Olanzapine induced stuttering: a case report.

Drug-induced stuttering has been described in association with several drugs, in particular antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers. Stuttering, also called spasmophemia or stammering, is a speech disorder characterized by disruptions in speech motor behaviour (repeated or prolonged articulatory and phonatory actions) that result in sound and syllable repetitions, audible and inaudible sound prolongations and broken words (Craig-McQuaide et al. 2014, Kozmin-Burzynska et al. 2015). Stuttering has been associated with dopaminergic hyperactivity. Stuttering as a side-effect of psychotropic medication is rare. Some psychotropic medication may result in improved fluency. The precise mechanism is unclear; however, various theories have been put forwards, by authors Alm (2004), Stager et al. (2005), Shaygannejad et al. (2013), and Wu et al. (1997). Drug-induced stuttering has been described in association with both first generation and second generation antipsychotics (Yadav 2010). A review of drug-induced stuttering has also been published (Brady 1998). Antipsychotic medications have shown some efficacy in controlling stuttering symptoms. Although olanzapine has shown to reduce the severity of stuttering, a few case reports of olanzapine inducing stuttering have been published. We now present a case of olanzapine-induced stuttering.