What is Stage Fright?
Also commonly referred to as public speaking phobia, public speaking fear, public speaking anxiety, presentation anxiety, performance anxiety, performance nerves or stage fright. In many surveys, the fear of public speaking is often ranked as the number one fear. Surprisingly many people will rank the fear of public speaking higher than the fear of death.
Someone experiencing public speaking anxiety is feeling the effects of the fight or flight response. The fight or flight response is our mind and bodies natural response to a perceived threat. The perceived threat itself may be physical or psychological in nature. (e.g. making a scene, looking foolish, not being liked or accepted, appearing weak, potential physical harm etc.) When it is activated, hormones are released into the body to enable us to either deal with or escape from the dangerous situation.
The fight or flight response produces a number of effects within our body as it gears us up to physically respond to a threat. Our muscles tense ready for action, we breath more rapidly to increase our oxygen levels. Our heart beats faster to pump blood to the muscles, lungs and brain. Many processes not immediately necessary for fighting or fleeing such as reproduction or digestion slow or stop.
Symptoms of public speaking anxiety may include: sweating, a lump in the throat, racing heart, breathing difficulties, shaking, feeling light-headed, going blank, loss of concentration, tingling, a need to urinate, digestive problems, tension, stammering, aches, sense of inferiority, inadequacy, weakness or shame.
All performance anxieties first starts within our thoughts. If we think a threat exists within a situation, our brain stimulates the release of the various stress related hormones.
The part of your mind that deals with anxiety doesn’t really tell the difference between reality and imagination. So thinking about a future situation in a negative way, by worrying or ‘what-if’-ing will actually activate the fight or flight system, in much the same way as if you were there in reality.
Due to the way anxiety functions, it is almost impossible to fight it head on. You’ve probably already tried to control it using will-power alone, and failed miserably. In fact the more you fight and try to control the anxiety, the worse it often gets! An obvious solution is not to fight the symptoms, but to focus on and change what’s actually causing them.
Anxiety starts with a thought in which an interpretation of danger is made about a situation. As it starts with a thought then the most rational place to start making changes is with your problematic thoughts. If the problematic thoughts are changed so that a situation is no longer considered a danger then the anxiety is never triggered. The process of changing your thoughts is actually easier than most people realise. Any experienced psychotherapist should be able to help.
Common situations which often provoke public speaking and performance anxiety can include: Wedding Speeches, Presentations, Meetings, Interviews, Exams, Acting Auditions and Performances, Musical Performances, Speaking on the telephone (particularly when in front of others), Being put on the spot, Being centre of attention.
Nigel Magowan is an integrative psychotherapist who works with fear of public speaking, generalised anxiety, IBS and phobias. Treatment for Anxiety in London, Harley Street Anxiety treatment in Manchester
