuttering occurs as a result of imitating an adult or other children in the child's environment. There were cases when in a kindergarten group attended by a child with stuttering, after some time there were already several children with a similar pathology. Children tend to copy not only the good in speech, but also the negative points. Borrowed stuttering is more difficult to correct than acquired as a result of a psycho-emotional factor.
- Left-handers who are being retrained may also suffer from stuttering later on. The compulsion to use the right hand creates a hemispheric conflict in the child's brain. He has to reconfigure the work of the brain in an unnatural way for him, which leads, among other things, to speech disorders.
- Information overloaded children also often get logoneurosis. A modern child is forced to be in several information fields, which leads to an overstrain of the psyche. Parents do not understand that the child is difficultswitch from one subject to another, as a result, his brain receives a lot of sometimes unnecessary and age-inappropriate information and overload occurs, resulting in speech disorders and logoneurosis.
Symptoms and behavior
The neurotic form of stuttering is characterized by an uneven distribution of the severity of speech disorders. A child in different situations can cope well with a speech load without showing any disturbances, and in another case, speech is difficult to such an extent that the communicative process becomes almost impossible. As a rule, in a familiar and familiar environment, surrounded by close people, logoneurosis may not manifest itself or be slightly pronounced. The increase in the intensity of stuttering occurs against the background of excitement and emotional overstrain, with awareness of one's own responsibility and the significance of the event. It can also be quite difficult for patients with neurotic stuttering to communicate with strangers or speak in front of an audience.
The behavioral characteristics of a stuttering person are also imprinted. The patient tries to avoid the pronunciation of complex multi-compound words, resorts to various speech techniques to veil the existing defect, for example, by stretching sounds. In most cases, against the background of logoneurosis, logophobia develops. It can be difficult for a person who stutters to talk to others, especially strangers, developscommunication complex. Often a person refuses to speak at conferences and planning meetings, as he is ashamed of his speech defect.
Young children suffering from logoneurosis avoid participation in kindergarten matinees, and schoolchildren refuse to respond verbally in class. The pathology becomes most pronounced in adolescence, which leads to poor academic performance and maladaptation of the child.
Neurotic form and neurosis-like form of stuttering can manifest itself in various variations. Against the background of an acute mental trauma, a neurotic reaction may develop, which occurs after leaving the state of shock or affect. Factors such as an unfavorable family environment or chronic trauma to the psyche can lead to the development of preneurotic changes, when speech stutters appear episodically. In the future, the situation can move in two directions - both in the direction of reducing the defect, and in the direction of its consolidation and progression up to speech automatism.
Reinforcing stuttering
Fixation of neurotic stuttering is accompanied by the following conditions:
- depressive-type neurosis;
- sleep disorder;
- asthenia;
- neurasthenia;
- hysteria;
- phobias;
- enuresis;
- hypochondria.
In addition, there are vegetative disorders that correspond to the symptoms of vegetative-vascular dystonia. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to somato-vegetative and neurotic disorders.
Character of the course of the disease
The course of logoneurosis can be both recurrent and undulating, when the defect worsens during increased psycho-emotional overstrain. At the age of pubertal maturation, there is also a significant deterioration in speech problems. In the future, the severity of stuttering decreases until it is completely eliminated. An adult who suffered from neurotic stuttering in childhood can feel this defect again in a stressful situation.
Diagnosis
Neurotic and neurosis-like stuttering should be diagnosed jointly by a neurologist and a speech therapist. It is very important to identify the presence in the patient's history of a stressful situation of an acute or chronic nature. When making a diagnosis, speech is examined for various rhythmic disturbances, the presence of hesitation and stretching of sounds, repetitions of syllables, defects in fluency and tempo. The task of the neurologist is to check for abnormalities in the neurological status. As a rule, they are absent in logoneurosis. The specialist can detect a slight revival of reflexes and signs of dysfunction of the autonomic type.
An important step in the diagnosis is the differentiation of logoneurosis from neurosis-like stuttering. The latter type develops against the background of craniocerebral injuries, as well as with pathologies of the nervous system. This disease has the property of constantly progressing and is not accompanied by attempts to hide the pathology on the part of the patient or logophobia.
Neurosis-like stuttering is often accompanied byorganic personality changes, such as inertia, difficulty switching, or a state of constant euphoria. Additional studies should be carried out to exclude the organic origin of the pathology.
- Electroencephalography.
- Echoencephalography.
- Rheoencephalography.
- Magnetic resonance imaging.
- Computed tomography.
It is equally important to exclude the so-called speech stumbling, which occurs against the background of cerebral pathology and is accompanied by blurred speech as a result of articulatory disorder, impaired speech speed and rhythm, its monotony, difficult selection of words and rearrangement of semantic accents.
Also logoneurosis can accompany mental disorders such as oligophrenia, schizophrenia, psychopathy. In this case, you need to get the help of a qualified psychiatrist.
Treatment of neurotic stuttering
As a rule, the treatment of logoneurosis involves an integrated approach and the work of several specialists, including a neurologist, speech therapist, psychotherapist and psychologist. To correct stuttering, speech therapy classes are held on a regular basis. However, unless a situation that traumatizes the psyche is excluded from the patient's life, classes with a speech therapist will not work.
Methods of psychotherapy
To change the patient's perception of a stressful situation and eliminate its influence, work is being done with a psychologist and psychotherapist, during which the following can be usedmethods:
- psychoanalysis;
- psychocorrection;
- art therapy;
- psychological training;
- psychotherapy.
If the problem arose against the backdrop of an unfavorable family environment, patients are recommended joint psychotherapy with close family members.
Neurologist help
The help of a neurologist will be required to prescribe adequate drug therapy, which should be aimed at eliminating the signs of logoneurosis and its accompanying disorders. Depending on the complications that accompany logoneurosis, the following drugs may be prescribed:
- antidepressants;
- sedatives;
- tranquilizers;
- Neuroleptics.
Reflexology and the use of electrosleep
In addition, a specialist can prescribe reflexology and the use of electrosleep. Non-standard therapeutic methods, such as social rehabilitation, biofeedback therapy, hypnotherapy, can be connected to the treatment of logoneurosis. Treatment of stuttering can take quite a long time and require efforts not only from the patient himself, but also from his relatives.
We examined the characteristics of the neurotic form of stuttering.
