About Speech Anxiety

Picture the audience in their underwear. That's often the best advice people can give to someone nervous about making a speech. However, those with speech anxiety should have a better plan. Speech anxiety is often accompanied by physical symptoms caused by fear. These symptoms can be controlled by understanding why speech anxiety occurs and changing one's mindset toward speaking in public.

Facts

• Speech anxiety, sometimes referred to as communication apprehension, involves feeling nervous before, after or during a time when one is speaking in public or even just a situation where one must communicate. Most people may feel some anxiety before standing in front of crowd to speak, but speech anxiety involves more than simply nerves. Speech anxiety is more often called a phobia or an anxiety disorder and involves persistent, exaggerated fear of speaking in public, a strong desire to avoid or escape speaking in public and a recognition that one is overreacting to the situation. One must also rule out any other disorders that may be the underlying cause of speech anxiety.

Symptoms

• Common symptoms of speech anxiety are: dry mouth, excessive sweating, shaking, rapid heartbeat, feeling dizzy, nausea and a flushed face. You may also notice that your voice fluctuates more than it normally does and you have a lot of nervous energy. These symptoms are normally due to the flight-or-fight response that occurs in threatening situations.

Psychology

• There are cognitive, behavioral and affective aspects to the psychology of speech anxiety. Cognitively, public speaking is not a routine activity, so people will engage in purposeful thoughts about what public speaking will be like. Those with speech anxiety will often think terrible thoughts about public speaking before any communication occurs. There is an affective aspect of speech anxiety also, as fear often surrounds public speaking. Some people with speech anxiety will automatically be frightened of the situation and become emotionally and physically crippled by this fear. Finally, there is a behavioral aspect in which people are unprepared for the act of public speaking or they shake, tremble or stutter during speeches.

Manage anxiety

• Based on the cognitive, affective and behavioral psychological understanding of speech anxiety, one can begin to manage the anxiety disorder. First, cognitively, work on thoughts associated with public speaking. Write down your fears and recognize your anxiety. Ask yourself questions like: Will people really laugh at me? Probably not. If you drop your cards, will the speech be ruined? No. You can simply pick up the cards and continue on. Maybe you'll even have a joke planned if that happens. Also think positively. Say to yourself "This speech will go well. The audience will love me." To control the affective or emotional aspect, it is necessary to replace the emotion of fear with another emotion, perhaps confidence. Think back to moments in which you were successful and remember those thoughts before you step on stage. Behaviorally, some relaxation exercises before giving a speech may come in handy. Learn how to control your breathing, to relax your muscles and to calm your stomach. Meditation can often be a helpful tool.

Make a plan

• In order to make certain you are relaxed during a speech you must plan ahead. Make note cards or create a PowerPoint presentation. Plan and practice when you are going to move during your speech. Moving helps with breathing and breathing is key to staying relaxed. Memorizing a speech is not a good idea as you might become more nervous if you forget your words. Instead concentrate on knowing the concepts and the different variations of what you might say. If you can, check out the place where you will be speaking. Bring along a friend and make yourself comfortable in the space. Speech anxiety may never completely go away, but managing it will make you more successful in work and in life.