Public Speaking Anxiety Hypnotherapy Worthing
Would you like to learn, at a pace that is comfortable for you, to stop feeling anxious because an audience feels judgemental at best or hostile at worst?
Do you want to stop missing opportunities because of a persistent fear of the embarrassment you might feel if your mind goes blank?
Would you like to stop feeling like you don’t know what you’re talking about as soon as you are asked to ‘present it to the room’.
My Name is Alex Vrettos, I am a therapeutic Hypnotist based in Worthing, and I've been helping people experiencing performance anxiety since 2011. In person and online.
“Most clients are happy with what we achieve in three sessions”
I recommend my three-session structure for £270, but a pay-as-you-go option is available.
Sessions are calm, conversational and tailored to your comfort level.
You do not need to keep avoiding opportunities or living in a state of dread.
Many people with a fear of public speaking experience major improvements surprisingly quickly once they understand how the fear cycle works. Would you like to find out more?
FEAR OF PUBLIC SPEAKING TESTIMONIAL
“Still sleeping OK and I've been to quite a few meetings and presented stuff with the senior people there (no assholes), and I'm still alive. Now I've ended up chairing some group with loads of other [Group] Trusts. I'm not spending days worrying about things anymore - so it's all good. Thank you for sorting me out.”
Your private and personal networks are important in life. Whether you work for yourself or you’re employed, the more people who know, like and respect you, the more opportunities you are likely to have.
You might be the best in the world at what you do, but unless you can convince the right people of that, your talent and knowledge can remain undiscovered, while you remain on the fringes, watching people with less to offer enjoy the opportunities you deserve.
Whether we are talking about interviews and presentations, business networking, or the next rung on your career ladder that involves presenting at meetings or conventions, your perpetual fear of stumbling over your words, getting caught out on a small detail or going completely blank fills you with a dread of embarrassment that overwhelms your competence and confidence in yourself, and you feel a fool before you’ve even stepped up. The frustrating thing is that you're not afraid of your subject. You're afraid of what might happen to you when you're the centre of attention.
Does this sound familiar?
You don’t think about it when you are just getting on with your work in your own space, so why does the idea of standing up and presenting feel so terrifying for you?
Why Does Your Confidence Disappear When All Eyes Are Upon You?
If you experience fear of public speaking, it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. Your mind is actually working exactly as it was designed to.
It’s a useful skill in life to have an awareness of what others might be thinking, so you can decide how to behave with certain people in certain situations. It is important to be able to imagine what negative and positive things others might be thinking about you.
It's the most natural thing in the world to have thoughts focussed on keeping you away from situations where you are more exposed or have a higher chance of making a mistake.
Almost everyone likely has the same thoughts as you when it comes to performance of any kind. The difference is that for most people, those thoughts quickly pass into the background.
When you struggle with presentation anxiety, those thoughts feel convincing and emotionally real. Your imagined thoughts that others are judging you negatively, disapproving, or bored with what you are saying are mistaken for reality, and your nervous system responds accordingly. You are not afraid of what others are thinking. You don’t know what they are thinking. You have become afraid of what you are imagining they are thinking.
When these imagined thoughts feel real while all eyes in the room are on you, the audience will feel hostile regardless of your performance or what they are really thinking. Your brain is wired to focus on potential threats, and so it becomes impossible to connect with all the complementary things your audience might be thinking.
That’s when the heart starts racing, the mouth goes dry, mind starts to race before going blank. You’re looking for a way out of danger.
How Help For presentation Anxiety Works With Hypnotherapy
During your sessions with me, you will learn how the mind and body work together to create the fear response.
Together, we’ll work on changing your relationship with the thoughts and feelings that currently feel so threatening, helping your nervous system respond in a calmer way.
Instead of becoming pulled into catastrophic “what if..?” thinking, you can maintain focus on your skills and knowledge that you came to present.
We’ll mentally rehearse scenarios that once filled you with dread with a cool head and a calm heart, helping your mind and body learn a different response to the imagined judgement of others. All this will be done at a pace that feels comfortable for you.
Imagine catching sight of someone yawning as you are hitting your stride and knowing it is nothing personal instead of assuming you’ve lost the whole room.
See yourself standing at the front of a room explaining complex ideas as well as you would in a personal conversation with a friend.
Think about never losing sight of the fact that you know your subject and you know your job, regardless of how many eyes are upon you.
How nice would it be to feel a little nervous - heart beat elevated, mouth a little dry - and remain in flow anyway?
What Treatment For Speaking Anxiety Looks Like With Me
I generally work within a three-session structure, although some people choose to have additional sessions depending on their goals and previous experiences.
Session 1: We’ll explore your experience of fear and help you understand how the mind and body work together to create the fear response. I’ll also introduce you to hypnosis through some simple experiential exercises and thought experiments, which can be good fun, so you can begin seeing your anxiety in a different way.
Session 2: Using hypnosis, we’ll explore how your mind learned this fear response. From there, we can begin reshaping those responses into something calmer and more helpful.
Session 3: We’ll strengthen the progress you’ve made, build confidence around places and situations that used to be inaccessible or extremely stressful, and help your mind and body become more familiar with responding calmly as we expand your comfort zone.
If you'd like to explore whether this approach feels right for you, you’re welcome to get in touch.
Fear Of Public Speaking FAQs
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Much of the pressure felt if you experience performance anxiety is the idea that ‘I must not appear nervous?’
This is a lot to ask as you do not choose to feel nervous so can you really choose not to?
One effective way to relieve that pressure and therefore reduce the nerves is to acccept that you might appear a little nervous, and some people might notice.
It’s okay. Most people do.
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The expectation in therapy or life should never be 100%, as that leaves you too open to ‘failure’.
I like to use hypnosis to help you let go of the excessive and unnecessary anxiety around public speaking.
Alongside that, I like to help you be more comfortable with the uncomfortable that might arise when presenting. If you fear those thoughts and feelings, they can overwhelm - if you are comfortable with the uncomfortable, it will not overwhelm you.
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Anxiety is a fear response to the possibility of going blank, stumbling over your words, or thoughts of the audience judging you.
It is a natural process for your mind to think these thoughts before a presentation - they are just risk assessments that can be worth considering.
The thought of it happening does not mean it will happen. You can reduce anxiety before and during a presentation by being comfortable with these thoughts. Then they cannot overwhelm you and your mind is more free to focus on thoughts of everything going well.