There is a big chance in anyone’s life that they would sometimes have to speak in public. This can be a minor event like presenting a thesis at school or can be very important like holding a press conference for the release of an item your company manufactures. No matter what the case is, you would like it to be perfect but it might turn into a nightmare. Panic attacks can ruin everything and can make you look foolish too, although you are not. Believe it or not, this situation is very common and a lot of people have this “fear of public speaking”. Whenever they have to undergo such an event, panic creeps in and all is lost.

What is a Panic Attack?

A panic attack is a rapid and isolated period of intense anxiety, uneasiness and fear that is linked with a variety of cognitive and somatic symptoms. It is not always linked to public speaking and can be triggered by a variety of events. Your body is basically trying to protect itself from a perceived threat. It can be conscious or not but what always happens does so just in your mind. With public speaking the body sees it as a threat because your mind tells it that it is.

What is Fear of Public Speaking?

Fear of public speaking is just what the name implies it to be. It can be associated with a number of terms with which it is basically a synonym. These include speech anxiety, speech phobia, phobia of public speaking, panic, stage fright or simply shyness. Fear of public speaking is actually the biggest fear in the UK and US. It is even more powerful than the fear of dying. The good part is there are ways to deal with it but you need to be aware that you have a problem in order to start treating it. Once you realize you “suffer” from fear of public speaking and you end up having panic attacks whenever you are in a given situation, that is when you can do something about it.

Why Fear Something That is Not There?

There is no danger in public speaking but your mind can perceive it as a threat. In most cases this happens because of past events that happened in your life and made a mark. A common example is that of being publicly punished for an action during school years or forgetting your lines in a play and people laughing about it. That one event, weather you remember it or not, has made an impact and you felt bad in that instance. Your mind tries to protect you and triggers the panic attack.

Panic Attack Symptoms

When talking strictly about panic attacks linked to fears of public speaking, there are a number of symptoms that can signal it including:

- Sweating

- Blushing

- Chest pain

- Nausea

- Shortness of breath

- Uncontrollable crying

- Shaky voice

- Shaking body, usually the hands
- Choking

- Inability to speak

- Dizziness

Other symptoms can appear and each individual reacts differently in the case of a panic attack towards public speaking. No matter what these are, they stop you from talking in public and this is what you do not want.

Panic Attack Treatment

There are a lot of treatments available for panic attacks and methods used to make the fear of speaking in public go away. Some are very complicated and require medication while others are based on internal energy and psychology. The one method that has given the most results is systematic desensitization. It is quite simple and should be tried first, before going for stronger ones.

The principle of systematic desensitization stands in taking it one step at a time. The problem is that you will need people to help you because you can not do it yourself. If your family or the people you live with will support this effort you would be making a big step towards removing the fear of talking in public. Start with this small number of people or ask friends to help.

The first step is the hardest and looks like the stupidest. Start off with getting up every time you ask for something or you want to say anything. While you stand up and your friends sit while saying a simple sentence like “I like pie” the mind starts to slowly see the fear of public speaking as something that should not exist. The idea is becoming very loose and comfortable with speaking in front of an audience. Speeches in front of small, comfortable groups of friends are the first step towards getting comfortable with strangers. With this in mind do imaginary speeches in front of them as often as possible.

The first speech is the hardest and if you failed one in the past it is only going to be more difficult because the above mentioned fear is multiplied. You need to prepare for this moment. Do not do it unless you feel very comfortable with holding a speech in front of your friends or family. Before the first public speaking write down your speech and hold it in front of a larger group of friends.

Ask them to help and practice it until you feel no anxiety whatsoever. After this you are ready for your first speech without a panic attack. Just in case you need it, be sure to have some of those friends there and if you feel the panic attack coming, turn your eyes towards one or more of them. Think that you are in the room that you practiced in before and all should be ok. After all, treating a panic attack that is related to fear of public speaking is just mind over body.

Complex Solutions

If systematic desensitization did not work there is a strong chance that you have a very big panic attack problem that can be linked with something else and you might need special care and treatment. If symptoms did not completely go away when holding the speeches in small rooms with a limited number of friends, you have to try something else. As mentioned before, there are a lot of complex solutions available.

What needs to be done is consult a specialist. Go to your personal doctor, school psychologist or just anyone that can give you proper directions towards a cabinet or individual that is an expert in this field. Remember that panic attacks are treatable in the majority of cases by simple methods and only rarely to they require special attention. With public speaking panic attacks there is always a way to overcome it.