Public Speaking Fear

Off Topic
1

I’ve had a fear of public speaking for a long time. I also have stage fright, which can be troubling as I play guitar. The first couple of songs at a gig can be rough.

Recently I got ahold of some propranolol, a beta blocker, and tried it out for some work meetings where I had to present information. The drug worked with zero side effects for me, so I thought I would share, knowing what public speaking fear is like. It does not give a ‘drugged’ feeling like xanax, it simply blocks most symptoms such as racing pulse, sweatiness, dry throat, upset stomach, jumbled words. Read thr wikipedia article on it if you need to know more. The clinical purpose of the drug is to treat high blood pressure, and the average dose for that purpose is 140-300mg a day, or close to that. Here’s the neat part: there are few sides at that dosage, so its amazing to hear that most people use 10mg for public speaking, or stage fright. Doctors can prescribe it for this purpose, but i’ve heard from ‘someone’ that it can be found cheaply all over the internet. ‘They’ said they got 100 40mg splittable tabs for $13. Anyone else use this?

2

Or you could confront your fear… and conquer it. Just sayin’…

3

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
Or you could confront your fear… and conquer it. Just sayin’…[/quote]

Any specific steps you suggest, or are you just some idealistic kid?

4

I didn’t wanna say it because I’m little. Nutting up and confronting shit is pretty individual as far as experience goes, but just remember that it can’t hurt you. Its even easier when your size and strength intimidates people.

5

[quote]CapnYousef wrote:
I didn’t wanna say it because I’m little. Nutting up and confronting shit is pretty individual as far as experience goes, but just remember that it can’t hurt you. Its even easier when your size and strength intimidates people.[/quote]

I apreciate your intention here, but if that worked for anybody, it wouldn’t be the #1 fear in America today. If you believe that anxiety, depression or any other psychological stress induced issue can simply just be “confronted”, you obviously havn’t reached the point in your life where you truly realize you’re not invincible. For me it was in college when I had some panic attacks for the first time. Tell someone who’s had panic attacks to “nut up”.

6

I’ve considered it in the past but haven’t tried it just because I don’t want it to be a crutch for me. Personally I’m never really afraid of going up and speaking but once I do the adrenaline hits and my voice gets really messed up. It’s interesting you say a doctor will prescribe this for speaking, I always thought that was a little taboo. But I can see how it would proabably be a lot healthier to take it then go through that kind of stress.

7

You ever considered Toastmasters?

8

It is easy beaten by speaking more often and learning basic public speaking. I use to muddle words and shake when I tried public speaking, I would just freak out, but after doing it constantly the initial response was much less intense and I mellowed out. It is much more pleasant now. The last time i spoke was in front of my college president, granted I didn’t know he was about 20 ft to the side of where I was looking lol. Either way I actually enjoyed it and people came up and said I looked and sounded rock solid up there. I was very happy lol.

9

[quote]demonthrall wrote:

[quote]CapnYousef wrote:
I didn’t wanna say it because I’m little. Nutting up and confronting shit is pretty individual as far as experience goes, but just remember that it can’t hurt you. Its even easier when your size and strength intimidates people.[/quote]

I apreciate your intention here, but if that worked for anybody, it wouldn’t be the #1 fear in America today. If you believe that anxiety, depression or any other psychological stress induced issue can simply just be “confronted”, you obviously havn’t reached the point in your life where you truly realize you’re not invincible. For me it was in college when I had some panic attacks for the first time. Tell someone who’s had panic attacks to “nut up”. [/quote]

Not to rail on you here, dude, but a necessary part of any diagnosis for a phobia is avoidance. I guarantee that you are avoiding public speaking in one way or another. You’re either avoiding opportunities to speak in front of others or you’re doing subtle things in the moment to reduce your anxiety. This WILL fuel the fire, and while it’s a perfectly natural and reasonable thing to do in the moment, it will only serve to maintain your anxiety.

If you commit yourself to facing head-on whatever makes you anxious every single moment from here on out, you’ll overcome this. Some people can do that by themselves, and some can’t. See a behavior therapist if this is something that’s causing substantial impairment in your life.

10

[quote]sig805 wrote:
I’ve considered it in the past but haven’t tried it just because I don’t want it to be a crutch for me. Personally I’m never really afraid of going up and speaking but once I do the adrenaline hits and my voice gets really messed up. It’s interesting you say a doctor will prescribe this for speaking, I always thought that was a little taboo. But I can see how it would proabably be a lot healthier to take it then go through that kind of stress. [/quote]

Another neat thing to consider, is the fact that this drug has shown promising data towards helping people with post traumatic stress disorder. If you read up on this, one might hypothesize that this drug could be the opposite of a crutch, but may actually reverse the psychological causes.

11

[quote]enrac wrote:
You ever considered Toastmasters?[/quote]

Never heard of it. I looked it up but there is not one of them near me. Thanks tho

12

[quote]Petermus wrote:
It is easy beaten by speaking more often and learning basic public speaking. I use to muddle words and shake when I tried public speaking, I would just freak out, but after doing it constantly the initial response was much less intense and I mellowed out. It is much more pleasant now. The last time i spoke was in front of my college president, granted I didn’t know he was about 20 ft to the side of where I was looking lol. Either way I actually enjoyed it and people came up and said I looked and sounded rock solid up there. I was very happy lol.[/quote]

that’s exactly how I felt when I was 19

13

[quote]mrw173 wrote:

[quote]demonthrall wrote:

[quote]CapnYousef wrote:
I didn’t wanna say it because I’m little. Nutting up and confronting shit is pretty individual as far as experience goes, but just remember that it can’t hurt you. Its even easier when your size and strength intimidates people.[/quote]

I apreciate your intention here, but if that worked for anybody, it wouldn’t be the #1 fear in America today. If you believe that anxiety, depression or any other psychological stress induced issue can simply just be “confronted”, you obviously havn’t reached the point in your life where you truly realize you’re not invincible. For me it was in college when I had some panic attacks for the first time. Tell someone who’s had panic attacks to “nut up”. [/quote]

Not to rail on you here, dude, but a necessary part of any diagnosis for a phobia is avoidance. I guarantee that you are avoiding public speaking in one way or another. You’re either avoiding opportunities to speak in front of others or you’re doing subtle things in the moment to reduce your anxiety. This WILL fuel the fire, and while it’s a perfectly natural and reasonable thing to do in the moment, it will only serve to maintain your anxiety.

If you commit yourself to facing head-on whatever makes you anxious every single moment from here on out, you’ll overcome this. Some people can do that by themselves, and some can’t. See a behavior therapist if this is something that’s causing substantial impairment in your life.
[/quote]

I know you mean well here, but I’m not looking for a diagnosis. Anyone who has read my entire first post and has a mature mind would realize that. If I was looking for a diagnosis, I would go to a therapist like you mentioned. Apparently you’re oblivious to the fact that not everyone can afford such things, especially in this economy. I wouldn’t quite use the word ‘idealistic’, since you have at least some more basic sense than the first couple of kids that posted.

14

[quote]demonthrall wrote:

[quote]sig805 wrote:
I’ve considered it in the past but haven’t tried it just because I don’t want it to be a crutch for me. Personally I’m never really afraid of going up and speaking but once I do the adrenaline hits and my voice gets really messed up. It’s interesting you say a doctor will prescribe this for speaking, I always thought that was a little taboo. But I can see how it would proabably be a lot healthier to take it then go through that kind of stress. [/quote]

Another neat thing to consider, is the fact that this drug has shown promising data towards helping people with post traumatic stress disorder. If you read up on this, one might hypothesize that this drug could be the opposite of a crutch, but may actually reverse the psychological causes.[/quote]

Yeah, I guess you could consider it as training wheels so to speak but I tend to think that if you were using it for one speech and then stopped completely for another you would be even more anxious about not having the B blocker. Perhaps if you were speaking frequently enough you could gradually taper down the dosage level to the point that you wouldn’t need it all. I can say that facing some challenge like a speech, being scared shitless then going on and rocking it feels pretty awesome.

15

[quote]demonthrall wrote:

[quote]mrw173 wrote:

[quote]demonthrall wrote:

[quote]CapnYousef wrote:
I didn’t wanna say it because I’m little. Nutting up and confronting shit is pretty individual as far as experience goes, but just remember that it can’t hurt you. Its even easier when your size and strength intimidates people.[/quote]

I apreciate your intention here, but if that worked for anybody, it wouldn’t be the #1 fear in America today. If you believe that anxiety, depression or any other psychological stress induced issue can simply just be “confronted”, you obviously havn’t reached the point in your life where you truly realize you’re not invincible. For me it was in college when I had some panic attacks for the first time. Tell someone who’s had panic attacks to “nut up”. [/quote]

Not to rail on you here, dude, but a necessary part of any diagnosis for a phobia is avoidance. I guarantee that you are avoiding public speaking in one way or another. You’re either avoiding opportunities to speak in front of others or you’re doing subtle things in the moment to reduce your anxiety. This WILL fuel the fire, and while it’s a perfectly natural and reasonable thing to do in the moment, it will only serve to maintain your anxiety.

If you commit yourself to facing head-on whatever makes you anxious every single moment from here on out, you’ll overcome this. Some people can do that by themselves, and some can’t. See a behavior therapist if this is something that’s causing substantial impairment in your life.
[/quote]

I know you mean well here, but I’m not looking for a diagnosis. Anyone who has read my entire first post and has a mature mind would realize that. If I was looking for a diagnosis, I would go to a therapist like you mentioned. Apparently you’re oblivious to the fact that not everyone can afford such things, especially in this economy. I wouldn’t quite use the word ‘idealistic’, since you have at least some more basic sense than the first couple of kids that posted.[/quote]

I wasn’t assuming that you were looking for a diagnosis. I’m sorry if I came across that way. From what you posted, you clearly have a phobia. My point was that your fear is maintained by avoidance, plain and simple. I’m not faulting you there. It’s human nature to avoid uncomfortable things. You need to retrain your brain.

Therapy isn’t necessarily expensive. For example, if you live close to a University, they might have a clinic that charges based on a sliding scale. Fees are usually determined based on annual income. I work at a University clinic and some clients we see pay as little as a dollar per session. Also, it’s a long shot, but research studies may be available in your area in which free treatment is provided. Check clinicaltrials.gov if interested.

16

[quote]
Yeah, I guess you could consider it as training wheels so to speak but I tend to think that if you were using it for one speech and then stopped completely for another you would be even more anxious about not having the B blocker. Perhaps if you were speaking frequently enough you could gradually taper down the dosage level to the point that you wouldn’t need it all. I can say that facing some challenge like a speech, being scared shitless then going on and rocking it feels pretty awesome. [/quote]

You didnt read up on the research with propranolol and PTSD, its pretty obvious. Your tendancy is to think that “any drug that does anything useful can be addicting” which is for the most part, true. However, the research shows that when given to people after traumatic events, it may actually reduce the PTSD of said incidents. While there isnt much research beyond this, Many would deduct that the same effect could apply to public speaking, meaning that if taken for speeches, over time, I may not need it all as public speaking no longer has a negative psychological or physiological effect. Get it?

17

Its the damndest thing. I’m afraid of everything except public speaking.

18

You’re missing the point of the post, you really are. I will oblige you anyway for your efforts, since you mean well. First of all, you are assuming I don’t speak a lot, whereas I do about once a week, albeit sometimes only in front of 8-10 people. I doubt thats too irregular for avoidance. I have also been doing this for 3-4 years.

Secondly, you dont seem to understand there are different severities of psychological things like this, nor do you seem to understand the concept of performance enhancement. Notice I never said it was bad enough for me to avoid or cancel anything. You’d know this if you did any research on propranolol and realized that many stage performers use it, and olympic athletes have been busted using this for an extra edge. Taking drugs for an extra edge, what a concept on a bodybuilding website, huh?

19

You’re absoloutely correct, I didn’t do the reading and didn’t mean to imply that I did. I believe that we are essentially making the same argument. My reference to training wheels was trying to indicate that you could use the propranol to overcome the initial anxiety and as you become comfortable speaking, taper down the dosage. (Not sure if its always this way but in my experience having issues with public speaking can really perpetuate itself i.e. one poor speach causes more anxiety about the next thus the problem feeds itself and this is where I can see the drug being beneficial.) Overall I think that as long as your approaching it with the attitude that you want to address and overcome the problem as opposed to avoid it you are on the right track.

edit: by the way I happen to agree that it would be a good idea in your situation. Especially considering the frequency that you seem to be speaking. I’m just trying to emphasize the importance I see in addressing your issues as opposed to avoiding them. And with it being a habitual problem of yours I don’t see it as something your trying to avoid.

20

Taking drugs to not be nervous? you gotta be fucking kidding. Listen man, nobody, and I mean NOBODY is comfortable speaking in front of a crowd. Why it is the #1 fear among humans, I haven’t the slightest idea. What is the worst that could happen? You fuck up a word? You lose your train of thought? Who cares? As long as you know what you are talking about, it is pretty much impossible to come out looking like an inept dumbass, like everyone seems to think they will.

You want my advice? Get off the drug, enroll in a public speaking class at your local community college, and thank me later. Public speaking classes should be required in high school. Once you go through it, and you get used to it, and you learn how to approach a topic, or an audience, its so easy, you wouldn’t believe. Even the best speakers in the world, who speak in front of tens of thousands of people on a weekly basis, are nervous before they go up. Their heart is pounding just like yours, they sweat just like you. The only difference is, they’ve learned to deal with it. Be aware that you are gonna be a nervous wreck, and work through it, once you are in front of your audience for about 40 seconds, you will calm right down.