Do you struggle with severe stage fright when speaking in front of people? I’m Sally Kanemitsu, a specialist in overcoming stage fright using brain-based methods. In this article, I’ll explain what stage fright is, its symptoms, causes, and underlying mechanisms. Understanding these factors is the first step to overcoming public speaking anxiety at its root—without relying on ineffective methods.
What Is Stage Fright?
Stage fright is a condition that can cause symptoms such as those listed below. These symptoms can appear when speaking in front of people, giving a presentation, performing music, or even playing sports in front of others. The type and intensity of symptoms vary from person to person.
Typical Symptoms of Stage Fright:
- Heart pounding or palpitations
- Trembling voice, stammering, or difficulty speaking
- Shaking in the body, hands, feet, or neck
- Blushing or facial twitching
- A blank mind or headache
- Shortness of breath or chest tightness
Some people ask if “stage fright” is any different from “nervousness.” While “stage fright” usually implies a stronger fear, the line between the two is blurred since people use these terms without strict definitions.
Regardless of what you call it—stage fright, nervousness, speech anxiety, public speaking anxiety, performance anxiety, or social anxiety—if these symptoms disrupt your ability to perform, it’s something you need to deal with.
Causes of Stage Fright
People who suffer from stage fright have often experienced negative events, such as making a big mistake or feeling humiliated in front of others.
In my case, the decisive factor was a major failure during a music competition.
Common examples:
- Making mistakes while reading aloud in class
- Failing during a performance and being laughed at
- truggling to answer a question during a meeting
When such experiences are intense or happen repeatedly, your brain starts to associate being in front of people with danger. As a result, stage fright develops. Even witnessing someone else being publicly embarrassed can create this fear.
If you talk about your stage fright, you may be told that it’s because you’re overly self-conscious or a perfectionist. While these traits can certainly work against you, they are not the true cause of stage fright. The real cause is that your brain has stored “being in front of people” as a danger signal.
To overcome stage fright, you need to reprogram your brain’s memory, teaching it that “being in front of people is not dangerous.” This can be done through successful experiences or targeted mental training. The process is similar to moving on from heartbreak by creating new, positive memories.
As countermeasures for stage fright, techniques such as voice training, breathing exercises, and acupressure are often recommended. However, as you might have guessed, these methods alone cannot reprogram the brain’s memories. I’ll explore these topics in more detail in another article.
Mechanism of Stage Fright
When the brain holds the perception that being in front of people is dangerous, simply standing before an audience activates the sympathetic nervous system, resulting in physical tension—this is the mechanism of stage fright.
Let me show you a chart comparing the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Effects of the Autonomic Nervous System
| Functions | Sympathetic | Parasympathetic |
|---|---|---|
| Heart Rate | Increases | Slows |
| Blood Pressure | Increases | Lowers |
| Breathing | Rapid | Smooth |
| Muscles | Tense | Relaxes |
This reaction is commonly known as the fight-or-flight response. It originally evolved to help humans survive in the wild by boosting energy levels when facing predators.
The problem is that the brain cannot distinguish between physical danger and psychological fear. As a result, when we perceive public speaking as dangerous, the brain triggers the same survival response. Even though this reaction feels unnecessary, your brain believes it’s protecting you!
Summary
- Stage fright is a condition where your body or voice trembles during public speaking.
- Its root cause lies in the brain associating being in front of people with danger due to past negative experiences.
- When the brain holds on to this perception, standing in front of others triggers the sympathetic nervous system, creating tension—this is the mechanism of stage fright.
- To truly overcome stage fright, you need to reprogram your brain’s memory so that “being in front of people is not dangerous,” which can be achieved through successful experiences or targeted mental training.
For a detailed guide on overcoming stage fright, please click the button below to access my book. Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in the next article! This is Sally Kanemitsu.
