How To Overcome Stage Fright

He stage fright It is an involuntary reaction of our body, a characteristic reaction of anxiety that occurs as a preparation mechanism for a stimulus that threatens survival.

Physiological symptoms

Some of the symptoms of this organic reaction of anxiety could be the following:

• Increasing heart palpitations.
• Hand tremors.
• Motor restlessness.
• Pupil dilation.
• Hyperhidrosis or excessive sweating.
• Digestive discomfort.
• Muscle pain.
• Dry mouth.
• Difficulty speaking (something similar to stuttering).
• Difficulty listening.
• Dizziness or feeling of emptiness.
• Shaking chills.
• Piloerection (or goosebumps).
• Vomiting or nausea.
• Feeling of fainting.
• Difficulty breathing or increased respiratory rate.

Fear is a very useful tool for human beings throughout their phylogenetic evolution to survive, but it can represent a great obstacle when it manifests itself in a situation that represents 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 described, cognitive symptoms also occur:

• Thoughts of failure. He is certain that he will ruin his performance in public (for example, “I’m going to fall, I’ll forget everything I had to share, I’ll make a mistake when I speak, there’s probably someone much more expert than me and they’ll laugh if I’m wrong, no.” “I’m prepared enough, I’m making a fool of myself, they’ll probably notice that I’m very scared and laugh.”
• Critical body self-perception. The subject judges her physical appearance as out of place, wrong or ugly. He expresses very severe judgments about his clothing and bodily aspects (for example “the jacket is not for the occasion, the pants fit very badly, my hair is bad”).
• 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 means that they cannot perform on stage unless it is with great difficulty.
• Catastrophic thoughts or self-fulfilling prophecies. Quite related to thoughts of failure but these are much more dramatic or excessive (for example “surely if I make a mistake they will shout me off the stage, I may defecate or urinate in my pants, surely on stage these symptoms will get worse” ).

Behavioral symptoms

Finally, the manifestation of stage fright is in the behavioral area which we share with you below:

• Low voice volume. It is very difficult to hear what the subject is saying, even if they use a voice amplifier.
• Complications to speak. Sputtering or alteration in the speed, flow, 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, calming or stimulant substances. Before going on stage, the subject consumes one or several substances that can relieve their discomfort (alcohol, opiates, benzodiazepines, cocaine, tobacco).

In the following article you will see more information about what fear is in psychology.

Speaking in public is one of the most pleasant and beneficial activities for many, since by speaking in front of many people you can share many of your ideas or personal criteria about a certain situation.

Fear when speaking in public often arises from the anticipated idea of ​​failure People who express suffering from the characteristic discomfort of this fear generally have this type of catastrophe thoughts in common (everything will go wrong), but they also present another quite particular characteristic: ignorance of the physiological manifestation of emotions.

Addressing stage fright when speaking in public should be above all addressed 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 discomfort. Before suggesting some tips to overcome the fear of speaking in public, it is necessary to clarify that there are countless factors or causes of the symptoms, which must be addressed and identified specifically for 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”, since he was little at home no one paid attention to his words “during meals at the table they ignored him or asked for silence). 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 they have about emotions. Many times the concept we use about our emotional area is learned from a very 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” must be eliminated as soon as possible). Physiological manifestations of fear are normal reactions of the body that undoubtedly help us survive (for example, if there is a lion in front of us, it is normal for our pupils to dilate so that more light can enter our eyes and see the safest and most immediate way out of danger, it is normal to feel that our The heart beats faster so that 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 hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function.

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 friends invited. All people are willing to listen to is your interest and involvement on the specific topic. There is a great improvement in symptoms when people who speak in public perceive this action with great pleasure (their dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems regulate and contribute to in cognition and thus an efficient understanding of what is being talked about). Security will make it much more comfortable and fluid the conversation with the public.

But we must not forget that imperative need to have control of things. Surely we will make mistakes, forget or confuse the information we are sharing in public, but this does not take away the opportunity to correct it or apologize for an oversight that surely happens to all of us. Despite being very well prepared, errors may arise, in 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 we have forgotten.”

As addressed in previous paragraphs, stage fright is generally caused by concepts learned from a very early age, these concepts are known as mental schemas. These mental schemes are mostly made up of automatic thoughts that manifest immediately when faced with various evaluations of external stimuli. One option that can have quite favorable results is to analyze your negative thoughts and beliefs and debate them vigorously.

From the REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy) approach, this analysis is carried out using the ABCDE model. This model consists of going addressing distorted thoughts (mental schemas) or cognitive errors, analyze them and then give them a more rational or adaptive alternative response. Below we explain how the REBT ABCDE model works:

• A. Activating event. In this case of stage fright, the activating 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 several “pragmatic shoulds” about yourself, catastrophes, frustration intolerances, 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 activators due to having guilt or despair about these symptoms. This adds additional emotions of guilt, sadness, anger towards themselves or the context.
• D. Debate. After all the previous analysis, the debate begins on the list of cognitive errors that have been detected as factors of the emotional process. A debate similar to the Socratic dialogue is used, with questions that make it easier for the subject with stage fright to understand his own experience and the causes of it, as well as allowing him to offer himself a cognitive restructuring when verifying the ineffectiveness of their approaches learned since childhood.
• E. 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 new ideas or beliefs.

The main thing to address in excessive fear is to regulate your 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: breathing exercises, which will achieve an effective result in the noradrenergic response. Breathing exercises that allow you to be aware of the body and the differences between the state of distension and tension.

2. Relaxation

Jacobson’s progressive relaxation therapy offers a complete intervention on all muscle relaxation exercises.

In the following article you will find 14 techniques for speaking in public.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor 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.

If you want to read more articles similar to How to overcome stage fright we recommend that you enter our Clinical Psychology category.