Glossophobia: description, causes and methods of struggle

Fear of the scene is one of the most widespread phobias, which occurs in both children and adults of any gender and social status. The causes of anxiety, anxiety and panic associated with public speaking are diverse and largely individual.

The fear of the scene in psychology is called glossophobia. This name comes from the Greek language, where "glosso" means "speech". For various reasons, a phobia appears in people, delivering rather unpleasant and serious experiences, because for many of us, life is directly related to public speaking. We have to perform a lot in everyday life - at work or at family celebrations.

In many professions and other fields of activity, individuals have to accept in one way or another the need to deliver a speech to the general public, as well as communicate with the audience. For example, it could be work in political structures, pedagogy, work of a lawyer, management, acting. All these professions require self-control in public, moreover, the skills of attunement to the audience, the ability to convince people of their rightness, inspire them in the right mood and convey their thoughts clearly and attractively are important.

Every person in his life somehow faced a situation in which he had to go up to the stage, show his oratory skills, present something to a large number of strangers or even skeptical people.Various psychological studies and surveys demonstrate that the vast majority of all people in the world are afraid when they have to speak to a wide audience.

And very often we are talking not about normal mild excitement, but about a real phobia, which significantly spoils the patient's quality of life. After all, a phobic disorder not only causes extreme stress in any individual suffering from it, but also becomes the cause of physiological ailment and even disease.

Many individuals with this phobic disorder want to understand how to resist the fear of the scene and defeat it. Glossophobia provokes a huge decrease in the quality of life in such people. The disease significantly interferes with promotion at work and all career activities in general. To perform many professional tasks, it is important to be able to convince the audience.

In this way, obsessive and uncontrollable fear of the scene - this is a very unpleasant and complex serious disorder, to which many individuals attach not the last meaning. In particular, this may apply to those who, by the nature of their own activities, are simply forced to speak in front of a large number of people daily. If such people launch this phobia, do not try to overcome their fear on their own, and also refuse qualified help from a psychologist or psychotherapist, the results can be sad. Stress in this case can lead to mental pathologies, the development of chronic diseases, constant malaise, alcohol or drug addiction.

Some individuals attempt to overcome their stage fear., creating for themselves certain techniques and behaviors that help calm down. Some take mild sedatives or, conversely, strong antidepressants and sedatives. Sometimes it comes to narcotic substances and alcohol in large quantities. However, this is not a solution to the problem, but ignoring it - this can only help for a short time.

Specialists distinguish different types of glossophobia. The fact is that the problem is very complex and complex and the reasons for its appearance, as well as psychological manifestations, can vary significantly. After the psychologist reveals all the details of the fear of the stage and public speaking, he will be able to choose the fastest and most effective method of treatment for the patient. This phobia can be divided into three varieties.

• Peyraphobia (public fear) is the fear of speaking in a large crowd of people. A person does not have problems making a presentation in a circle of two or three people, but a wide audience, a full audience of people cause panic horror. This disorder can often be associated with sociophobia and anthropophobia, as well as with fear and discomfort at any kind of public events.
• Verbophobia (fear of speaking) - this is the fear of speaking. In this case, unpleasant symptoms of phobia occur even when the audience is very small. It is difficult for the patient to tell a long story in the company of his friends, not to mention the presentations in front of a full hall of people.
• Lalophobia (fear of stuttering or impaired diction) lies in the fact that a person is afraid to make a reservation, start to stutter or not be able to utter words. It is interesting that phobia occurs both in people who are really suffering from all kinds of diction disorders, stuttering or dyslexia, and in people who have no serious problems or deviations with articulation.

Sometimes a person has only one kind of fear of the scene, and sometimes they act in combination. It is very important to correctly determine what exactly a person is afraid of. After that, you can understand the symptoms of phobic disorder, relieve symptoms and treat the disease.

The reasons for glossophobia in each case may vary: a study of this phobia shows that, for example, in schoolchildren, fear may arise from a fear of being ridiculed, and among top managers from fear it is not enough to convincingly convey their thoughts. And there are countless such options for the causes. Professional psychologists identify two main and leading factors that can affect the development of scene fear. They secrete heredity and education that is, innate character traits and personality traits or acquired fears through a certain social influence.

Heredity in this case, according to psychologists, implies initial tendency to experience too vividly any emotions, impressionability, as well as genetically inherited fear of society. It is worth noting that the type of temperament, especially the traits of a person’s character, the degree of strength of the emotions experienced by this person are also inherited. Parents and their daughters and sons are often very similar to each other in their psychological characteristics: their researchers often record the same phobic disorders, not to mention the fact that there is clearly a similar emotional perception.

Among these prerequisites, the following are distinguished:

• overly authoritarian parenting in childhood;
• conflicts and aggression in the family or in the other immediate environment of the child can also have a very negative impact and increase the risk of phobic disorder;
• emphasis in education on outside criticism, attempts to constantly compare the child with others;
• excessive self-criticism and reflection, a desire to be convenient for everyone and to please everyone, a tendency to trust any authorities;
• low self-esteem, lack of self-love;
• a great failure in childhood, which others have been discussing and criticizing for a long time, is a kind of trauma that can become the starting point for a phobia;
• the tendency to pessimistic about the world and negatively interpret any facts.

Another possible and frequent prerequisite for the development of such a phobia may be poor preparation for the speech, lack of competence, lack of confidence in their knowledge, inability to answer questions outside the scope of the report. In addition, sometimes a phobia is simply due to a lack of practice. Often, the more a person speaks to an audience, the more confidently he holds, and vice versa - if this is the first serious performance in life, a phobia can manifest itself with various unpleasant symptoms.

Perfectionism over expressed in an individual, the desire to certainly be the best, to fully control the situation - these are also frequent prerequisites for the development of many phobias, in particular, panic anxiety before public speaking.

Panic fear of speaking to the public can be expressed in different ways. Glossophobia provokes a person not only negative emotional experiences, it should be borne in mind that it often manifests itself also at the physiological level.The manifestations of certain symptoms are very varied and individual: in some cases, a person can relatively easily tolerate a phobia, and often it really hinders life.

It all depends on the causes of phobia, human temperament and the stage of development of the disease. In the presence of protracted, neglected and severe forms of phobia, such a disease can even become the basis for serious somatic disorders, interruptions in the work of internal organs.

Experts note that most often phobia is characterized by the following symptoms:

• nerve gestures of the patient are very common: a person in a state of panic fear is just hard to control his body;
• often speaking in the presence of phobia is accompanied by an upset gastrointestinal tract, for example, many are faced with diarrhea;
• among the symptoms, many notice a nervous laugh for no apparent reason;
• excessive sweating is another reaction of the body, characteristic of intense fear, in particular, phobia of stage performances;
• many note dry mouth, dizziness, fever, and nausea, which can sometimes be accompanied by vomiting;
• trembling in the patient’s voice, unnatural constrained facial expressions, muscle tension can also indicate the presence of an obsessive phobic disorder;
• accelerated heartbeat and increased pressure are symptoms that indicate that a person is under stress;
• a sensation of a lump in the throat, and in rare cases, a complete loss of voice is also related to glossophobia;
• some note a change in the timbre of the voice, a violation of diction and articulation;
• sometimes patients encounter involuntary urination;
• another characteristic symptom is numbness of the arms and legs, muscle cramps.

You can overcome a phobia at its earliest stages on your own. To do this, you need to have the willpower, and also enlist the support of friends and family. To overcome fear, psychologists recommend taking some measures.

• Yoga, meditation and breathing exercises - These are useful tools to get rid of the problem of excessive excitement. You must learn to relax, calm down and relieve stress. In a public speaking situation, also try to breathe deeply.
• You can take light natural sedativesfor example herbal teas. They will help to alleviate anxiety, tune in a positive way and overcome fear.
• Any means of relaxation can help. - massage, hot bath, pleasant outdoor recreation. Be sure to take the time to yourself. Also try to sleep more, eat healthy food, play sports.
• Rehearsals of performances in front of the mirrorCareful preparation, including facial expressions and gestures, can give you confidence. Ask your loved ones to listen to your presentation several times before the event to hone everything to the smallest detail. This will contribute to success in public, and the more often you will perform successfully, the sooner you will feel confident and free.
• You can attend the oratory training: on it you can hone your public speaking skills, gain confidence in your abilities and get rid of phobia.

Modern psychology and psychotherapy will help get rid of a phobia at any stage. If fear prevents you from living, the ways to overcome it can be different, but the fastest is to turn to a professional for help.