I find difficulty in pronunciation before the people

Question:

As-salamu `Alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!).

I am a young man of 26 years old. Sometimes, I suffer from difficulty in pronunciation and it happens repeatedly. This happens before the people whom I know or I do not know, however if I was alone studying or reciting the Qur'an, I do not have that problem.

I hope that you advise me of what to do or guide me to some medication to treat this disease which worries me in my life.

Answer:

Dear valued brother, welcome to Alukah and thank you for your trust.

What I understood from your description is that you sometimes experience difficulty in pronunciation before the people whom you know or you do not know, but you get better in other situations, so check the following points with me:

First, the first step is to determine whether this difficulty organic or of psychological origin; where the difficulty of pronunciation starts in most cases from a young age and continues in old age.

As for the psychological difficulty of pronunciation, it is accompanied by worry and concern when meeting strangers or the people whom we know, where you feel that people are looking and examining you.

Therefore, you feel worried about doing something that causes the irony of people around you and you feel some physical symptoms such as heart beating, sweat, and light shiver in the hand.

So, diagnosis is the most important and I advise you to visit a psychiatrist, Doctor of ear, nose, and throat, or a speech therapist to make sure of that.

Second, it is important in treatment that a person reaches the stage of self-acceptance and building of self-confidence through which you accept yourself as it is and feeling proud and self-esteem without showing haughtiness.

Your feeling of self-contentment about yourself will give you security and confidence which will let you progress in the treatment of pronunciation difficulty.

Third, remember that you speak well in many situations, so try to focus your concern on these situations instead of focusing on other situations during which you have difficulty of pronunciation, and reward yourself for good speech and do not punish it for difficulty of speech.

I also hope that you beware of those who direct the arrows of irony and criticism to you due to pronunciation difficulty because that will increase the problem.