Speech Anxiety: Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking

By John Robert Colombo

This article addresses these questions about speech anxiety and the fear of public speaking:

• Why do we fear public speaking?
• Is speech anxiety normal?
• What can we do to face our public speaking fear and speech anxiety?

Fear of Public Speaking

Speech anxiety is a general term for the sense of fear or panic that overtakes a person when he or she is called upon to speak or otherwise perform in public. There are other ways to refer to it - anxiousness, nervousness, "the jitters", stage fright, fear of public speaking, performance anxiety, etc. It usually strikes when someone has to deliver a presentation before a group of people. It makes little difference whether the audience is large or small, composed of familiar or unfamiliar faces. Psychologists consider speech anxiety to be a special case of what is commonly known as shyness. Read more...

George Torok

The Speech Coach for Executives

speech
speech anxiety
public speaking