You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
In his Introduction Dr. Hunt emphasizes what psycho-analytic investigations had already disclosed, that stuttering is pre-eminently a psychoneurosis of which the speech disorder is a monosymptomatic manifestation. The volume is written in a clear, simple and direct style. As is necessary for the audience of stutterers, parents and teachers to whom this book is addressed, the psycho-analytic principles on which the work of the authors is based are expressed without any overloading of technical terms.
It is admitted that the beginnings of speech are manifested in chewing and suckling and that in learning to talk there is a suppression of all these infantile non-speech movements. This statement and a few other hints scattered throughout the volume are practically the only references to the important part played by the oral libido mechanisms in stammering. No attempt is made to elaborate on these dynamic mechanisms beyond a brief discussion of the manner in which too early socializing of the excretory functions has produced an increase of stuttering. This is a tacit admission by the authors of the important part played by the oral-anal mechanisms, but there is only a brief reference to the anal components themselves.
The chief feature of the volume is its insistence that stammering is a psychoneurosis whose origins are deeply imbedded in the unconscious emotional life. Consequently any treatment by speech and phonetic drill is not only superficial but likewise useless; a sound psychological therapy must have as its aim the elimination of these unconscious emotional difficulties. In the discussion of theories, the authors severely and justly criticize the theory that a conflict of languages or a handedness dominance can produce stuttering.
The best approach to the treatment of stuttering is the psychological one; for adults, either psycho-analysis or individual guidance work, for children, a special nursery school. However, the authors maintain that psycho-analysis