Stuttering 63gradually be reduced and stopped by the end of the term. His stutter had diminished significantly
outside the clinical setting, and what remained of it was tolerable to him. Thanks to counseling,
his self- esteem had improved dramatically, and combined with the reduction in stuttering, Chad
no longer felt socially hindered. He graduated from college and moved to a large city where his
occasional mild stutter did not unduly restrict his social life.
Case Study 3-7: Integrating Transactional Analy sis
Counseling Into Stuttering Therapy
Clarene works for the medical division of a large corporation. The com pany is a national leader
in heart valve and artery transplants. With a degree in microbiology, Clarene’s first and only job
has been with this prestigious corporation. One of her responsibilities is to run tests using the
scanning electron microscope. Animal tissue is sent to her lab, and she uses a state- of- the- art
microscope and other instruments to look for tissue degradation and signs of rejection. Her job is
exciting and demanding, and she looks forward to the daily challenges.
It has been nearly 10 years since Clarene completed stuttering therapy. As she recalls the
years of therapy she endured, she realizes that stuttering, like many of life’s adversities, has made
her a better person. Certainly, the stuttering- related rejection and embarrassment she suffered
while growing up added layers of maturational difficulty, but because of them, she learned a lot
about herself and others. In her early 20s, she was introduced to a counseling approach known
as Transactional Analy sis, which still provides a philosophy that teaches her how to deal with
stuttering and other impor tant life issues. This counseling approach was developed by Eric
Berne and gained widespread popularity in the latter 20th century. Even today, Clarene uses the
Transactional Analy sis concepts she learned in stuttering therapy in addressing relationship issues
and occasional feelings of inferiority, especially those related to speech. Transactional Analy sis
uses words easily understood and descriptive of psychological concepts; it is not fettered by unnec-
essary psychiatric jargon. It is based on research showing that most experiences stored in a person’s
mind can be retrieved, along with the feelings associated with them. On a day- to- day basis, those
memories, good and bad, are called up, forming and inf luencing the thoughts, attitudes, feelings,
and be hav iors of adults. According to Transactional Analy sis, there are three components of the
personality: Child, Parent, and Adult.
Clarene is happy to know that the Child in her personality is alive and well. This part of her
ego has both natu ral and adapted components. The part of her personality that needs and seeks
affection, ac cep tance, total freedom, and love is the Natu ral Child. This aspect of the Child holds
Clarene’s memories of her first grand experiences with life and her feelings associated with them.
It is curious and desires to explore the world.
The Adapted Child is the negative component of Clarene’s personality, and unfortunately, she
knows that it, too, is alive and well. The Adapted Child represents frustration and other negative
experiences associated with the socialization pro cess. It is the Adapted Child who conformed to
the wishes of her parents and teachers; it is passive, inadequate, inferior, and clumsy. For Clarene,
the Adapted Child represents memories of having speech that was “too little this or too much that.”
Stuttering was born in the Adapted Child. Sometimes, simply a word, touch, odor, or image can
stimulate stored images, internal monologues, and the feelings associated with the Adapted Child
psychological state, and they are the source of Clarene’s feelings about some speaking situations.
In Transactional Analy sis terminology, her Adapted Child is snagged by certain cues.
The Parent component of Clarene’s personality consists of regulating and nurturing forces. It
consists of thoughts, feelings, and attitudes learned from her parents and parent substitutes such
as the church and school, the “shoulds” and “should-nots” taught to children by authority figures.
As Clarene has learned, the Parent part of her personality leads her to think and act as her parents