Understanding Glossophobia in Effective Speaking

If you are a Harry Potter fan, you would recall the state of Harry when he would see a “dementor”. The moment the dementors would come near Harry, he would freeze and would not be able to do anything. Similar to this, a lot of people experience such crippling fear when faced with public speaking.

There are several ways in which you can overcome the fear of public speaking, also referred to as glossophobia. In the next video, Rakesh will explain the science behind glossophobia, its impact on you and the ways to overcome it:

That was an insightful video. Let's quickly summarise the concepts covered in this segment:

The fear of public speaking and facing an audience is called glossophobia. The part of our brain that gets activated when we feel fear is called the amygdala. Fear affects us psychologically as well as physiologically. It causes panic if we do not know how to control and tackle it.

In the video given above, we discussed the ways in which you can overcome glossophobia. Let's quickly summarise them:

• Take a deep breath, as it increases the oxygen level in your brain. When your brain gets ample amounts of oxygen, it enables you to tackle emotions of fear and nervousness successfully.
• When faced with glossophobia, think of something happy, funny or relaxing. This will reduce your fear significantly.
• Do not give up, no matter how many times you fail. Keep moving forward and keep practising public speaking. It will do wonders.

Glossophobia is quite common; it affects almost every other person in the world. By following all the tips and techniques that you learnt in this module, you will surely be able to overcome it.

In the next segment, Rakesh will discuss social anxiety and the fear of failure.