|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
All materials on this website are copyrighted. Copyright © 2005-2008 by The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York. All rights reserved.
Mac users: please note that our site is optimized for the Safari browser. |
|
Stress and anxiety
|
Why does public speaking produce 'panic'?
Originally Published: November 10, 2000
~ Last Updated / Reviewed on: February 16, 2007
|
|
|
Dear Alice, I am thirty-four, mother of two teenage boys, and am currently attending college full-time. I am writing a speech for my Public Speaking Class on The Fear of Public Speaking, and would like to know why our bodies react the way they do when we have to speak in public... I have had some trouble locating this particular information. Any help you could give would be much appreciated. Thank you very much. TM
Dear TM, Speaking publicly is threatening to us. It's akin to standing up in front of people without any clothes on. Our audiences will judge us — they may think we're stupid, ugly frauds. For that matter, we may think that we're stupid, ugly, frauds. Anything can happen when we're "performing"; we might get dazed and confused, lose our place, make "mistakes," be boring, drool, get cotton mouth, or even worse, not know the answer to a question. We also might deliver the presentation of the century. When it comes to why our bodies react to public speaking in ways that make us uncomfortable — often very uncomfortable — reality has little to do with it. Notice all the "mights" and possibilities mentioned above; it's the fear of what we think may happen and of all the unknown "d-day" factors that send us into fight-or-flight mode. Our brains and bodies are literally preparing us to confront or run like Olympic athlete Marion Jones from this impending "threat." Necessary for these actions are increased heart rate; higher blood pressure; rapid, shallow breathing; elevated hormone production; and, boosted nervous system activity, among many other stress responses. These physiological changes add up to anxiety, sweating, indigestion, stomachaches, difficulty sleeping, shaking, trouble thinking, dry mouth, headache, and constipation, just to name a few symptoms. Kinda makes you wanna go out and give a speech right away, huh? We were originally built with these automatic reactions so that we could do our best to survive animal and human predators. As we evolved, the "predators" have become things such as presentations and exams; the potential "victims" are now our egos and self-esteem. There is hope. There are many ways to reduce the fear, the panic, the sheer horror that public speaking produces for those about to step up to the mic. More good news: many of these strategies are housed right here in the Go Ask Alice! archive. Please welcome:
Also check out this useful article on Fathom.com: "No-Sweat Speaking."
Related Q&As |
Go Ask Alice! is not an emergency or instant response service.