What is speech anxiety?

Physical reactions

In cases of anxiety, a so-called fight or flight response occurs as a physical reaction when we feel that we are in a threatening situation. This reaction happens automatically, and its purpose is to protect us from threats by preparing us to fight or escape. Changes that take place in the body include increased pulse rate and breathing, increased blood flow to the major muscle groups and the release of different stress hormones. In a situation where we feel nervous and anxious, we can note things like trembling hands, shaky voice, dry mouth, sweating, nausea, “butterflies” in our stomach, redness, tense muscles, faster breathing, palpitations or difficulty in swallowing. We may also experience a blackout, which means a feeling of our mind going blank and temporarily not remembering the content of the presentation. In a dangerous situation, this reaction helps us to survive. In a public speaking situation, which is perceived as dangerous even though it isn’t, the reaction instead leads us to find it difficult to focus on the task and what we are supposed to communicate.

Thoughts

Speech anxiety often involves thoughts about failing, receiving criticism, not being good enough, being worse than others or making a fool of yourself. These thoughts are automatic, negative and exaggerated but are experienced at the time as true. They are often catastrophic in nature, that is, we expect the worst to happen. Examples of negative thoughts are: “I’m going to make a fool of myself”, “Nobody’s going to find it interesting”, “Everyone’s going to see how nervous I am and judge me for it”, and “I’m going to fail completely”. 

Emotions

In connection with oral presentations, common emotions include anxiety, fear and shame. It’s natural that these emotions arise as the situation is perceived and interpreted as overly threatening, which can lead to heightened anxiety.  

Behaviour

Common behaviours associated with speech anxiety are those that aim to avoid the situation by, for example, postponing it, asking for another task or reporting in sick and staying at home. If the situation cannot be avoided, other common behaviours are those aimed at reducing feelings of discomfort, for example by over-preparing, talking quickly, talking in a low voice, or skipping parts of what was to be said. The fight or flight response also makes us want to escape, or quickly get out of the situation, which makes us talk quickly and without pausing, which heightens rather than calms the reaction.

Before moving on to the next section, please answer these questions:

• What’s the hardest thing for you about talking in front of others?
• What types of situations are most difficult to handle?
• What physical reactions, thoughts and emotions do you usually get?
• What do you usually do before and during a presentation to deal with the discomfort?