Public Speaking and Panic Attacks

Public Speaking and Panic Attacks

It is often observed that many people’s top ranking fear is not death but having to speak in public. The joke is that these people would rather be lying in the casket at the funeral than giving the eulogy. Public speaking for people who suffer from panic attacks or general anxiety often becomes a major source of worry weeks or even months before the speaking event is to occur.

These speaking engagements do not necessarily have to be the traditional “on a podium” events but can be as simple as an office meeting where the individual is expected to express an opinion or give verbal feedback. The fear of public speaking and panic attacks in this case centers on having an attack while speaking. The individual fears being incapacitated by the anxiety and hence unable to complete what he or she is saying. The person imagines fleeing the spotlight and having to make all kinds of excuses later for their undignified departure out the office window….

This differs slightly from the majority of people who fear public speaking because their fear tends to revolve around going blank while speaking or feeling uncomfortable under the spotlight of their peers. The jitters or nerves of speaking in public are of course a problem for this group as well, but they are unfamiliar with that debilitating threat which is the panic attack, as they most likely have not experienced one before.

So how should a person with an anxiety issue tackle public speaking?

Stage one is accepting that all these bizarre and quite frankly unnerving sensations are not going to go away overnight. In fact, you are not even going to concern yourself with getting rid of them for your next talk. When they arrive during a speech/meeting, you are going to approach them in a new manner. What we need to do is build your confidence back to where it used to be before any of these sensations ever occurred. This time you will approach it in a unique, empowering manner, allowing you to feel your confidence again. It is said that most of the top speakers are riddled with anxiety before speaking, but they somehow use this nervousness to enhance their speech. I am going to show you exactly how to do this, although I know that right now if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks you may find it difficult to believe you can ever overcome it.

My first point is this and it is important. The average healthy person can experience an extreme array of anxiety and very uncomfortable sensations while giving a speech and is in no danger of ever losing control, or even appearing slightly anxious to the audience. No matter how tough it gets, you will always finish your piece, even if at the outset it feels very uncomfortable to go on. You will not become incapacitated in any way.

The real breakthrough for if you suffer from public speaking and panic attacks happens when you fully believe that you are not in danger and that the sensations will pass.

“I realize you (the anxiety) hold no threat over me.”

What keeps a panic attack coming again and again is the fear of the fear—the fear that the next one will really knock your socks off and you feel you were lucky to have made it past the last one unscathed. As they were so unnerving and scary, it is your confidence that has been damaged by previous anxiety episodes. Once you fully understand you are not under any threat, then you can have a new response to the anxiety as it arises while speaking.

Defeating public speaking and panic attacks...

There is always a turning point when a person moves from general anxiety into a panic attack, and that happens with public speaking when you think to yourself:

"I won’t be able to handle this in front of these people."

That split second of self-doubt leads to a rush of adrenaline, and the extreme anxiety arrives in a wave like format. If, however, when you feel the initial anxiety and you react with confidence that this is not a threat to you, you will move out of the anxiety rapidly. Using this new approach is a powerful ally because it means it is okay to feel scared and feel the anxiety when speaking–that is fine; you are going to feel it and move with and through the sensations in your body and out the other side. Because he or she is feeling very anxious, often before the talk has begun, that person may feel they have already let themselves down. Now, you can relax on that point. It is perfectly natural to feel the anxiety. Take for example the worst of the sensations you have ever experienced in this situation—be it general unease to loss of breath. You will have an initial automatic reaction that says:

“Danger–I’m going to have an episode of anxiety here and I really can’t afford that to happen.”

At this point most people react to that idea and confirm it must be true because of all of the unusual feelings they are experiencing. This is where your thinking can lead you down a train of thought that creates a cycle of anxiety that produces a negative impact on your overall presenting skills.

So let that initial “oh dear, not now” thought pass by, and follow it up immediately with the attitude of:

“There you are–I’ve been wondering when you would arrive. I’ve been expecting you to show up—by the way, I am not in the least threatened by any of the strange sensations you are creating—I am completely safe here.”

The key to controlling your fear of public speaking and panic attacks is that instead of pushing the emotional energy and excitement down into your stomach, you are moving out through it. Your body is in a slightly excited state, exactly as it should be while giving a speech, so release that energy in your self-expression. Push it out through your presentation not down into your stomach. You push it out by expressing yourself more forcefully. In this way you turn the anxiety to your advantage by using it to deliver a speech where you come across more alive, energetic and in the present moment. When you notice the anxiety drop as it does when you willingly move into it. Fire a quick thought off when you get a momentary break (as I am sure you have between pieces), asking it for “more.” You want more of its intense feelings as you are interested in them and are absolutely not threatened by them.

It seems like a lot of things to be thinking about while talking to a group of people, but it is not really. You’d be amazed how many different non-related thoughts you can have while speaking. This approach is about adopting a new attitude of confidence to what you might have deemed a serious threat up until now. This tactic will truly help you with fear of public speaking and panic attacks you have associated with them.

If your predominant fear of the speaking engagement is driven by a feeling of being trapped, then I would suggest factoring in some mental releases that can be prepared before the event. For example, some meetings/speeches allow for you to turn the attention back to the room to get feedback etc. from the group.

If possible, you might want to prepare such opportunities in your own mind before the engagements. This is not to say you have to ever use them, but people in this situation often remark that just having small opportunities where attention can be diverted for the briefest of moments can make the task seem less daunting. It my even be something as simple as having people introduce themselves or opening the floor to questions. I realize these diversions are not always possible and depend on the situation, but anything you can factor in that makes you feel less trapped or under the spotlight is worth the effort and can help alleviate fear of public speaking and panic attacks.

by Joe Barry. Joe Barry is an international panic disorder coach. Visit his informative site on all issues related to >> Panic and Anxiety Attacks

Fear, Stress or Anxiety?

A few days ago, I was riding in a car on the interstate. It was around rush hour, and traffic was particularly bad. Other cars and trucks were weaving in and out of lanes, tailgating, and speeding. New lanes were added all the time and the general flow of traffic was about 80 mph. I got nervous. My palms started sweating, my heart was racing, I was tense and on the verge of tears. Was I having an anxiety attack? No. Anytime you have 3000 ton trucks coming at you at 80 mph you are perfectly entitled to feel scared. I experienced fear, which is not the same thing as anxiety.

There are many different definitions of anxiety and panic attacks floating around, some with slight variations. Most define anxiety and panic attacks as feelings of fear, dread or tension without there being a threat or clear justification as to why you are feeling these things. As a psychologist once explained it to me, “Anxiety is irrational fear”.

It is important to keep this in mind, and not jump to the conclusion that you are having anxiety every time you feel fearful, stressed or scared

Let me give you another example: say you have a couple that are going through a difficult time in their relationship. They usually get along fine, but for the last few days they have been arguing a lot and the home environment is hostile and tense. What if someone in this situation is experiencing stomach pain, sleep difficulties and feelings of nervousness before they go home? Would you consider this person to have anxiety? I wouldn’t.

There’s no denying that this person might be feeling anxious, but that does not mean he or she has an anxiety problem. I would say this person is showing temporary physical and emotional symptoms of stress relating to a specific situation. Unlike anxiety, stress is defined as a physical and/or emotional reaction to something that goes on in your environment; it’s not irrational, it’s real. If you are experiencing stress because of your environment, whether it’s your relationship, work, children or anything else, it does not necessarily mean you have anxiety. In most situations like these, changing your environment, your current situation, will help you get rid of the stress and the anxiousness.

Let me give you an extreme example to make my point: you are walking down the street, minding your own business, when someone pulls a gun on you and tells you to give up your wallet. I am pretty sure you’ll be experiencing all the common symptoms of anxiety in this situation; your heart is pounding, you’re sweating, feeling dizzy, stomach queasy etc. So you’re having a panic attack, right? Of course not! We can all clearly understand that what you’re feeling in this situation is real, rational fear.

Ok, so I’ve pointed out the difference between fear and stress vs. anxiety, but why is this important? This is important because it influences what you think and how you feel. If you know you are experiencing stress or fear, no matter how uncomfortable the situation might be, you know you are reacting to an outside situation. If someone pulls a gun on you, there is no way you are going to feel bad about or blame yourself for feeling scared.

One common problem for people who have anxiety issues is that they tend to blame themselves and feel bad about the situation. But the worse you feel about yourself and the situation, the worse your issue will get.

It is important to see separate incidents as just that; separate. Putting the anxiety label on your feelings will give power to them and you can easily start seeing yourself as someone with a “problem”. Labels don’t benefit you, and neither does feeling that you are sick or have a “problem”. I’m not saying anxiety is not a real and serious issue; I know it is because I struggled with it for years. I also know that many of the situations where I thought I had anxiety, I was actually just plain scared or reacting to stress.

Don’t accept labels others put on you, and don’t put them on yourself. Even if you have panic attacks on a regular basis, you are better off seeing them as separate incidents than seeing yourself as someone with a "disorder."

by Elisabeth Ramsberg Larsen for www.easycalm.com

It's Good to Know Common Anxiety Symptoms

It's Good to Know Common Anxiety Symptoms

Words of warning regarding medical and health conditions such as heart attacks or strokes are popping up all over American television these days. Commercials tell you what to do if you experience dizziness, fainting, numbness, and so on. However, very rarely will your hear a commercial outlining common anxiety symptoms, which is unfortunate because many people have them and are very confused by them.

Having anxiety symptoms can be very common in our society, when we face anxious situations on a regular basis. Whether it's the fear that we're lost in an unfamiliar city or are going to be late for a job interview or when the phone rings in the middle of the night, we all face anxiety at one point or another in our lives. Some people however may have anxiety symptoms for what seems like no reason at all, and they may confuse these with the symptoms of having a heart attack or some other medical condition. Especially do those who suffer from panic attacks often confuse the two.

Anxiety symptoms are of course different for everyone, and sometimes it's easy to understand that you're just experiencing anxiety – right before a speech to colleagues, when you're about to get married, when you open the front door and see two police officers standing there; these circumstances can easily make anyone tense and nervous! But for most, anxiety symptoms may include shortness of breath, heart palpitations, nausea, chest pain, difficulty breathing, tingling or numbness in the fingers, face, or toes, stomach aches, and headaches. You can see how these may easily be confused with a heart attack or asthma or some other condition.

If you experience these anxiety symptoms on a regular basis, and especially if they seem to occur for no reason, you would do well to speak to your doctor. For one thing, you want to rule out the possibility of it being a heart attack or something as serious. For another, he or she can prescribe medications or therapies that can help you deal with the anxiety symptoms while also working with you to find out why you're tense and anxious in the first place. You may have some chemical imbalances in the brain or may need to learn some positive ways of thinking about a situation so as to not be so tense and anxious during certain situations.