Most of us have had the opportunity at some time in our life, whether in our childhood or in our current adult life, to be able to act or share something to an audience and it is often a situation that leads us to experience so many emotions, especially joy, but also from shame and fear. These second emotions are manifested in many cases in an exacerbated or disabling way; stage fright is characterized by these two emotions which not only limit acting in public, but also hinder or hinder our interpersonal relationships.
In Psychology-Online we share more about what stage fright is and its characteristics, but above all we provide you with information about how to overcome stage fright.
The stage fright It is an involuntary reaction of our organism, a characteristic anxiety reaction that occurs as a preparation mechanism for a threatening stimulus for survival.
Physiological symptoms
Some of the symptoms of this organic reaction of anxiety could be the following:
- Increasing heart palpitations.
- Trembling of the hands.
- Motor restlessness.
- Pupil dilation.
- Hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating.
- Digestive upset
- Muscle pain.
- Dry mouth
- Difficulty speaking (something like stuttering).
- Difficulty hearing
- Dizziness or a feeling of emptiness
- Shaking chills.
- Piloerection (or goose bumps).
- Vomiting or nausea
- Feeling of fainting.
- Difficulty breathing or increased respiratory rate.
Fear is a very useful tool for humans throughout their phylogenetic evolution to survive, but it can represent a great obstacle when it manifests itself in a situation that represents a real danger, in this case speaking or being in front of an audience. This exacerbated fear is known as stage fright.
Cognitive symptoms
In addition to the physiological manifestations that are described, there are also cognitive symptoms:
- Thoughts of failure. He is certain that it will ruin his performance in public (for example, "I am going to fall, I will forget everything I had to share, I will make a mistake when speaking, surely there is someone much more expert than me and he will laugh if I am wrong, I am not prepared enough, I am making a fool of myself, surely they will realize that I am very scared and they will laugh ').
- Critical body self-perception. The subject judges her physical appearance as out of tune, wrong or ugly. He makes very severe judgments about his wardrobe and body aspects (for example, "the jacket is not for the occasion, the pants fit very badly, I have a bad hairstyle").
- Forgetfulness or blank mind. People who experience stage fright report not being able to remember what they had prepared for their act in public, which generally causes that on stage he cannot develop unless he is very difficulty.
- Catastrophic thoughts or self-fulfilling prophecies. Quite related to the thoughts of failure but these are much more dramatic or excessive (for example, "surely if I'm wrong I will they will yell from the stage, I can get to defecate or urinate on my pants, surely on stage these symptoms will worsen").
Behavioral symptoms
Finally, the manifestation of stage fright is in the behavioral area, which we share below:
- Low voice volume. It is very difficult to hear what the subject is saying, even when using a voice amplifier.
- Speaking complications. Sputtering or alteration in the speed, fluency, sequence or rhythm of the voice. They generally speak faster (use of circumlocutions).
- Action avoidance. The subject can escape from the place where he has to act, before or at the time of his performance.
- Use of drugs, soothing or stimulating substances. Before entering the scene, the subject consumes one or more substances that can alleviate his discomfort (alcohol, opiates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, tobacco).
In the following article you will see more information about what is fear in psychology.
Speaking in public is for many one of the most pleasant and profitable activities, since through speaking in front of many people you can share many of your ideas or personal criteria about a certain situation.
Fear of public speaking often arises from the anticipated idea of failure. People who express suffering the characteristic ailments of this fear generally have these types of thoughts of catastrophe in common. (everything will go wrong), but they also present another quite particular characteristic: the ignorance of the physiological manifestation of the emotions.
Addressing stage fright when speaking in public should be above all approached by a professional, since there is no magic formula or standardized technique to overcome it as each person is different, even in their way of expressing a discomfort. Before suggesting some tips to overcome fear when speaking in public, it is necessary to clarify that there are innumerable factors or causes of the symptoms, which must be addressed and identified in a specific way for their treatment.
Therefore, I suggest that the first thing to work on is the exploration of possible causes (traumatic experiences related to the public "some teacher ridiculed him in front of his other classmates", from small at home no one listened to his words «during meals at the table they ignored him or asked that it be done be quiet). After this, it may be necessary to address other emotional aspects, for now we suggest working on what is shared below:
1. Normalize emotions
Explore the concept of emotions. Many times the concept that we use about our emotional area is learned from an early age by our primary support network and social context. These concepts about emotions can come to consider the manifestations of fear as pathological, catastrophic and abnormal (For example, ignoring that the increase in heart rate in the face of a threat "in this case the scenario" should be eliminated as soon as before). The physiological manifestations of fear are normal reactions of the body that undoubtedly help us to survive (for example, if there is a lion in front of us, it is normal for our pupils to dilate so that it can enter more light into our eyes and see the safest and immediate exit from danger, it is normal to feel that our heart beats faster so that thus the distribution of blood in the joints is in favor of survival and those sensations of vomiting or urgent need to defecate is to eliminate all the overload or extra weight that we carry and thus run faster «an example of the function hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal ').
2. Prepare what is necessary for the dialogue but without having control of things
Public speaking is similar to a dialogue with a friend, but with more invited friends. All that people are willing to listen to is your interest and involvement in the specific topic, there is a great improvement in symptoms when people who speak in public perceive this action with great pleasure (their dopamine and noradrenergic systems are regulated and contribute to cognition and thus an efficient understanding of what is being talking). Security will make it much more comfortable and fluid the conversation with the public.
But we must not forget that imperative need to be in control of things either. We will surely be wrong, forget or confuse about the information we are sharing in public but this does not take away the opportunity to correct it or to apologize for a forgetfulness that certainly happens to all of us. Despite being very well prepared, errors may ariseIn these cases, we can comment something similar to the following: «sorry I forgot this point, I will surely remember it later for now let's continue with...; I would very much like to be able to share with you -such a topic- but for now I don't have it at hand, let's continue with the dialogue and later we can talk about what was forgotten ».
As discussed in previous paragraphs, stage fright is generally produced by concepts learned from an early age, these concepts are known as mental schemes. These mental schemas are mostly made up of automatic thoughts that immediately manifest themselves in the face of various evaluations of external stimuli. An option that can have quite favorable results is to analyze your negative thoughts and beliefs and debate them vigorously.
From the TREC (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy) approach, this analysis is carried out using the ABCDE model. This model consists of going addressing distorted thoughts (mindsets) or cognitive errors, analyze them and then give them a more rational or adaptive alternative response. Here's how the TREC ABCDE model works:
- TO. Trigger fact. In this case of stage fright, the triggering event is having to speak or act in public, that is, in front of a group of people.
- B. Beliefs. All the cognitive symptoms listed above. They can become various "pragmatic shoulds" about yourself, from catastrophe, intolerances to frustration, demands.
- C. Emotional consequences. The thoughts of point B can trigger emotions of fear, shame and despair. Which also cause the physiological symptoms of emotions (sweating, exaggerated palpitations, facial flushing, dizziness, nausea), which at the same time can also become triggers because of guilt or despair about these symptom. This adds additional emotions of guilt, sadness, anger against themselves or the context.
- D. Debate. After all the previous analysis, the debate on the list of cognitive errors that have been detected are factors of the emotional process begins. A debate similar to the Socratic dialogue is used, with questions that facilitate the subject with stage fright the understanding of his own experience and the causes of it, as well as that he can offer himself a cognitive restructuring when verifying the ineffectiveness of their approaches learned from childhood.
- AND. Rational beliefs. They are all the new answers or mental structures that arise from the previous questions (debate). Here the subject analyzes the effectiveness of the new ideas or beliefs.
The main thing to address in an excessive fear is to regulate its physiological response so we will achieve results especially in the short term. This physiological regulation can be achieved through relaxation exercises, which contribute to the entire neurochemical process involved.
1. Breathing
The exercises that we recommend doing are the breathing exercises, which will achieve an effective result in the noradrenergic response. Breathing exercises that allow us to be aware of the body and the differences between the state of distension and tension.
2. Relaxation
Therapy Jacobson's progressive relaxation offers a complete intervention on all muscle relaxation exercises.
In the following article you will find 14 techniques for public speaking.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
