For years, speaking in public has triggered panic attacks for one writer, who decided to road-test popular methods to overcome her fear, from psychotherapy to virtual reality. Her ordeal began in a university class presentation, where the room started to spin and her breath grew short, forcing her to cut the speech short. This pattern continued into her first graduate job, where she had to abort a simple stats readout, and has led her to avoid speaking opportunities for over a decade.
The fear is widespread: a 2023 YouGov survey found half of Britons experience glossophobia – a fear or anxiety of public speaking – second only to fear of heights, and above spiders and snakes. The phobia is especially prevalent among younger people, with 63% of gen Z saying they would avoid public speaking if they could.
Seeking a cure, the writer tried EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy with a consultant. This form of psychotherapy aims to change how the brain stores past negative experiences by using lateral eye movements while recalling distressing memories. A technique called 'flash' involved rating disturbance levels while focusing on positive distractions like music videos, gradually reducing the emotional intensity of the memories.
Combining therapy with exposure, the writer attended a Toastmasters club, founded in 1905 to train public speaking skills. The club's mantra of 'experiment, fail, learn, and repeat' provided a supportive environment to practice. The writer concludes that while EMDR helped reframe her anxiety, real-world practice is essential to prevent the fear from returning.
