Western Michigan College Much of the work of treating speech defectives has been done by persons using the methods of clinical psychology, with strong pragmatic leanings so far as the selection of particular therapy is concerned. This is not to say that the group of scientists of whom this is true lacks theoretical premises but rather that their preoccupation with the workability of treatment techniques has relegated to a position of secondary importance the task of concept formation and concept integration.
Some writers are frankly eclectic in their viewpoint.
Before undertaking a discussion of psychodramatic treatment methods in speech correction it is necessary to know something of the nature of the speech defects which may be so treated. In those cases where symptoms are sufficiently aggravated to justify the diagnosis of neurosis two etiologies may be present. In the one case the speech disorders are symptomatic of emotional conflicts alone. In the other case a neurological basis for the pathology exists upon which is superimposed a complex of emotional conflicts which have amplified the pristine neurological tendencies. In an adult case it is often difficult to ascertain with any accuracy the relative importance of the biological and sociopsychological factors interacting in the overt symptoms.