Anxiety, Social Phobia, Depression, and Suicide among People Who Stutter; A Review Study

Mental disorders in people who stutter are controversial among researchers. This review study aims to probe four common mental disorders, including anxiety, social phobia, depression, and suicide in people who stutter (PWS) as well as in people who do not stutter (PWNS).

For the purpose of this review study, we searched 5 combined keywords, including stutter and anxiety, stutter and social anxiety, stutter and depression, stutter and mental disorders, as well as stutter and suicide on Science Direct, Springer, Google Scholar, and Scopus from 1985 to 2020. From among 321 papers searched, a total of 34 research papers were related to this study.

According to the results, anxiety and social anxiety were the most common mental disorders in the stuttering population. Unfortunately, most studies on stuttering and mental disorders have been conducted on adults, while mental disorders, especially anxiety, most likely occur during adolescence. Findings on depression were very heterogeneous, accordingly, sometimes no difference was observed, and sometimes the rate of depression was found to be higher in the PWS than in the control group. It seems depression in PWS increases with aging. There is no adequate research on the relationship between suicide and stuttering, but a positive association has been established between suicide and anxiety as well as between social anxiety and depression.

The rate of anxiety and social anxiety was higher in PWS than in PWNS. We need more research on mental disorders in PWS because various psychological aspects, especially depression, have not yet been fully studied in people who stutter.