The Fear of
Discover
The power of focusing your attention where you want it.
Randy Weiss Therapy is the Phoenix Regional Clinic of the National Social Anxiety Center
The Fear that Interferes
With Careers
Picture this scenario: You’ve been working at a new job for a number of months and the boss is happy with you. In fact, she is so pleased that she’s asked you to present the company’s latest project at a meeting with potential business partners. There’s just one problem: you are terrified of public speaking!
Maybe you’ve been trying to keep your fear a secret. Or, perhaps your boss knows you’re nervous but wants you to do it anyway. You could ask your doctor for some Xanax or Propranolol. But if you’re reading this I’m guessing that you don’t want to go that route. You want to get over your fear once-and-for-all.
Fortunately, there is help! With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Therapy you can overcome your fear of attending meetings and giving presentations.
The Number-One Fear
Fear of public speaking is the number-one fear named by Americans. This phobia is actually a sub-category of Social Anxiety Disorder. The fear is that others will observe your anxiety and it will be disastrous to your career. This catastrophic worry is an exaggeration, because even if people pick up on your nervousness, it’s unlikely to cause your professional downfall.
The bigger problem is that all the effort you put into trying to hide your anxiety – – (sweating, shaking trembly voice, etc.) – – and figuring out what others are thinking of you is diverting your attention from where it needs to be: on what you are saying!
Overcoming Anxiety
Focusing Attention is Key
Your brain can only focus on so many things at once. So if you’re giving a presentation and your attention is split between monitoring your anxiety symptoms, trying to judge others’ reactions and delivering your remarks, your brain can’t keep up and your performance will suffer. Learning where and how to focus your attention will enable you to speak – – in spite of being anxious!
Consider a nervous actor in a play who flubs a line. If his attention gets diverted from his next line of dialogue to whether the audience noticed his mistake, he’s in trouble. He’s got to discipline himself to re-focus all his attention on delivering his next lines. This is a skill that can be learned.
“Safety” Behaviors:
A False Sense of Security
Another critical aspect to overcoming the fear of public speaking is letting go of the “tricks” you use to manage your anxiety. Therapists call these “safety behaviors.” Some examples are:
- Avoiding speaking at all;
- Not looking at the audience;
- Rushing through your presentation;
- Reading your remarks or slides verbatim;
- Wearing clothes to hide your perspiration.
In the long run these behaviors backfire, because you believe you only got through it by using them. Safety behaviors contribute to your fear and keep it going.
One Additional Consideration
In addition to learning how to manage your anxiety, you need to have some public speaking skills. The actor with stage fright not only needs to overcome his fear – – he has to be able to act! You need to know the basics of giving a presentation and have opportunities to practice. Toastmasters International (www.toastmasters.org) is devoted to helping people acquire public speaking skills in a supportive environment.
Fear of Public Speaking
Treatment
You can overcome your fear of public speaking and get your career back on track by tackling these 4 elements:
- Learning to mindfully focus your attention on what you have to say versus mind-reading what others are thinking about you;
- Correcting your thoughts to make them less catastrophic and more realistic;
- Gradually eliminating your “safety” behaviors to prove to yourself that even if others notice your anxiety, it won’t be the end of the world.
- Practicing what you’ve been avoiding: participating in conference calls, office meetings and giving presentations.
I will teach you how to:
- Focus your attention off yourself and onto where you need it. (Mindfulness)
- Correct your thinking to be less catastrophic and more realistic. (Cognitive Restructuring)
- Conduct strategic experiments to test your predictions. (Exposure Therapy)
- Gradually go toward the situations you fear to build confidence. (Exposure Hierarchy)
How To Get Started
Contact Me Today
I offer a free phone consultation to discuss your situation, answer your questions and tell you how I would approach treating your problem.
