Glossophobia or speech anxiety is the fear of public speaking. The word glossophobia derives from the Greek γλῶσσα glōssa, meaning tongue, and φόβος phobos, fear or dread. Some people have this specific phobia, while others may also have broader social phobia or social anxiety disorder.
Symptom of Glossophobia
Those who truly possess an excessive fear of Public speaking will often exhibit some of the following symptoms:
- Anxiety
- Breathlessness
- Excessive sweating
- Dry mouth
- Shaking
- Being overly cautious
- Heart palpitations
- Inability to speak
- A feeling of detachment from reality
- Uncontrollable shaking
- Feelings of unsteadiness
Story of a person with the fear of Talking or speaking in public
I’m female 20 years old. I’ve had this phobia of talking since I was 17. It really sucks.I think my mind is too imaginative.
The reason why I’m afraid of talking is that I’m afraid I’ll speak something bad that is not what I originally meant to say. I’m not a bad girl, not a pickpocket. But my mind is too imaginative.
I’m so afraid being labeled as the negative ones in this world, getting the feeling of disgust and hate from people, moreover if they laughed at my family. But my mind seems so cruel. They think as if I really were those negative images, threatening to say some words in the real life as if I’ve done anything bad.
The worst of all, my classmates at college think I’m a bad girl. It’s because this uncontrolled mouth and my too imaginative brain. And most of all, my fear of negativity and what people usually do to the negative people. They’ve caught my murmurs while my mind’s rolling crazily. It’s always when I say I’m not like that negative image in my mind, the wilder the process of thought’ll be.
Once again, I’m not a bad girl. I don’t steal other people possesions. I hate making people sad. I hate looking down on people. I hate making bad wishes for anyone. I hate believing bad things about me or my family while in fact we’re good people.
But my mind… they tell me like that. I was so sad when I heard some friends talking behind me. They said I’m cheap.
In fact, I’m not. I don’t want to be touched in the way a cheap woman would do, even by a boyfriend. I really respect myself and others. In fact, I haven’t done anything like that.
So I’m not often talking. Walking in front of others is a pain, my lips often tremble, my mind works crazily. Any relatives come to my house, I hide. I don’t want to hurt them with my too imaginative thought. I’ve stopped my study at college, now jobless.
