Public Speaking Anxiety is one of the most common forms of anxiety that affect children and adults alike. Whether is it giving a book report in third grade or making a toast at your best friend’s wedding, few individuals enjoy the experience. However, when even thinking about speaking in front of a group causes you to lose sleep over it or your anxiety is so severe that you appear highly uncomfortable or you look for ways to avoid speaking altogether, you are now in the public speaking anxiety disorder club!
Public Speaking Anxiety is a form a Performance Anxiety. In short, you are afraid of the feeling of being afraid, of looking bad, sounding bad and other’s (the audience), thinking less of you because of it.
In severe cases, students would throw up before speaking, freeze on stage or take a failing grade rather than speak at all! Adults would not take promotions in their job if it required them to speak in front of groups.
Public Speaking Anxiety has usually very little to do with intelligence, preparation or even practice. I have worked with some of the brightest and best prepared individuals from the Harvard Graduate School of Business who were terrified to speak in front of large group of people.
Fortunately, modern psychology provides several types of treatment which do not require medication, can be completed in a matter of months and are pretty darn effective for a great many individuals.
I offer three major types of psychological treatments for Public Speaking Anxiety; Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Hypnosis and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Sometimes clients come in with a preference for one or the other. Perhaps they have had a successful experience with one of these methods in the past. If not, following an initial evaluation, I can usually recommend a method that I think would suit them best.
If Public Speaking Anxiety is holding you back from performing at your best in school or at work, call Dr.Robert Heller now for an initial consultation at 561 451-2731.
