A very common fear that can represent a problem when it comes to professional promotion.
Of course, it is not necessary to try to be a speaker or a singer to suffer from it; In some cases, the simple fact of going out to explain a project can ruin a good part of the week for students and all kinds of professionals, during the days prior to that event.
In this article we will take a look at the fundamental characteristics of the fear of public speaking, and what we can do so that the anxiety it produces does not paralyze us or become an obstacle when communicating.
What is the fear of public speaking?
When we talk about the fear of public speaking, we refer more than the conventional fear to a state of great anxiety produced by the diffuse fear of giving a bad image, either visually or at the level of the oratory and the way of transmitting a message.
Thus, in the fear of public speaking there is above all a double source of anxiety: on the one hand, the idea that our imperfections will be seen in real time by many people, without being able to hide them completely, and on the other , the idea that we are going to suffer an excess of anxiety .
In this way pessimistic predictions are combined about how we will be perceived, and pessimistic predictions about how we are going to feel when speaking in public. This creates a vicious cycle where stress breeds stress .
However, if we look in a little more detail at the factors that feed the fear of public speaking, we usually find other elements:
1. Unpleasant past experiences of public speaking
If a person who has generally had no trouble speaking in public goes through the experience of finding himself hesitating or sweating more than usual in a talk in front of his college classmates, probably the next time he has to go out to present a project in front of the board will feel significantly less confident than usual.
Unpleasant experiences are marked in our emotional memory, and although they do not have to eternally determine the way we behave and feel in the future, they have a great influence unless we do something to learn to give less importance to those memories.
2. Insecurities about the physical
In a society increasingly based on image and the idealization of beauty canons that often only exist after passing through Photoshop, it is relatively common to feel insecure for the simple fact of being in the sight of many people . These kinds of fears are triggered when, in addition, you have to speak and try to capture the attention of the audience.
3. The possibility of interruptions and improvisations
The nightmare of many people who are afraid of speaking in public is that, in addition to having to deal with what it means to go out and give a talk in front of dozens, hundreds or thousands of people, some unforeseen event occurs that forces them to improvise . For example, someone in the audience starts laughing loudly at what is happening.
This is so because the mind of those who are afraid of speaking in public is already predisposed to think of the worst possible scenario (pun intended), and to become obsessed with images that will surely never leave their imagination to become reality. In fact, in many of these catastrophic thoughts there is not even much realism. For example, if someone begins to criticize loudly in the audience, the truth is that in the vast majority of cases it is relatively easy to return to the channel of a normal talk or conference.
4. Divided attention
When speaking in public, it is common to want to control everything: to have total control of what happens in our body and in the modulation of our voice to give the best possible image , and at the same time pay attention to the content of the message, make sure not to be left behind. nothing in the inkwell and express it well.
In practice, this is very complicated, and feeds the appearance of anxiety.
Once we have noticed that we develop anxiety when speaking in public, the next step is to associate the action of speaking in public with anxiety: assuming that the essence of both things is closely related, when it really does not have to be that way.
What to do to manage anxiety when speaking in public?
Follow these tips to properly deal with the fear of public speaking.
1. Do not aspire to the impossible
It is important not to try to make the anxiety disappear completely , because this is impossible in the first attempts and only generates frustration, in addition to feeding the idea that it is impossible to combat the fear of public speaking. The goal is to gradually make anxiety lose its power over us, so that eventually it is just background noise that is easy to ignore.
2. Practice with small audiences
The best way to put the fear of public speaking in check is to educate oneself that it is possible to give talks in front of several people without being paralyzed by that discomfort. And to achieve this, there is nothing better than to start practicing with simplified or miniaturized versions of the type of conferences or talks that we really fear.
In this way, gradually raising the difficulty, we stop associating the concept of “anxiety” with the concept of “speaking in public”.
3. Sleep well and eat well
It is important that we feel well prepared both on the day of going out to speak in front of the public and during the previous days . In this way, we contribute to weakening the association between discomfort and giving talks that exists in our emotional memory.
4. Turn to specialists
Psychological support is a great ally to combat the fear of public speaking . Where there is personalized treatment and professional advice, there will be significant progress in a relatively short time.
Psychologists are prepared to deal with problems related to anxiety, and it is something we work with on a day-to-day basis when dealing with patients, business clients, training contexts, etc. Following therapeutic programs, in psychology it is possible to slightly modify the way of thinking, of interpreting reality and of behaving in front of the public, achieving consistent objectives thanks to this approach through several ways of entering emotional memory.
Bibliographic references
- American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Fifth edition. DSM-V. Mason, Barcelona.
- Hofmann SG, Dibartolo PM (2010). Introduction: Toward an Understanding of Social Anxiety Disorder. Social Anxiety.
- Stephan WG, Stephan CW (1985). Intergroup Anxiety. Journal of Social Issues.
To the classic question “what do you do?” I always answer “basically I am a psychologist”. In fact, my academic training has revolved around the psychology of development, education and community, a field of study influenced my volunteer activities, as well as my first work experiences in personal services.
