How to overcome public speaking phobia

[piscis]

Has anyone here been able to overcome a phobia of speaking in public?

I realise this problem has dominated my life and I am not going as far as I can go professionally because just the thought of it terrifies me. I have a job now where there are opportunities and my manager seems very supportive, she'd like me to do more things... But I am so scared, I seriously think I cannot do it.

I am not even talking about making a long presentation, the fact of having to introduce myself to a group (I am kind of ok with very very small groups of people I feel comfortable with) makes my heart race like crazy and I feel my voice trembles, it is awful how bad I feel.

I do take 10 mg propranolol when needed and I have been taking it since I started my new job a year ago, I probably take it twice a week, which helps a lot, but I don't want to take it long term.

I'd like to find a natural solution to this...
Has anyone got any experience with this?
I'd appreciate any comments or help, I am desperate to sort this out. I know it is such an irrational fear but I cannot do anything to stop it

Hi @piscis I have always been a nervous public speaker too. Company meetings were always nerve racking for me as I was in constant fear of being asked to present something (either pre planned or off the cuff!). Many a question was answered with a shaky voice and red face
It's something that I have improved slightly a I have got older and some small things have helped. Making sure I take a deep breath before I start and then focusing on maintaining slow, measured breaths (the urge is to rush through it!) Rather than focusing on anyone in the audience I kind of glance above them. Hope that is of some help. Also I think the more you do it the better you will get. For me the anticipation makes it worse as I overthink it all!

I tried hypnotherapy when I was 40 as although my job doesn't need any public speaking, i had suffered all through school and even as an adult found dinner parties and similar things quite hard. I had visions of making a speech at funerals in the future and I'd lie in bed worrying.
I'm not sure if it worked,but a few months after I married again and after cutting g the cake,my husband said to me that he was too scared to do a speech( I'd never of thought this of him) and I just stood there and thanked everyone and was ok!!
I don't really put myself in the position of big groups anymore so not sure how I would be now and whether the hypnotherapy actually worked but in that position, I felt stronger.

Thank you for your responses, it feels so good talking to people who actually understand this...anticipation is the worse part of it and overthinking, absolutely, but I just cannot stop doing it, I am in panic mode!
Propranolol helps so much but being realistic I cannot be medicating for years, I am not close to retiring.
I thought about hypnotherapy, but I was not sure if that works...I think exposure to the phobia is the best, but I don't feel I want to experiment in my work environment. It would be good if there were groups of people with similar problems that meet up, at least that would be a 'safer' environment to start with

Op, are you still around?

I know this is an old thread, but I was about to post the same thing.

I am so embarrassed and ashamed that I cannot speak in groups. Have you found anything that helps?

Solidarity sisters xx

I have always been terrified of public speaking and presentations- I cannot even count the times I've been flustered and red faced or lost my ability to speak. I don't want this to rule my life, so I'm slowly and steadily getting more confident, as I've needed to make quite a few presentations across the past couple of years.

Last week I made a presentation after which I was provided very positive feedback by a number of colleagues (I did feel that it was going well and people were engaged the whole hour), however what people don't know is that I spent hours preparing for the presentation and practicing it over and over again.
Somehow I feel it's easier to imagine that I'm an actor performing a "role".

The good thing is that it's a skill- many top managers are naturally introverted and have needed a lot of practice and training to get to where they are in their public speaking skills.

If you're a reader, I'd recommend reading "public speaking without fear" (free with kindle unlimited)- the book has helped me a lot and provided tips on how to build my confidence.

One of the Bach's Flower remedies called 'mimulus' got me through uni....... I confess to going to the pub for a glass of wine at lunchtime on the access course when I had to do two in one day, morning my voice completely went midway, afternoon one was much improved....... but wouldn't recommend that as a long term strategy😚

Unfortunately not. Fear of public speaking has plagued my life and haltered my career.
Heart racing, head pounding, sweating, dry mouth, mind goes completely blank, lightheadedness. I hope you find a solution

Remedial hypnosis is very good for public speaking. It's a common fear that usually starts during school days and is very common. Why? Because it involves drawing attention to ourselves and has a high chance of inviting ridicule if we get it wrong - something that children (especially) fear as means possible exclusion from their social group; in evolutionary terms, being outside the herd is dangerous so we do anything to avoid it when we're young and relatively helpless.

Once this fear is created in the subconscious mind it (the SC) will do whatever is necessary to stop you being in the same position, even as an adult when you know, consciously, that public speaking is necessary or advantageous to your working life. Hence the mental and physical fight or flight response. Remedial hypnosis connects directly with the original fear and removes it by reseting the thought patterns that are no longer useful. It takes normally 2/3 sessions and the change is permanent.