[EsthersDoll]

I don't know if you guys have heard about this or not... BUT I saw my therapist yesterday and she referred to the case because this guy's spoken testimony sounds similar to the way I currently speak. I call it "halting" she calls it "clipped speech". It's not smooth at all. It's a struggle to speak and it doesn't sound normal... abnormal pauses between syllables in words and a weird rhythm or speech pattern. It's similar to that guy who made the concussion videos on youtube that many of you reference. (Personally, I learned nothing when I watched those videos, because I had already read that information and so much more online from reputable sources before seeing it, but it was so oddly comforting to know that other people out there speak in the same unnatural and messed up way that I do. It made me feel a lot less alone.)

Anyway, I looked up John Goodman's testimony and he does sound like he sustained a head injury. It's so sad.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/polo-tycoon...2#.T29Ix2KXQjg

I know he's super wealthy, but I wonder if they talked about PCS and concussions and all that stuff at the trial.

Before my therapist told me that, the articles I read had just spoken so poorly about how he left the scene and that it took him and hour to call 911 and basically ridiculed him. But now that I know he suffered a head injury from the accident it makes total sense to me.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/polo-...trial-15974556

And see, in that video that I posted above, the editor includes all the drinking he had done that day, like that was the reason he had trouble... I can totally believe that someone who just suffered a bad concussion could walk away from an accident and not realize where the car had gone that they had run into, found a bottle of booze and drank it to alleviate physical pain. (They say his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit, but that he did that drinking AFTER the accident to help with a broken wrist and other injuries that were caused by the accident.)

A lot of witnesses testified that he left the function he was at before this accident very sober.

This is so sad.

[SpaceCadet]

I struggle with the same thing as you. My speech is screwed up because my thinking is screwed up. I'm always drawing...out...sentences...like this. My word and even sentence finding is out of this world...This is a constant problem for me that has gotten progressively worse.

It sucks that you go through the same thing...I feel for you.

[SpaceCadet]

I found that if I pay attention to my speech flaws it makes them worse.

I could be speaking correctly and all of a sudden i'll think about messing up and I will start messing up lol. I wonder if im explaining that correctly.

[EsthersDoll]

Meh, mine are just improving slowly over time. The speech therapy I had for several months helped me a LOT! The errors are frustrating, but like you, I just try to move past them. Or I just laugh because I've been dealing with them for so long. The other day I said ears while talking about an optometrist instead of eyes. I must have laughed for two minutes.

[Mark in Idaho]

I think my best success has been when I am not focusing on preventing a wrong word, but rather, calmly correcting the wrong word. The pressure to be perfect causes the most errors.

In my case, I will hear the error even though my brain thinks I am using the correct word. Once I do hear the error, I can usually find the correct word or a word that works.

I gave up on the embarrassment issue long ago. Even when I screw up in front of people that do not understand, I rarely get any negative reactions, especially I say, matter of factly, "I have a brain injury and my brain screws up words sometimes."

There is an old axiom, "If you only knew how little time others spend thinking about you, you would not spend so much time worrying about what they think about you."

How often do we get stuck thinking about someone else? It is rare unless they did something that we think was directed at hurting us. Otherwise, we tend to be focused on ourselves.

I know how we can let stupid things we have done overwhelm our image of ourselves. But, this does not mean those images are correct.

I have changed those thoughts from "How could I have been so stupid" to "Why am I wasting time thinking about this? Nobody likely remembers."

This is productive CBT. Correct the thought response and you will gain tolerance for your brain's mistakes.

Hope it works for others like it works for me.

My best to you all.