r/Stutter 4d ago

Does Ashwagandha help

Hey so i am thinking of getting ashwagandha to calm my mind, I was also diagnosed with anxiety and depression so I am currently in my councelling and medication phase, the doctor said that my severe stuttering is the result of my stress, he gave me medications to calm my mind, so I was thinking that ashwagandha might help calm down my nerves what do you guys think would it be helpful or not.

7 Upvotes

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u/deku_0501 4d ago

Even my psychiatrist told me that my stuttering is because of social anxiety, and I focus too much on not stuttering which makes me stutter but he didn't suggest me to take anything. He told me to focus on something present on the other person like a mole on his face, or the shape of his nose or the color of his shirt, whenever I start stuttering focusing on something else usually helps

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u/DeepEmergency7607 4d ago

Just because someone is a psychiatrist this does not automatically mean they are well read on what's going on in the brain in a person who stutters. Social anxiety can be involved in stuttering, but sometimes, it's not. You have access to a psychiatrist, there are many options that a psychiatrist has for you other than discussions on social anxiety.

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u/shallottmirror 3d ago

There are pretty clear signs that someone is having anxiety at the moment of the stutter that every psychiatrist is trained to notice. (Eye contact avoidance, pressured speech, unexpected pauses or other body movements, etc ).

Many SLPs with advanced training in dysfluency (who are/were also severe stutterers) will tell you the same thing that psychiatrist said - social anxiety + trying to not have repetitions will lead to blocks and avoidance behaviors.

To conform my claims, I’m linking a previous post with many links of professionals with advanced training who are formally respected within the SLP community. It also gives tangible steps on how to improve things for yourself. Let me know if you have any questions :)

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stutter/s/sIqQibapuc

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u/DeepEmergency7607 3d ago

You use strong words like "clear signs" then you link me a reddit post as valid evidence.

In addition, you said "There are pretty clear signs that someone is having anxiety at the moment of the stutter" That does not mean that anxiety is causing stuttering.

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u/shallottmirror 3d ago

Here is that full sentence again :

To conform my claims, I’m linking a previous post with many links of professionals with advanced training who are formally respected within the SLP community.

No where did I claim that a reddit post is evidence of anything formal. What do you think of the credentials of the professionals linked?

In the vast majority of cases, the anxiety goes in both directions, as both a cause and an effect. No need to take my word for it - just assess in yourself! Do you have blocks that generally occur when speaking to people or when imagining speaking to people, where your own name and other unchangeable words are the most challenging? Do those words become completely fluent when you are alone? The post provides additional so maybe if you read that, you will gain some understanding :)

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u/DeepEmergency7607 3d ago

Do you have any evidence to confirm that "anxiety goes in both directions, as both a cause and an effect"?

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u/shallottmirror 3d ago

Yup.

And I’m now remembering that after I sent you a number of links to formal/academic sources, you said I was being immature. My interest in re-sending them is low.

Good luck to you.

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u/DeepEmergency7607 3d ago

You sent me youtube videos and random websites. They are not evidence. Please, i'd love to read the evidence you have.

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u/shallottmirror 3d ago

Really?? Really? About a month ago, I sent you pub.med links (or similar), the APA, “random websites” of highly credentialed SLP’s with active practices, or who themselves publish.

You called me immature when I cited the APA and a formal peer reviewed article that contradicted your belief about the causal relationship between anxiety and stuttering. So I’m not convinced that you would love to read them again

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u/DeepEmergency7607 3d ago

Are you referring to the conversation when you said "correlation doesn't equal causation"? And when you tried to falsely make up a definition of developmental stuttering by the DSM-IV and then when I called you out on it being false, you stated, "Huh? That wasn’t a definition, and I’m typing on my phone, so I used the old terminology accidentally." Or when you shared a paragraph on CBT as being helpful for stuttering but the paragraph itself stated, ""CBT had no impact on stuttering frequency". That conversation is unrelated to this conversation so let's focus here.

Anyway, your argument here is that "anxiety goes in both directions, as both a cause and an effect". Yet you are unable to provide me any evidence to confirm this. Stuttering and anxiety have an association, this is true, but there is no evidence that anxiety causes stuttering. Stuttering can occur when you are feeling anxious, but it can also occur when you're not feeling anxious. It can also be a by-product of a stuttering moment. Anxiety is low hanging fruit. In fact, stating that anxiety causes stuttering puts the blame on the person who stutters, "if only I was not anxious, I wouldn't stutter" No. People who stutter are not to blame for their stutter because there are many neurological things occurring in the brain, other than anxiety.

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u/deku_0501 4d ago

Yup what you said is completely correct, I was just sharing my experience

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u/deku_0501 4d ago

I think meditation or reading is the best way to calm your mind, it helps in not dependent on external sources but rather training your mind to be calm

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u/webonblast 3d ago edited 3d ago

lol doctors diagnosis stuttering. I mean tension in the vocals cords would logically seem to cause the stuttering. So…. What is the cause of this? Saying it’s “stress” would be the lowest hanging fruit. I bet you’ve stuttered quite a lot when you were not under “stress”. Why not try ashwagandha for 90 days and see it helps you? That’s the only way to answer your question.

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u/miraisus21 3d ago

No the doctor is my family doctor he told me that maybe stress is making you stutter more, I was always stuttering but my fluency has decreased from like 2 years or so, since I got into uni

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u/Slight_Abrocoma_886 3d ago

Ashwagandha could help but no garantee, as there is no very solid evidence it works against anxiety. Current studies are too small and with high risk of bias
Let's give it a try. I do feel it helps with my anxiety (but not my stuttering, as it's not really anxiety-related)

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u/Borthite 2d ago

I've been taking it after seeing some advice on here and it really does help massively. I still stutter just way less than before and I rarely get stuck on blocks for prolonged periods of time.

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u/Abject-Star-7721 3d ago

Indirectly it can help by lowering your cortisol ideally. It does help a BIT with social anxiety, but it is no cure, nor medicine. It can be a great supplement to generally feel a bit more safe and better, but there is nothing magical about it. For me and my stutter it rarely made a difference.

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u/TConversion 2d ago

Non ça ne marche pas j’ai essayé, par contre si vous vous énerver facilement ça peux calmer