BrainStuff Classics: Can the Fear of Public Speaking Be Conquered?

As many as 7 in every 10 Americans have a fear of public speaking. Learn how this type of social anxiety develops -- and what you can do to fight it -- in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/mental-health/anxiety/conquering-fear-public-speaking.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Brainstuf, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,
Lauren vogel Bomb here with another classic episode for you.
Today's has to do with anxiety and public speaking and
why the two so often go hand in hand. It's
a thing I deal with and this is my day job.
But there are things that you can do about it.

(00:25):
Hey brain stuff, Lauren voel Bomb. Here, You're minutes away
from presenting a speech. Your heart quickens, your hands turned clammy,
and your brain dissolves into oatmeal. Those killer opening lines
that you had planned, they've all but vanished, with no
evidence that they ever existed, just like your all day
deodorant and any sense of cool that you might have
temporarily summoned. And all those people around the table in

(00:46):
the conference room or classroom or auditorium are doing the
absolute worst thing that they could do right now. They're
staring and waiting and waiting and waiting for you. I
just want to run in Hi. Do you say to yourself,
this is not going well. I'm going to bomb, According

(01:06):
to both my own personal experience and one Scott Compton,
a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Duke University,
School of Medicine. That's exactly what those with a fear
of public speaking are thinking, and that anxiety, of course,
is exactly the problem. The fear of public speaking is
seriously real. It's a type of social anxiety disorder, which

(01:28):
is a term first coined in nineteen eighty in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders the DSM from
the National Institute of Mental Health quote, people with social
anxiety disorder have a general, intense fear of or anxiety
toward social or performance situations. They worry that actions or
behaviors associated with their anxiety will be negatively evaluated by others,

(01:50):
leading them to feel embarrassed. This worry often causes people
with social anxiety to avoid social situations. Social anxiety disorder
affects a whopping fifteen million American adults. Among the many
subsets of the disorder, the fear of public speaking, sometimes
called glossophobia, is king. As many as seven out of
ten Americans may grapple with some degree of glossophobia. But

(02:13):
Jerry Seinfeld once quipped, according to most studies, people's number
one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. This means,
to the average person, if you go to a funeral,
You're better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.
And this fear is way more serious than sweaty palms
in a tied tongue. Those with severe glossophobia worry so

(02:34):
much about how they act or appear in public that
they often avoid public settings altogether, and that can be
harmful to their personal and professional well being. And the
Anxiety and Depression Association of America warns that things can
get even more serious. Quote.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
People with social anxiety disorder are also at an increased
risk for developing major depressive disorder and alcohol use disorders.
The Andrew Kuges Foundation for Social Anxiety lays it out
in stark terms. The name may sound harmless, but the
disorder is complex, cruel, and anything but simple. Social anxiety
is far more than shyness in a fear of public speaking.
It's an addiction to avoidance and a disease of resistance.

(03:12):
So what's happening here? A Social anxiety disorders, including glossophobia,
are defined by extreme fear and worry. They are the
most common mental disorders in the US. The signs that
someone may be experiencing an anxiety disorder may include feeling nervous, irritable,
or on edge, having a sense of impending danger, panic
or doom, having an increased heart rate, breathing rapidly, sweating

(03:34):
and or trembling, feeling weak or tired, difficulty concentrating, having
trouble sleeping, and or experiencing guest or intestinal problems. The
anxiety is thought to be centered in the amygdala, a
part of the brain associated with emotions. The idea is
that the amygdala, acting on bad memories or false ideas
of what could happen, releases fight or flight hormones that

(03:56):
put the body in a stressed state. Thus, the sweaty palms,
raise the heart and the desire to get away. The
disorders often start in young people. Psychiatry professor Compton says
a shy child who won't participate in class even though
he or she knows the answers, or who's afraid on
play dates, or who won't join a sports team for
fear of messing up, and grow as the child becomes

(04:18):
an adult. Compton said most of the anxiety disorders start
in early childhood and go untreated and unrecognized. People end
up developing some pretty maladaptive sort of coping strategies. The
go to strategy seems to be avoidance. Those who have
been dealing with social anxiety for years, including the fear
of public speaking, simply avoid stressful situations whenever they can,

(04:40):
and that's about the worst thing they can do when
it comes to conquering their fears. A Compton said, the
more you avoid, the worse. It becomes. My motto and
therapy is you need to avoid avoidance. It's almost like,
if something causes you anxiety, you need to do the
exact opposite of what your history is telling you to do.
Therapy can help a fear, public speed, and many other

(05:01):
social anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a type of
psychotherapy talking things through that is widely used to treat
social anxiety by many mental health professionals. Compton said, in therapy,
you start with kind of small things. I know you
don't want to go to a conference and be a
keynote speaker, but would you be willing to give a
talk in front of one other person? Start small, build

(05:23):
up some confidence and success, and then turn the heat
up in terms of making the situation gradually more anxiety
provoking anxiety listening, medication is a possibility too, But the
first step may simply be practicing a speech in front
of a mirror or with a friend or solo in
an empty room. Also, learn to slow down and breathe,
and try to buy into the idea that your life

(05:45):
will be better if you overcome your fear. Compton said,
when they can make the step of being willing to
do that thing, even though their history is sort of saying,
oh my gosh, this is going to be awful, those
are the ones that kind of get over their fear
of public speaking. For those facing the scary prospect of
making a public speech or being in any public setting
where you may have to talk, the National Social Anxiety

(06:07):
Center has loads of tips. One is to decatastrophize the
brain freeze that public speaking blackout that often happens with
glassophobia from personal experience. Again, the audience wants you to
do well, and we'll forget about any mistakes you make quickly,
and even if you completely bomb. One of the best
lessons about performing that I ever got was from one

(06:28):
Chuck Bryant. As he was getting off stage after coping
with a particularly tough crowd of middle schoolers. He shrugged
and said there's always next time.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Today's episode is based on the article Conquering the Fear
of Public Speaking on how stuffwork dot Com, written by
John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in
partnership with hostuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klag.
For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.