Therapy for Public Speaking | Multi-Award Winning Therapy

Speaking in public is the most common fear in the Western world.

We can help you conquer your fear.

Category: Mental Health

Conditions: Public Speaking (Glossophobia), Nerves, Anxiety, Confidence

What are the signs and symptoms of Glossophobia?

Glossophobia, or a fear of public speaking, is a very common phobia and one that is believed to affect up to 75% of the population. Some people may feel a slight nervousness when public speaking, while for others the mere thought of public speaking can induce symptoms of intense panic and fear. A small amount of anxiety is perfectly normal and even useful since it can actively improve the speaker's focus and performance.

Some of the more common symptoms associated with a fear of public speaking are:

Intense anxiety in the weeks, days, or hours before making a speech or presentation.

The thought of speaking with a group of people makes you worried and fearful.

Feelings of panic or experiencing panic attacks.

Palpitations, a racing heart, faster breathing, sweating, blotchiness, tense muscles and a dry mouth.

Loss of control over your voice, quivering voice.

Your mind goes blank mind standing in front of an audience.

An intense reaction to public speaking can literally incapacitate the speaker, leaving them unable to talk. It’s no wonder that the subconscious mind picks up on this intense reaction and actively magnifies the symptoms, even introducing new ones to help you avoid similar situations. This seeming inability to address a group of people, even small groups of one or two, can and often does have a serious impact on people's quality of life, particularly in work and career.

What causes the fear of public speaking?

Although there isn’t a threat of physical harm to us from speaking in public, the mind can believe differently and therefore behave differently. This irrational fear is not something we’re born with, it’s a fear that tends to develop over time as a response to certain events.

For many people, their first negative experience of speaking in a group environment happens at school when being asked to read aloud or being singled out to answer a question, particularly one they didn’t know the answer to. In this case, the child may have felt nervous, embarrassed, judged, or afraid.

Many of our clients have forgotten the experience that caused the fear itself, or perhaps it was a multitude of smaller events that caused the fear, but their subconscious mind has recorded the events as something that caused them negative feelings, including feelings of fear and anxiety. In doing so, their subconscious mind has put in place a warning system to move them away from this threat in the future, and because public speaking (or a similarly perceived situation) is now considered a threat, adrenaline is released at the mere thought of it. This emotional response then creates the physical symptoms that the individual experiences whenever they are required to speak in public or similar.

Your mind doesn't care about being happy

We imagine that our mind’s job is to make us happy, and yet it really isn’t. Our mind's job is to ensure we survive against what were once terrible odds. And one of the ways we survived was in the way our mind responded to the things we said to ourselves, such as ‘That would kill me, or I’d die if that happened.’ Upon hearing this, our mind would go into red alert, doing whatever was necessary to prevent the fateful event from occurring. Roll forward to today, and nothing has changed, our mind still thinks and acts the same as was the case during tougher times, when hardship was a daily event and death was far more likely. Therefore, it is up to us to tell ourselves a different story if we want our mind and body to give us an outcome that is befitting of better circumstances.

That being said, we still tell ourselves some pretty crazy stuff, and sometimes, we subconsciously create roles and functions for the pain we’re consequently experiencing, i.e. pain that helps move us away from danger. Our emotional pain is very often expressed through the body as a physical symptom. Thankfully, the solution to this problem is quite simple, only requiring us to train ourselves to think better thoughts.

70% of physiological issues are 100% psychosomatic

As an example: A client who is a university graduate suffers from chronic headaches. She’s waitressing, and for a long time, her father has given her a hard time about her choice of job, saying “she’s done nothing” with her education. Because of this, and to stop hearing the constant criticism, she unconsciously starts developing headaches, that prevent her from pursuing the career her father wants for her. The headaches give our client a real excuse, they prevent her from pursuing that career because she is now unable to perform to the required standard. The prior criticism, or at least potentially so, turns into, “My poor daughter. She trained to be a lawyer or a doctor, but now she’s got these headaches!”

This alternative outcome is what we call the Role, Function, Purpose, and Intention of the presenting problem, in this case, the migraine. When the symptom of an issue, like the migraine in this example, has an intended purpose that benefits the patient (i.e., escaping criticism), then it isn’t going to correct itself until we’ve first helped the patient change the belief that caused the symptom to form. The same is the case for a fear of public speaking and the symptoms that the sufferer experiences before, during and after the event, or simply as a means of avoiding the event.

Tell yourself a better story

Creating better thoughts means telling ourselves a better story.

Our brains are wired to chase familiar experiences and avoid unfamiliar ones as a means of reducing risk and increasing our chances of survival. Trying something new is always harder, or risker than doing something you’ve always done.

This tendency towards the familiar can lead to some dangerous habits too. Have you ever experienced a toxic relationship? Often, that toxicity becomes so familiar, that suddenly it becomes your reality and the experience that you move towards, time and time again. In doing so, you also create a false narrative, telling yourself that this is how relationships are for you, and how they need to be, and you stay a part of that false narrative for as long as possible. Humans are hard-wired to recreate what is familiar to them, we prefer what we know, even if it’s bad for us.

So how do we change our story? How do we make thoughts like ‘I’m beautiful, I’m worthy, I’m confident, I’m an amazing public speaker’ stick in our brains and become our familiar way of thinking?.

Well, you can start by getting up each and every morning and telling yourself, ‘I’m a good person. I have a skill, I have a talent, and I have something to offer the world.’ And whenever the thought of public speaking crosses your mind, try saying ‘I’m here for a reason and people love to hear me speak, they admire my confidence and hang on to my every word because my speaking brings so much pleasure to them’. Whatever it is you most want to hear, say it to yourself, because your mind doesn’t know what’s coming, it’s just waiting for your next instruction, so why not make them the things that make you feel wonderful and smash that fear of public speaking out the park. Keep in mind that the words you say to yourself and the pictures you create in your mind cause your body to have a physical response, usually of equal measure and proportion, so choosing your words wisely means they will work for you and not against you.

Sure it sounds almost too easy, but here’s the thing, you have to be consistent. If you’re going to tell yourself a better story and you want it to stick, you absolutely must tell yourself that story every day, always and forever - the mind learns through repetition.

There is actually nothing on the planet that will raise your self-esteem more than receiving someone's praise, but self-praise is even better. And because the mind likes repetition so much, when praising yourself every day, your mind thinks, ‘Here you go again with that praise. You say it every day, it must be true.’ Similarly, if you criticise yourself every day, your mind works the exact same way, accepting it to be the truth and helping build upon this blueprint as your preferred mode of being.

A massive part of your well-being relies on the story you’re telling yourself. Bad things will inevitably happen to you, as with everyone else, and when something bad does happen, you will inevitably attach meaning to that event. Blaming yourself, and self-criticism are harmful, but you can reverse these familiar responses and change your story from ‘I’m a terrible public speaker’ to ‘I’m a brilliant public speaker’ and see the remarkable effect that has on your speaking performance and life in general.

Knowing 'you are enough' changes everything

When it comes to speaking in public, or anything else for that matter, the thing we see most people struggling with is always a belief ‘I’m not enough’.

That feeling of not being enough is easily the biggest issue our clients face. In fact, without any consultation, we can confidently tell our clients that there are only three things that can be wrong with them. The first is, I’m not enough. The second is, I’m different, so I can’t connect. And the third is, I really want something, like freedom from depression or success, but it isn’t available to me. A possible fourth belief is, even if there is help available, I don’t deserve it.

Ultimately what this feeling of not being enough comes down to is a lack of self-belief and the fear of rejection. From birth, we are hard-wired to find connection and avoid rejection. It’s the fear of rejection that is crippling and can cause many of the issues we treat in our clinic, especially the fear of public speaking. We teach our clients that the only person who could truly reject them is them and that other people can only reject them if they choose to let the feeling in. ‘I am enough’ is a phrase we ask our clients to tell themselves repeatedly because when they know they are enough, and they truly believe it, everything is available to them, including the confidence to speak in public.

Help is available to you!

We help our clients understand that their thoughts become reality, so they can actively work at changing that reality into something positive, uplifting, and healthy. We not only help our clients improve their emotional health but many aspects of their physical health too. Emotional pain is often expressed through the body, so we work on improving our client's patterns of thought so that their physical self is affected positively as a result.

If you’ve been routinely convincing yourself that you’re a terrible public speaker and lack confidence, your mind will do everything it can to make that your reality. Nerves, anxiety and confidence issues are good examples of this, they are your mind and body's response to the beliefs you hold about yourself and a way of protecting you from a fear of failure or judgement, as is the case with a fear of public speaking.

Repeated negative thoughts will demotivate you and give rise to an even more powerful ‘inner critic’. It will keep you exactly where you tell it you want to be. Although the mind resists change, it is quite brilliant at learning through repetition – tell it something enough times and in the right way and it happily recodes itself to the new instruction. That’s an aspect of the mind that COACHD takes full advantage of with our Rapid Transformational Therapy™(RTT™) and Hypnotherapy when treating clients suffering from a fear of public speaking, nerves, anxiety and a lack of confidence.

Every thought you think, every word you say to yourself and every picture you create in your mind, form a blueprint that your mind and body work to make your reality. And since your mind responds to the thoughts and words you tell it, then, by definition, it will protect them and make them your reality. Knowing this, you can see that your reality isn’t something external to you, it is whatever reality you create in your mind.

Make Glossophobia a thing of the past and master your confidence

Living a confidence-filled life, without the fear of speaking in public may seem a long way off, or even feel impossible, but it needn’t be this way. At COACHD, we know that nothing in life influences you more than the beliefs that your mind links pleasure and pain to. We use Rapid Transformational Therapy™(RTT™) and Hypnotherapy to help you change your beliefs so that you can break through the barriers and blockages that are preventing you from achieving your goals and becoming the person you want to be.

Our therapies are designed to radically address the issues that are impacting your life. This includes your confidence levels, self-esteem, motivation, purpose and meaning, relationships, career, creating wealth and abundance, and achieving the life you want. COACHD has a powerful programme of Psychotherapy, Hypnotherapy and Skills support to help people struggling with a fear of public speaking. COACHD Rapid Transformational Therapy™(RTT™) and Hypnotherapy work with the subconscious mind, helping our clients reset their negative thoughts and beliefs to positive, empowering new ones, that support their well-being and personal development.

By helping our clients fix the issues that have led to their fear of public speaking, COACHD therapy empowers them to become the person they most want to be. Additional skills support is available to COACHD clients through our Coached Method Coaching™ service which helps them develop the knowledge and skills needed to live confidently and without irrational fears, as well as helping them progress in life, work, wealth, and relationship – and an unstoppable future! Read more about COACHD Method Coaching™.

About Rapid Transformational Therapy™(RTT™) and Hypnotherapy

COACHD RTT™ is a complete solution-based treatment, offering fast effective results by combining the most effective principles of Hypnotherapy, Psychotherapy, NLP, CBT and Neuroscience.

RTT™ helps people get to the root cause of their emotional, physical, or cognitive issues. When treating a client for the issues that are causing nervousness and anxiety when public speaking, we believe it is crucial for us to help them change their way of thinking, and any unhelpful beliefs and behaviour, in order for them to increase their chances of success and achieve lasting change.

Our hypnotherapy works with the subconscious mind, helping people deal with their past trauma and transforming any negative thoughts and beliefs into positive, empowering new ones. With COACHD Rapid Transformational Therapy™(RTT™) and Hypnotherapy, our clients can boost their confidence and eliminate their fear of public speaking. We believe our therapy is the most powerful and effective treatment available for the fear of public speaking. Read more about Rapid Transformational Therapy™(RTT™).

Start your transformation and become unstoppable

A skilled COACHD therapist will help you master your mind so that you can put an end to your public speaking fears and achieve your goals without the time, frustration, and cost of spending years on a therapist’s couch. Contact COACHD today for dramatic life-changing results that will empower you to overcome your fears, often in a single or limited number of sessions.

Contact COACHD to start your transformation today.

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