What Neuroscience Reveals About Speaking Anxiety

The science of speaking anxiety Speaking anxiety is one of the most common performance fears among professionals. It’s also one of the most misunderstood — not because the science is unclear, but because most of what gets written about it ignores the science entirely. What follows is what the research actually shows about why speaking […]

How hypnosis actually works — and why it matters for speaking anxiety

How hypnosis actually works — and why it matters for speaking anxiety For many people, the word hypnosis alone is enough to trigger scepticism. The associations are hard to shake — stage shows, Hollywood depictions, the idea of being controlled or put to sleep by someone else. Those images are vivid. They’re also wrong. And […]

Hypnosis and speaking anxiety

How hypnosis actually works (and why it’s so effective for speaking anxiety) Hypnosis gets misunderstood. The word itself doesn’t help — derived from the Greek word for sleep, it became associated with people appearing unconscious or under someone else’s control. That image stuck, and it’s wrong. Hypnosis is not sleep. It’s not unconsciousness. And it […]

What caused your speaking anxiety?

What caused your speaking anxiety? Most people with speaking anxiety have asked themselves this question. Some have a clear answer. A presentation that went badly. A moment of humiliation in front of the wrong people. Others have nothing to point to. No incident. No memory. No obvious starting point. It doesn’t matter which camp you’re […]

Why speaking anxiety gets worse in high-stakes situations

Why speaking anxiety gets worse in high-stakes situations Speaking anxiety and high stakes have a specific relationship. The more that rides on a speaking situation — the seniority of the audience, the visibility of the outcome, the professional consequences — the more intensely the nervous system responds. Understanding why that happens explains something important: why […]