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Public Speaking Anxiety?
Do you ever get nervous before giving a speech or a presentation? You’ve prepared for it, you know the material, you’re an expert in the field, and, then, when the time comes to lecture, you freeze…
Fear Of Public Speaking
Fear of public speaking is one of the leading fears in people, along with fear of spiders, heights, and flying.
Causes Of Public Speaking Anxiety
These can include learning problems, reading problems, processing problems, Attention Deficit Disorder (the new term is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Inattentive Type), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and distractibility (such as a family problem like divorce, or worrying about someone’s health).
The Basics
It’s important that you see your primary care clinician to make sure you rule out any vision, hearing or physical issues that might be making it difficult for you to perform. You probably already know this, but sadly, I see patients like this.
You need to rule out other conditions, such as generalized anxiety, depression, and other psychological and psychiatric conditions. Distraction can be a major problem. You or your student may be thinking about your job, school, grades, family issues, or illness of a loved one.
Public Speaking Anxiety Symptoms
These are real and physical, similar to what one might feel when encountering a bear or another real, physical threat. You may have heard of the “flight or fight phenomenon.” This causes our heart rate and blood pressure to increase, our breathing rate to increase, our mouths to become dry, and we may have the sensation of “butterflies in our stomachs.” We feel tense.
In contrast, when we are calm, our heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure are lower. This may occur while we’re relaxing, listening to music, or lying on the beach. Of course, the ultimate calm is when we’re sleeping!
Michael Yapko, PhD, is an expert on depression and hypnosis. He has published numerous books and articles, made some wonderful self-help CD's, and he lectures both nationally and internationally.
Dr. Yapko teaches us that anxiety has two driving forces:
- The person overestimates the risk or challenge.
- The person underestimates his/her resources.
Dr. Yapko also stresses that anxiety is future-oriented. He has quipped that if anxiety were a commercial product, its slogan would be, “What if…?” For example, “What if I can’t remember anything?” What if I make a fool of myself?”
For more information on Dr. Yapko, please visit his website
It’s About Perception
The key is that there is nothing in the external situation that is different than when the person is practicing at home or in the library. The problem is the speaker’s PERCEPTION of the situation.
With public speaking anxiety, the mind and body act in the same way as if there were a grizzly bear threatening the student. The difference is that there is no real threat to the person, only a perceived threat.
One thing to consider is that some degree of anxiety or intensity can be good and helpful for a person about to give an important speech. When you get “amped up”, you are more highly focused. But only to a point. Once this stress escalates past a certain point, the person starts to doubt his/her ability to succeed, starts to worry, and performance declines. Thus, he or she must find what we call the Zone of Optimal Performance. The same thing happens in sports.
Take a look at the section on Sports Performance Anxiety
Of course, people have a strong mind-body connection; increased anxiety leads to decreased performance and this leads to decrease in fun, and this becomes a vicious circle.
How To Reduce Public Speaking Anxiety
Once you’ve ruled out physical, learning, and family problems, you need to make sure that you have the basic skills and knowledge that you need. The bottom line is you can’t perform well giving a speech unless you know the material. So step 1, which hopefully is already being done, involves studying, learning and practicing.
Overcoming Public Speaking Anxiety
Once the material is mastered, a simple method to try is diaphragmatic breathing. In addition, public speaking anxiety strategies can include self-hypnosis. This is the same thing as visualization, guided imagery, or mental imagery. One can actually visualize oneself going into the speaking situation and performing confidently. Of course, there are many skills involved in learning this technique.Dr. Lazarus is able to help you or your child with this, usually with significant improvement after only 2 or 3 visits.
To contact Dr. Lazarus, you may phone him at: 650-322-5333. Or, email him a brief form.
