public speaking

[davo24]

hello everyone
Iv just recently came across this site and think its a fantastic place for people to get things off there chest who normally would keep it all inside. we're lucky we have people with similar problems who really understand, to talk too about it.

I guess most people who know me wouldnt even think i suffer from a social anxiety. Probably because I only really suffer one facet of it. and thats public speaking. But its an intense fear. last year i had such bad anxiety in the weeks leading up to a presentation that i couldnt even function. i had obsessive worrying thoughts. i was lucky that my lecturer let me get assessed in another way.

After starting back this year I had a breakdown and was diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder. i am seeing a psychiatrist and taking anti-depressents which in recent times has made me feel better.

This brings me to my current dilemma. I have missed the first 4 weeks of uni and am thinking of going back. i dont want to throw it all away. however this fear holds me back. Any suggestions or thoughts i would be most grateful

 

[creep_x]

try public speaking classes
or like som1 said try thinking if every1 was naked

 

[InProgress]

Speeches in school tormented me too. Each and every one made me hate life. There were some I skipped due to the fear, but other times I told the teacher, with 100% honesty, that I couldn't do it and was allowed to do it in private. Obviously, try to do the latter rather than former, if you feel you can't do it in class.

But the thing that helped the most is do not make it a performance. That means, do not try to memorize word-for-word and try to give a perfect delivery. That's setting yourself up to be nervous and make mistakes and get more nervous. The better way is to memorize the ideas you want to say, then speak the ideas in your everyday voice/words like it's a conversation. People can recognize you're just "talking with them" and both you and the audience will accept some roughness. Of course, you should practice this to ensure you can put the ideas into words without getting stuck.

 

[burner21]

public speaking is one of the worst. i know i have a presentation coming up in a month in a half and already i'm nervous about it, and will get even more nervous as it gets closer. it's cool that some of you have gotten to do something other than presentations for your teacher, i've always been nervous about asking for something like that.
The thing that really helps me is i practice my presentation a lot. and i mean a lot. i agree that you should never try to memorize it, but if you really practice it constantly, you just end up knowing what you're going to say and it makes things easier (even though actually doing the presentation is already very hard).

 

[Caseums21]

I don't know what is wrong with me at times. I'm fine with speaking in front of people when I'm at a stand or whatever. When I'm in a conversation with a group of people, thats when I really get anxiety. Maybe because I may sound smarter than me. I'm not exactly sure why but when I'm giving a speech, I feel so confident.

My dad and I noticed that I get nervous in really weird times when I shouldn't be nervous. And I don't get nervous when I should. I'm just a backwards person I guess.