PUBLIC SPEAKING PHOBIA
[ Presentations, meetings & introductions. Dread, anxiety, panic & avoidance ]
"I absolutely nailed my presentation. Hugs from my CEO and Director who know I have avoided such situations all my adult life. They said I just flew! Wonderful feeling."
Christine C
"When I had finished my session I could have delivered a presentation to a room of thousands or simple just taken on the world…wow! I wish I had cleared my phobia years ago!"
Paula S
Because the fear of public speaking (or public speaking phobia) is the most common form of anxiety we treat in our clinics. So although it might feel like you are alone, you are not and this can be changed. And we have a unique program to help you that is like no other treatment.
What is public speaking phobia?
Public speaking fear and anxiety is a form of social phobia called Glossophobia – an intense and irrational fear of being judged by others when speaking in front of them – or of making mistakes, being embarrassed or humiliated in such situations – causing dread, panic and avoidance.
Sufferers recognise that their fear and anxiety is excessive or unreasonable but they feel powerless to do anything to change their responses. So the feared situations – such as presentations, wedding speeches, meetings or even one-to-ones – are avoided or else endured with intense anxiety or distress.
In work situations the fear most commonly occurs around formal presentations and meetings. It can then spread out to smaller groups, to conference calls, to informal situations like one-on-one conversations (especially with more senior people) and to things like introducing oneself on a course. It can then even spill into social situations with friends and family.
The Spotlight Effect
When sufferers feel that all eyes are upon them –
“The Spotlight Effect”
– their acute self-awareness makes it very difficult to focus on what is going on around them, to remember their speech, to read from notes or follow a meeting. Their mind goes blank or foggy. Their distress and anxiety are further fuelled by their efforts to hide or mask their discomfort which may become apparent through blushing, facial immobility, sweating, shaking, twitching, or an inability to look up or to speak normally or coherently.
Some of these feelings may be present for some time before the event – weeks and even months beforehand – and may be accompanied by sleeping problems, stomach upset and loss of appetite. Life becomes a nightmare from the moment they know they have to speak. It can feel like a death sentence. Not only that, but the feelings may linger afterwards as the sufferer analyses and ruminates on how they did and how other people may have judged them.
Fear of public speaking is distinguished from shyness by the intense, often debilitating, fear it generates. At its worst it will end in a panic attack. So it’s way beyond shyness or butterflies. We are talking hardcore fear.
Who does it affect?
Most people with a fear of public speaking are normal, intelligent, happy and well-balanced. They often come across to friends and colleagues as confident and outgoing.
Many of the people we treat in our clinics are very successful, so they have risen to a level in their career where they are more and more called upon to share their knowledge and expertise and lead projects, teams, departments or even organisations. But in these situations they come across as reserved, disinterested or unenthusiastic because they have got this phobia, this thing.
So it’s very frustrating because a part of them (the rational thinking part) knows that it doesn’t make sense. They know their subject – that’s why they have been asked to talk – and they know the situation is non-threatening. But they nevertheless find that when they are asked to talk in front of a group, another part of them (the irrational unconscious part) drives out rational thought and fear floods in.
In our experience it is the more imaginative, creative or artistic people who are more prone to developing phobias. This is because phobias have a lot to do with the misuse of the imagination. That’s why we treat all kinds of people in our clinics: from psychiatrists to politicians, from students to teachers, from Special Forces to City bankers terrified of the spotlight. We have treated them all and at all extremes: from mild panic to people who have passed out when speaking in public.
Safety behaviours & avoidance
Safety and avoidance strategies are used by the sufferer to reduce the danger and to control, accommodate and conceal their panic and embarrassment.
Energy and time are used in planning and avoiding the presentation, meeting, seminar or speech. Elaborate ways are created to reduce or hide their distress or to produce distractions from it. Sufferers may self-medicate with alcohol. Sickness may be feigned. Annual leave may be booked to avoid speaking events. People and situations may be manipulated. Careers may be blighted: jobs and promotions may be turned down – because they may entail more presenting – or jobs may be left because of their fears of “discovery”.
Many people accommodate their phobia like this for a long time – typically for years, even decades - hoping that it may somehow get better by itself. We are often surprised at just how far people get in life and have still managed to avoid public speaking.
But over time these “solutions” become part of the problem, using up time, energy and attention needed for other things. The avoidance and manipulation become too risky – threatening jobs or relationships – or a presentation or speech (like a wedding, award acceptance or leaving speech) just can’t be avoided. When this happens most sufferers think “enough is enough”. And do something about it. And get help.
The cause
Fear of public speaking can be caused by many things. It can be an extension of childhood shyness reinforced by bad experiences of reading aloud in class or presenting work at college or university.
It can also start later in life, often at a time when background stress levels have been raised by other things like relationships or work. Then something happens that the individual can usually cope with but because of the background stress they tip into a mild panic attack. This is frightening and embarrassing. It destroys self-confidence. And it builds into a phobia as the sufferer starts to fear it happening again and begins to panic about panicking, to fear the fear.
At the start, it may take some time for people to recognise that they have a phobia. They may mistakenly put it down to excessive shyness. But then the panic starts to occur more frequently and consistently and a pattern emerges. The response is reinforced each time it happens and they panic, and each time they avoid speaking in public and feel relief.
How we can help you
We have developed The Public Speaking Phobia Cure Program* to help you:
The Public Speaking Phobia Cure Program*
is a direct therapy program to eliminate the fear of public speaking. It’s a fast, gentle and effective treatment
delivered by the UK's leading fear specialists. And it's without the scare tactics and exposure therapy used by the older and less effective public speaking phobia treatments. In fact, people find it to be a positive, enlightening and liberating experience.
The program
is based on current brain science and the best therapeutic tools. At its core is a remarkable tool called
The Fast Phobia Cure * which has been specially adapted for the fear of public speaking. As its name suggests, The Fast Phobia Cure eliminates phobias fast. It does this by changing the underlying subconscious patterns that have maintained the phobia. Once these phobic patterns are de-conditioned the phobia won’t work anymore. The program then installs calm patterns for the future so that you can be how you want to be around talking to groups of people and being in the spotlight.
And it requires
just two pleasant treatment sessions
at one of our private clinics (or online
over Zoom) to be free of your fear of public speaking.
The two-session in-clinic program is £300 a session, so £600 in total. The two-session online Zoom program is £250 a session, so £500 in total. We ask you to pay for each session as you come in. Each session is 1½ hours but you should allow 2 hours in case of overrun.
The sessions are, ideally, spaced a week or two apart so you have the chance to test things out and notice the changes and improvements between the sessions.
Results may vary and in rare cases more than two sessions may be required.
After the sessions: You will be given a range of resources and tools to support the changes. Telephone and email support are also available (although rarely required).
Like no other treatment
What makes this different from other approaches is that we are therapists who specialize in fears and phobias. We are not trainers, actors or HR people. We are not even general therapists. We are specialist therapists who
focus on eliminating the fear because this is where you need help. Because you can do the rest well enough when the fear is gone.
So forget about public speaking courses, because this isn’t about how to plan, structure and pace your presentation or speech. Or how to use PowerPoint, "find your voice" or "know your audience". Because you already know what you want to say and how you want to say it. And this isn’t about turning you into a great speaker or somehow enjoying it. Because right now you probably just want to do it without the debilitating fear. So you don’t need a presentation skills course. Or lots of tricks, scripts and tips to manage your fear. You just want it gone.
So our program is about getting you comfortable so you can do it the way you probably know you can do it without the fear getting in the way. Once you are calm and comfortable in front of groups, then
you can start thinking about how good you can be and what that will mean in your life. But
right now you probably just want to do an adequate job and feel okay about it.
What to do next
If you are reading this and think this is what you have been looking for
then take the next step and call us now
for a free consultation with a specialist about how this has been affecting you and how we can help you.
Most people who read this page instinctively relate to it – like it could have been written about them. If this sounds like you and you are serious about getting help then call us on 0800 302 9452
