Cognitive conditioning therapy in the treatment of stuttering.

A therapy is described in which clients vividly imagine the cognitions that usually trigger their stuttering, and then contingently experience a painful shock. With the cessation of shock, alternate desirable cognitions are imagined that are designed to facilitate fluent speech. A case study illustrating the treatment is presented. Stuttering is compared with addictive behaviors such as smoking, and it is concluded that cognitive commonalities exist among seemingly disparate behaviors. The cognitive conditioning framework provides an integrative model that can be usefully applied in a variety of situations.