Letters to the Editor: No stutterer should feel ashamed about taking medication

To the editor: As a lifelong stutterer and an active member in the stuttering community, I was pleased to see the Associated Press article about this condition that you recently published. However, I strongly disagree with the sentiment expressed at the end of the piece, that “taking medicine is ‘just taking away a part of you ... taking away part of your personality.”

Pharmacological treatment for stuttering is just another tool in a woefully small toolbox. It doesn’t seek to erase stuttering because it’s somehow “bad.” Instead, it can make the daily speaking tasks a bit easier and can be used in conjunction with traditional therapy.

I have fully accepted myself as a person who will always stutter and am proud of that part of my identity. But there’s nothing the matter with taking advantage of all possible treatments to manage it, especially if it’s severe enough to interfere with routine life.

Medication is just another tool, albeit a new and promising one and should be embraced by the community.

Catherine Moroney, Pasadena

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To the editor: Medication is not the answer for stuttering.

Ask a stutterer this: Who is the person they are afraid of that is causing their insecurity? It is usually the fear of a parent or someone who represents authority, someone who is being critical and causing the emotional trauma and anxiety that become so debilitating, expressing these feelings might lead to stuttering.

Jacquie Nemor, Santa Monica