This impulse derives from a primitive need to protect oneself from a physical, or pseudo-physical, threat.

At a neuro-cerebral level, we experience public speaking as an attack, a threat to our person.

We physiologically register an audience as a threat, and consequently, the physical response many people have. But, at the same time, speaking resembles how their body would react to physical signs of danger: shortness of breath, facial flushing, trembling, or paralysis.

For this same reason, when one feels uncomfortable with a group of people, one may wish to leave, so one responds to the threat by fleeing.

Fear of public speaking can also be linked to the subjective characteristics of the individual and is therefore no longer related to ancestral behavior that all human beings share. The fear of public speaking is related to an individual’s perception of the seriousness or importance of an argument one is discussing. Also, negative experiences in the past, such as a stutter or physical disabilities, generate complexes in the individual.

Another genetic factor is a phobia, an anxious, mostly unmotivated, and therefore pathological fear, such as an instinctive and invincible aversion to something.

Phobias are associated with Individual subjects. Glossophobia’, the actual fear of public speaking, also has symptomatology. Symptoms generally include uncontrollable shaking, sweating, and an elevated heart rate.

Essentially the difference between glossophobia and the general fear of public speaking is the extent of these symptoms. However, it is traced to a single cause: feeling under pressure or uncomfortable speaking in front of an audience.

The ability to overcome the fear of public speaking, the thoughts, and strategies to be put in place must consider how deep-rooted this fear is in the individual.

In the most severe cases, when referring to real pathological phobia, the best treatment regime becomes cognitive-behavioral therapy, which provides a series of techniques and strategies to modify distorted cognitions and overcome situations that create the aversion.

Cognitive work aims to develop the ability to stay focused on the present moment without constantly checking what is happening around you without asking questions.

It achieves this concentration by removing oneself from the context that makes one vulnerable work a natural anxiolytic and improves performance exponentially.

On the other hand, behavioral work uses gradual exposure to the situation that creates the phobia, both in an imaginary context and in real life; by applying the cognitive techniques acquired, the feared conditions must be broken down into simpler units gradually tackled.

“The value we place on
ourselves should never depend
on a single performance; making
mistakes does not necessarily
lead to negative judgements and
even if it does, there is always a
way to tolerate them : anxiety is
an emotion and therefore, always
has a margin of controllability
and above all, it is normal
experience that everyone has
when put to the test.”

Example of daily programme description

You can try to resolve public speaking anxiety yourself, when it is not a deep-rooted phobia, with some valuable techniques for dealing with it, which we could summarise as follows:

• PREPARATION
• BREATHING
• TONE OF VOICE AND POSTURE
• VISUALISATION