Tongue tied.....

[Aeropig909]

Hello everyone,

I suffer from what I consider to be a mild stammer that tends to manifest itself under times of stress and is usually a series of slightly prolonged hesitations.

This has been no more than a minor irritation during my pilot training during the few occasions it has reared its head. However, I now think that it has affected my confidence to the point where if I ever get an interview for a first job, I will have built up the situation in my head so much I will not be able to control my stammer at all.

I have had little interview experience to date so this problem may prove to be a figment of my imagination, however I doubt it and I have been undergoing speech therapy to quite effectively control my speech in stressful situations. Whether it will be effective enough is another matter.

My question to you is: are you aware of any effective therapies which have helped anyone with similar problems?

Kind regards.

[Chitty's Leader]

Hi AP.
Read your post with interest. Now, while I am no expert at this, I thought I could provide you with some food for thought.
I have a friend who is a hypnotherapist and who has dealt with a number of people who have a stammer. As far as I know, she uses a combination of EFT hypnotherapy scripts and NLP techniques to assit her clients. Probably doesn't mean much to you, but it may be something to ask somebody who is qualified in this area.
I cannot say if such a course would cure your stammer, but it may well assist you in relaxing in stressful situations and allow fluid speech.
Like I said, I'm no expert, but it is something to think about.
All the best.

[Aeropig909]

Thanks very much!

A bit reluctant to go and see Paul McKenna in case he subliminally programmes me to pull my trousers down and tell dirty jokes when in an interview, but as you say, anything that helps you to relax when the pressure is on sounds good to me!

[Loose rivets]

There was a technique developed some time ago that made use of other muscle movements to take the focus off the stammer.

If I remember correctly, the arm for example, was caused to make small movements in time with each syllable. It worked well.

However, during an interview, one would have to confine themselves to perhaps clenching the fist in pulses, while keeping it out of sight.

I think that being up front would take a lot of the heat off, emphasizing that it was an interview thing, and did not happen while you were absorbed flying. A pleasant and open nature will win a lot of brownie points...and perhaps a bit of admiration.

If the late king had been able to simply say ‘bear with me folks, if you don't get embarrassed nor will I." there wouldn't have been the sickening tension all round him during the looooong pauses. But of course it wasn't done in those days.

There is certainly one pilot that I can remember that had a severe difficulty in getting his words out. He became a chief pilot!

[Simon853]

While not a stammer, I certainly suffered initially with being tongue-tied on the radio. Seems my mind would just freeze and I'd forget how to speak and what it was I wanted to say. Then an instructor gave me a fantastic tip that worked brilliantly: He told me to just talk as if I was bored. It slowed down the whole thought process and I instantly stopped having problems.

Another thing that helped me a lot is simulator using FS2004 flying on the Vatsim network, communicating with hobbyist (and often real-life trainee) ATC controllers.

Si

[Hawk]

Chitty..some useful advice there and not that I would disagree that hypnosis or a NLP technique is not sometimes the answer.

However, before anyone with a stammer gets to the answers, they have to know the questions. A stammer is sometimes a neurological and sometimes a psychological condition.

Aero..good luck with the treatment..but make sure what ever treatment you decide is from a UK registered psychologist/psychiatrist who can determine and treat for any other medical explanation for the condition.

[picollo]

Aeropig 909 check your pms

[MrBenip]

I think you will find a half bottle of lemonade laced with vodka just before the interview might be your saviour!

You'll be chatting to them like old friends. Slightly flippent I know but alcohol does remove self inhibition.
Just don't do it once you've got the job!