What Is the Definition of Speech Anxiety?

Speech anxiety, the fear of public speaking, affects millions of people. For some this is simply a natural nervousness that stems from not wanting to embarrass themselves. For others, this fear creates serious physiological responses that can render someone paralyzed.

Definition

• The fear of public speaking is called speech anxiety. The condition is referred to as glossophobia, derived from the Greek words glossa, which means "tongue," and phobos, which means "fear." Speech anxiety refers to a minor symptoms that most people experience but as an official disorder refers to the anxiety that develops in three areas: physical, verbal and non-verbal symptoms.

Physiological

• Physiological symptoms of speech anxiety come from the autonomic nervous system. It signals a life or death mentality where the subject must respond either in a "fight or flight" manner. The heart will beat faster, the senses are more attuned to all sounds, sights and smells. Muscles become tense with excessive perspiration. A person may breathe faster and perhaps even start hyperventilating.

Verbal vs Non-Verbal

• Many verbal symptoms can be present during a speech anxiety attack. In part due to shortness of breath, a person may have trouble projecting his or her voice beyond a whisper. Stuttering or speed talking is also common, stemming from the fight or flight response. The faster the person can complete the task, the sooner the she can return to a safe environment.
  Non-verbal symptoms are slumps in posture, twitches with fingers or pacing. The person will have difficulty standing still and making eye contact with audience members. Many who suffer from speech anxiety can perform in public as long as they do not need to speak and can create an imaginary wall between themselves and the audience.

Freud on speech anxiety

• The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, believed that speech anxiety, like many other psychological issues, is a result of events in early development. He believed that humans are born helpless and naked, expressing fear instantly through crying and screaming. Freud believed that we feel that same sense of exposure when speaking in front of large groups and that we revert to infantile behaviors and fear responses.

Shyness

• According to cognitive psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo, speech anxiety has its root in shyness. In his studies, chronic shyness and speech anxiety share nearly all of the same symptoms: dry mouth, watery eyes, racing heart, shortness of breath, becoming flush and excessive perspiration. Zimbardo postulates that cultural differences instill higher levels of national shyness in such countries as in Japan. Areas such as Israel foster more open social structures, lowering chronic shyness.