Dr. Jeffrey L. Gurian Healer, Spiritualist, Cosmetic Dentist, Filmmaker and Comedy Writer

Jeffrey Gurian on Lime Radio with Karen Salmansohn – Be Happy Dammit Segment 1 | Be Happy Dammit Segment 2 | Be Happy Dammit Segment 3

Jeffrey Gurian discussing stuttering on “All Night with Joey Reynolds” – View Video

Jeffrey Gurian discussing stuttering with Valerie Smaldone on “Valerie’s New York” – View Video

Dr. Jeffrey L. Gurian has developed a technique for conquering stuttering. Considering the fact that he stuttered very badly until he was in late 20’s and beyond, his recovery is so complete that even long-time stutterers–who are usually the best at spotting other stutterers–say they would have no way of knowing that he ever stuttered at all. According to Dr. Gurian, most speech pathologists have never stuttered in their lives, and although they can empathize, there’s nothing like learning from someone who’s been through it themselves.

Dr. Gurian also sees patients privately for treatment, and can be reached at [email protected] for an appointment. Best to write an e-mail first with the details of your stuttering problem, how old you are, how long you have been stuttering, where you are based, and what treatment you’ve tried if any, and again send it to [email protected] 

YOU WILL BE ANSWERED PROMPTLY!!!

TESTIMONIAL FROM A PSYCHOLOGIST- 95% CURED-5/25/19

A PSYCHOLOGIST WHO WAS CURED

While running on a treadmill one day in the fall of 2017, I found myself listening to a podcast. As the miles clicked by, I listened to the podcast guests talk about various things. In the middle of their conversation, one of the guests launched into a story of his experience as a stutterer and overcoming the affliction. I still remember how dumbfounded I was, and how my immediate reaction was one of disbelief. He sounded perfect. This guy couldn’t have stuttered, and if it he did, it was probably something mild and he overcame it as little kid. Then he started talking about how he works with stutterers to help them overcome it, too. “Who is this guy? People don’t overcome stuttering,” I thought to myself. 

As an aside, it’s funny to think back on my first response. Not only was I very wrong in my assumptions, I didn’t yet have the perspective to understand how negative my own thinking was and how rooted my mind was in staying a stutterer forever. I’m not that guy anymore. 

Anyway, something about his story and way of speaking resonated with me, so I took down his name and decided to look him up later. His name, of course, was Jeffrey Gurian.

In one of Jeffrey’s books, he makes the case that when you leave your front door and turn left, the rest of your entire life is going to be different than if you turn right. That day on the treadmill I could have easily been listening to music, or not paying attention to the podcast, or cut the run short, or a host of different alternatives. But that day I heard Jeffrey on a podcast talking about stuttering, and it set off a chain of events that has put me on a completely different path. It’s been more than 18 months since I first spoke with Jeffrey, but let me rewind a bit… 

I’ve stuttered for as long as I can remember. As a child, my parents diligently took me to speech therapy multiple times every week. I learned all of the techniques the therapists taught: bouncing words, easy onset, etc. But I would leave the speech therapy room each time and be back to blocking hard on every other word.

 This lasted until I was about 12 years old and went to a very intensive summer program at Central Michigan University. For six weeks, we had therapy for about eight hours a day. I loved it, and started to gain control over my speech. When the camp ended, I was fluent.

I returned to the camp the following summer, but it wasn’t as useful the second time – I was already fluent. It was like having a padlock released from my speaking mechanism. It was absolutely incredible. And it lasted for about 6 years.

 By the time I graduated high school, I had even made a name for myself as local actor. There were articles in the paper about my performances, I was winning awards, and I was speaking with agents in Chicago and small time directors in New York about possible projects.

But my stuttering had returned – it was mild, but I was blocking a bit again. And although I fell out of love with acting, I went off to college to find my next adventure.

 During college, my stuttering would systematically come back. Over those four years, it slowly returned, every year a little worse than the year before. Still nothing like when I was a child, but noticeable and problematic. While in school, I discovered my love for science, and behavioral science specifically.

 Growing up I never had any interest in psychology, but by the end of undergrad I found myself eagerly applying to graduate schools for doctorate programs. I had found my niche. And the stuttering came along for the ride.

 While in graduate school for five years, my stuttering continued to progress. I gave some halfhearted attempts to treat myself, but those attempts were ineffective. By the time I graduated with my PhD in psychology, stuttering was back as a part of my life. Still not as bad as when I was a kid, but I found myself avoiding phone calls, contorting my face to get sounds out, etc.

 Over the next few years, I would attend local National Stuttering Association meetings, but didn’t find them helpful. I empathized with the others who stuttered, many worse than I stuttered, but I didn’t find what I was looking for, and eventually stopped attending.

 And then, in 2017, I started looking for treatment options. And wouldn’t you know it? I happen to randomly hear Jeffrey talking on that podcast about stuttering. The next thing I knew, I had scheduled an introduction call with him to hear what he had to say.

 During our first call (and first few calls), I had a chip on my shoulder. “How do I know this guy really stuttered?” Please understand, at this point, I didn’t know anyone who had overcome stuttering completely, so I was hugely skeptical. As a comic, dentist, spiritual person, and person in the entertainment industry, we also had very little in common.

 I was, and am, a hard-edged behavioral scientist. This guy was talking about the subconscious mind, spiritual energy, heart wounds, and other things that seemed like woowoo to me (you remember that chip on my shoulder I mentioned earlier?) But as I asked him questions, and we dove into these concepts, I found that I could reinterpret all of this into my own lexicon, and it started to make sense.

It became clear why what he was saying resonated with me – it was sound and rational. Jeffrey had, on his own, found the cure.

 There was no magic cure, it’s all hard work and self development. Soon, I was using Jeffrey’s lexicon, and his ideas and perspectives seemed to become even more clear to me. 

 This would launch me on the last 18 month journey of convincing myself that I no longer need to stutter, or as Jeffrey likes to say, that it’s not a valid response anymore. But what I didn’t understand until about a year into working with Jeffrey, is that stopping stuttering for good is really about changing myself at a deep level.

 It’s about developing into a better version of myself who doesn’t need to stutter anymore. It’s not a hack, or a trick; it’s literally developing a positive mindset through purposeful practice of affirmations, reading out loud, and evaluating each stuttering incident to unpack why I may have (subconsciously) decided to stutter at that moment.

 It’s a lot of work. But I still remember the first time I said a particular word at work that I hadn’t said in years. It came out smoothly without even thinking about it. I remember colleagues telling me that I just seemed happier. And these sort of things are just the tip of iceberg. What I’ve realized is that the version of myself who doesn’t stutter is a really great guy.

 As I’ve developed my speech, I’ve made other positive changes. I ended a long-term relationship that had run its course. I bought my first house. I got back into endurance events and ran my first marathon in more than 10 years. My confidence is increasing while my ego is decreasing. The effects are profound. And the list of positive outcomes from the hard work goes on and on. And it all relates to speech. 

 I’m 95% fluent today, and only have a big noticeable block maybe once every two weeks. But I don’t avoid situations anymore, I don’t get hung up on speech anxiety, and I know that 100% fluency is in my future. And 100% fluency won’t be about tricks or avoiding words or anything of the sort: it’s that I can tell that I’m very close to being a person who no longer needs to stutter.

 Sure, I wish I was writing this after stopping stuttering completely, but I can’t rush my own mind to stopping, and perhaps someone will read this and it will influence them to seek support from someone who has actually overcome the affliction. 

 It can be done. I’m almost there. And my entire life has improved significantly as a result of the hard work and the support of Jeffrey. 

Dr. Joe, 2019

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 A STUTTERER WHO WANTS TO HELP OTHERS

Dear Dr. Gurian,

I have been meaning to write to you but have not had a chance lately. I just wanted to thank you for the amazing and dramatic changes that your therapy has made to my life.

I had experimented with many other forms of therapy before finding yours. All had either nonexistent or negative impacts on my speech. The reason that your therapy works while other types don’t is because you do not teach a trick or weird speaking technique. You simply eliminate the cause of stuttering based on the fact that there is nothing physically wrong with people who stutter. You taught me that I am not a “stutterer,” but I am (or WAS) just a normal person who happens to be inflicted with a bad stutter.

You have a unique respect for people who stutter because you used to personally stutter. The experience of stuttering automatically gives you more credibility than any “speech therapist.” The vast majority of “speech therapists” really don’t have the slightest idea of what it is like to stutter, so they lack respect and compassion for their patients. In fact, I now believe that while some have good intentions, most speech therapists specializing in stuttering treatment are just trying to make money without really caring if their therapy is effective. They think the first “S” in stuttering is a dollar sign missing the vertical line. You are just the opposite: not only is your therapy more effective than any other I have ever experienced, but it is also significantly less expensive.

I am still amazed how I found you. One night I was watching the evening news on TV, and there was a story about this revolutionary new product called the “Fluency Master,” which is a product that goes behind the ear and is supposed to “trick” you into not stuttering in some crazy way. I had heard of something like this before, but did not really know much about it. They mentioned a website, so I decided to look it up. The website claimed that this “miracle product” worked in ninety-something percent of patients who tried it.

Please understand, before I began therapy with you, whenever I heard the word “stutter” I would stutter even more. So, since stuttering was already in my head and my fluency for the next few weeks was destroyed anyway, I decided to do some research on stuttering and this product. As expected, I found out that the “Fluency Master” only was prescribed to approximately three percent of patients, and its effects usually wore off after about two weeks. Oh yeah, it also costs over $5,000 and is not covered by insurance!

So, as I now had entirely stopped even considering trying this product, I did some more research on stuttering. Within just a few minutes, I came across your website. So, thank you very much “Fluency Master!” Your influence helped me find Dr. Gurian’s website.

Now I must admit, before I began your therapy I was really not even a remotely spiritual person. Even when I was looking through your website, I was not very confident that this was a valid treatment method. However, at the same time, I liked what you were saying. In fact, just by reading through your website, I began stuttering somewhat less. So, despite the fact that I was not a spiritual person and I had to travel 150 miles each way, I made an appointment to see you in December 2003. Remember, I had to make a long trip from New Jersey to New York City to see you, while I really had no idea what I was getting into. For whatever reason, I had a good feeling about it. I’m glad I went, as it was one of the most influential decisions of my life.

So, I went to the appointment and we went over your method on a very basic level. Even after that, I did not have a tremendous amount of faith in the program. It really did not make much sense to me. I thought about it for several weeks, and then decided to go for it and began participating in the necessary exercises. My next appointment was in February 2004. Even after that short period of time, my speech had improved dramatically; much more quickly than I had expected. So, at this point I was appropriately very excited, as I had finally found the therapy that actually works!

After that, I went to several more sessions over the next few months and worked hard at home. Now it is the end of May 2004, just five months after first meeting you. My stutter is practically gone. I had stuttered for at least fifteen years before meeting you, and then was almost totally cured in five months. That is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me. I do not mean to say I am totally fluent, but I now have no doubt that I will become fluent within a relatively short period of time by using this therapy.

In addition to almost the complete elimination of my stutter, I have had many other benefits of this therapy. I have become basically a totally different person. Everything from my posture to my assertiveness level has changed for the better. These changes almost make the changes in my speech look minor in comparison.

Indirectly I have also had many effects of your therapy. My relationships with people have changed. I have become physically stronger than ever before. I have more fun in life. I am sure I am forgetting about many things. I can relate virtually anything good currently happening in my life to your therapy.

As shown above, my decision to attend your therapy is the best and probably most important one I have ever made in my life. I would recommend your therapy to any person who stutters who is willing to work hard and actually see results. I have now made it through the hardest part of therapy. Now I am just continuing the work and holding on for the ride to the new me. It makes me think that anything’s possible. “Bring it on; what’s next?”
I can never thank you enough.
Sincerely,

Jeremy Smith

P.S. Please feel free to post this on your website along with my name and e-mail address, so that if any stutterers want to ask me questions they can reach me.

View Testimonial

Audio Testimonial 1 | Audio Testimonial 2 | Audio Testimonial 3

A Statement from Dr. Gurian

“I realized early on that for me it was an emotional problem, because when I was in a room all alone, I never stuttered. I could speak with absolute fluency. As soon as someone came into the room, I began to stutter. Obviously, as far as I’m concerned, it had something to do with how I felt about myself, in relation to other people, because you can’t have a disability based on your location.

A man with a limp limps in every room of his house. He can’t go into a room, close the door and walk perfectly. But if I was able to say every hard word, (and every stutterer knows what words are hardest for them), but if I was able to say every hard word perfectly when I was alone then I feel I was given the Grace to figure out that there was really nothing wrong with me.

I also knew that all the speech classes I had been to as a younger child had only made me worse, and made me feel different than all the other fluent kids. I had it engrained into my consciousness that there was something wrong with me. 

Despite growing up with many fears, I always challenged myself, and I made myself run for the President of my Freshman class in college. 

I told myself that if I won, it would prove to me that I was popular, and that people liked me, and that I wouldn’t need to stutter anymore. I won that election, and of course I continued to stutter, which also proved something very important to me. You can not receive outside validation, and expect it to change the way you feel about yourself. It doesn’t matter how many people tell you you’re wonderful, amazing, gorgeous and talented.  It matter what you think of yourself. It’s totally an inside job.

I work with both self-esteem issues, self-confidence and personal power issues to conquer stuttering.

To me, it doesn’t matter much to figure out what caused a person to stutter. That could take years. I want people to get better as quickly as possible.

I do however think it’s very important to examine the possibilities, which entails examining every facet of their lives, because stopping stuttering is not a trick.

Most treatments don’t work and people tend to relapse because you can’t trick your subconscious mind into letting you stop stuttering. You have to convince it over a period of time, which is different for each person that you no longer NEED to stutter. That is a very important concept.

But it is VERY important for stutterers to know that they can stop any time they’re ready, even if they’ve been stuttering for many, many years. The power is within them.

And the sad thing is that no one is telling them that and giving them hope. Some places try and teach stutterers to accept their stuttering.

Acceptance is only for things you can’t change, like in the Serenity Prayer. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

That is the most important part. If I wasn’t given the Grace to figure out that I could stop stuttering and just accepted it I’d still be stuttering today which was not acceptable to me.

I use affirmations to help reprogram your thinking, literally “changing your mind.”

Positive affirmations–like ” The Power Is Within,” “I Can Accomplish Anything I Put My Mind To,” and “I Refuse To Let Any Obstacle Stand In My Way”–are only three of the 15 affirmations I use to reprogram the thinking of people who stutter.

“They fall into the self-esteem and personal power catalogue of affirmations, as opposed to the “stuttering” affirmations. The “stuttering” affirmations, range from “I No Longer Feel The Need To Stutter”, to “Why Do I Need To Stutter, When Most People Don’t?”, to “Fight The Fear”, and “I’ll Be Okay Even If I Don’t Stutter.” These affirmations are used as part of an auto-hypnotic, or auto-suggestive technique that I find very powerful, and completely essential to the person who wishes to stop stuttering.

The affirmations are meant to be placed everywhere you look throughout the day. You don’t have to purposely stop and read them. Your mind internalizes them without you realizing it.

The concept is to surround yourself with them, so that every thought you have is a positive one throughout your waking hours, and the more you take in this positive energy on a subliminal level, the more it will manifest itself on a conscious level.

I am also of the belief that when you want it badly enough, and I don’t mean just 100%, I mean a million percent…you will definitely be able to stop stuttering.

You have to love yourself but absolutely HATE stuttering–and I mean the word “hate”–with every fiber of your being. I don’t mean that you should hate yourself if you stutter–that’s a critically important point–just hate the stuttering. Those are two completely different things.

I think you have to be kind to yourself, and accept the fact that if you stutter, it’s because for right now you still need to; at the point where you no longer need it, you’ll allow yourself to stop. Until then, treat yourself with kindness and don’t beat yourself up about it. One of the most powerful of the self-esteem affirmations says, “Would I Let Anyone Else Treat Me The Way I Treat Myself?” And the answer is probably “No.” As stutterers, we tend to be very hard on ourselves.

Acceptance is for things we cannot change. It does not apply to an affliction like stuttering. Once you accept yourself as a stutterer, you will always be a stutterer. You have to absolutely refuse to continue stuttering, because if there’s nothing physically wrong with your throat, and you can speak perfectly fluently when you’re alone, or when you sing, then you have to realize that your speaking mechanism functions just fine, and when you stutter, you’re fulfilling some inner need you have, by repeating a sound more than once…which is a very strange thing to do.

I use my comedy background to teach my students to look at stuttering in a funny sort of way. As bizarre as it may sound, I really want them to look at it as a very strange thing for them to do. If they have to have a stress related habit, why not pick something else?

Stuttering is too stressful in itself. I’m not being facetious. Choose a habit that’s not so draining, like biting your nails, (LOL) and give up stuttering. You’ve done it for long enough. On the checklist of habits, next to stuttering, you can check it off. You’ve done it. Go on to another habit.

The problem is that most stutterers, if they had to fill out a form describing themselves, would put down that they were stutterers. It’s part of their identity. They almost don’t know who they’d be, if they didn’t stutter anymore, which makes it harder to stop.

I remember very clearly when I was almost ready to stop stuttering for good, how nervous I was for that very reason. Who would I be if I didn’t stutter?” And you know what? I tried not stuttering, and it was just fine.

No one insisted I continue stuttering, and no one said, “You know, I really miss the way you used to stutter,” and there was no social event I couldn’t attend because I didn’t stutter anymore. No one held up a sign that said, “For Stutterers Only”–people still liked me, even if I didn’t stutter.

It didn’t seem to be required anywhere in my life, so I finally decided to just give it up. And I’ve never been sorry. Fluency is freedom–which is another one of my positive affirmations for stopping stuttering.

Dr. Gurian talks a lot about stuttering in his new book on Happiness which hit Best Seller status on Amazon. It’s called “Healing Your Heart, By Changing Your Mind – A Spiritual and Humorous Approach To Achieving Happiness.

Dr. Gurian’s Method

To summarize, my program is based on the following things:

• That you are the type of stutterer who can speak perfectly when you are alone in a room.
• You don’t stutter when you sing. (Unfortunately you can’t sing your words to people.) 
• The use of auto-hypnosis, and auto-suggestion.
• An honest personal appraisal of yourself as a human being.
• A willingness to learn to think differently.
• A sense of humor.
• A sense of spirituality.(Nothing to do with religion!)
• The use of positive affirmations that I make available to you.
• An ability, or a willingness to confront your fears.
• A true desire to stop stuttering, and a belief that you can. (Critically important) 

Past Lectures

1.  Dr Gurian addressed the psychotherapists and directors of The Groden Center, in Providence, Rhode Island, with a 2 hour talk entitled “TMJ and the Physical Symptoms of Depression – Healing On A Heart Level.” For more information visit www.grodencenter.org

2.  Dr. Gurian was the guest speaker at CRS, The Center for Remembering and Sharing, at 123 4th Avenue in Manhattan. He discussed “Healing On A Heart Level”, along with his technique of Spiritual Healing Thru Touch, using “STAR” Therapy™, a system of “talk and touch” that he developed to treat the physical symptoms of stress-related illness and Depression.

3.  As part of the one year curriculum offered by The Assoc. for Spirituality and Psychotherapy, Dr. Gurian taught his course on “Healing On A Heart Level” utilizing STAR Therapy, at the offices of the National Institute of the Psychotherapies at 250 West 57th Street, in Manhattan. 

For more information about Dr. Gurian’s Technique, and to purchase his booklet and Affirmations, see below.

DR. Jeffrey L. Gurian

For the 60+ page work-book, ” Stop Stuttering-Now” as given at The Learning Annex in New York City, on the body-mind-spirit approach to stopping Stuttering, along with examples of techniques and lots of information, please send $85.00.,( plus $7.99* for shipping/handling), in check or money order to Dr. Jeffrey L. Gurian, FDR Station, P.O. Box 7267, New York, N.Y. 10150.

For the pocket size affirmations relating to STUTTERING, and to Increase Self-Esteem and Personal Power, send $35.00 in check or money order (plus $5.99* for shipping/handling) to the same address.

No orders can be sent unless shipping/handling charges have been paid. It will most likely arrive much sooner, but please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

Once you know the principles of his technique, Dr. Gurian also offers phone or Skype therapy for people out of state or out of the country. He is currently working with people not only in this country but as far away as Israel, and the UK. 

For more information please send an e-mail to [email protected]

***All shipping and handling charges are for U.S. orders only. Additional charges apply when shipping outside the U.S.

A lot of the information on Stuttering is in Dr. Gurian’s new book on Happiness which hit Best Seller status on Amazon! ( Link is below)

Audio Testimonial #1

Audio Testimonial #2

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