Symptoms Of Fear Of Public Speaking
There are some very important criteria that mental health experts use to diagnose the symptoms of fear of public speaking. Usually, most doctors do not treat clients during the diagnosis stage as people with a mental illness, but people who need help to rectify their symptoms.
The first step taken towards ascertaining if a person has fear of public speaking symptoms (stage fright) is by treating the person as a unique and special individual. The person is allowed to freely express what it is they are feeling, experiencing and how this is affecting their lives. By these criteria allow a doctor to determine if the symptoms being experienced are in fact fear of public speaking or a more serious social phobia disorder.
Social phobic symptoms are very specific and therefore the same as a fear of public speaking, but not all of them are experienced by every patient. These will all show a persistent and continuing experience of the fear of performing in front of others or making a presentation where the fear of embarrassment may happen. These symptoms include:
· A continuing and marked fear of a single or multiple presentation or performance related situations where the patient has to expose themselves to people they don’t know and the potential for judgment by those people. The patient’s fears display a concern about being embarrassed or possibly humiliated. For example, for some patients the best clue to this is in their ability to perform normally or do presentations in front of small groups.
· The act of exposure to a stage like situation almost always leads to feelings of extreme anxiety, which can manifest itself in the form of a ‘panic attack’. Panic attacks can vary according to the age and person, but in children this can manifest itself in the form of avoiding freezing in their actions, having temper tantrums and/or unexplained crying.
· The appearance of a fear that may be unreasonable or excessive in nature. However, in the case of children this is not usually a factor.
· The avoidance or endurance of fearful performance or presentation situations and/or the endurance of such situations that provokes an attack of extreme distress or anxiety (panic attack).
· An unreasonable avoidance, distress or stressful anticipation of fearful performance or presentation situations that significantly debilitates the patient’s daily routine, ability to function normally at school or work, which can result in a phobia about having a fear of public speaking attack.
· If the patient is below eighteen years old and the occurrence of these symptoms has lasted at least six months.
· The subsequent avoidance or fears are not as a result of any physiological effects, such as the abuse of drugs, medication or any other underlying medical illness, and cannot be diagnosed as another form of mental illness such as separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder without agoraphobia (or with), schizoid personality disorder, body dysmorphic disorder or separation anxiety disorder.
· In the case where another underlying mental or medical illness is determined, the patient’s fear has no relation to Parkinson’s disease tremors, Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa or stuttering.
Fear of public speaking is reasonably easy to diagnose for most medical practitioners because its symptoms can be attributed to stage fright, though many other mental illnesses, medical conditions and/or possibly the abuse of drugs or medications may be to blame also. The symptoms of fear of public speaking can affect the patient’s ability to live a normal life and may interfere with their ability to reach their full career potential and experiences that most of us would take for granted. In fact, as many studies have shown, the symptoms themselves are not enough on their own to diagnose this phobia, but just a part of the whole process. It is important that as a potential patient of this that you understand that along with the symptoms and possible causes may come the possibility of traumatic experiences, whether known or unknown to you at this time. So, it is vital that if you are experiencing these symptoms that you seek medical advice first from your family doctor and then an experienced psychologist or psychiatrist. Do not be alarmed by the many questions they may ask you regarding your childhood or adulthood. These are meant to better assist you and the doctor in determining if the symptoms you are experiencing are in fact truly those of a fear of public speaking.
