While meeting and greeting individuals daily, not everyone feels safe and happy in public gatherings. Mainly, individuals with introverted personalities hit rock bottom when they experience communication anxiety. Although, it’s a type of stress that makes you conscious of different situations that might break your confidence.
So, today, we will discuss in delta how anxiety affects communication and triggers extreme social anxiety in relationships.
Positive Realist takes pride in serving the community with career and communication coaches who help individuals build their confidence and boost their personal and professional lives.
Now, let’s dig into the communication stress and problems you need help resolving.
What is Communication Anxiety?
Communication anxiety comes when, in public speaking, people experience stress and tension. This is a type of anxiety that affects a person’s ability to respond during specific situations. Some individuals enjoy speaking in public, while others get panic attacks.
According to James McCroskey, communication apprehension and anxiety definition is:
“An individual’s level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons.”
Such an apprehension can be felt in any of the communication forms from personal to professional level, including:
No matter what platform you feel the symptoms of oral apprehension, you will be glad to know that now there are communication techniques for anxious patients.
4 Basic Types of Communication Apprehension
Four major types depict different side effects on individuals. Moreover, different cases of stress come from different types. These types include:
1: Audience
Some individuals experience stress and anxiety when speaking in front of people they know and strangers as well.
Regardless of both situations, such individuals struggle to adjust to personal relationships and professional places.
2: Situationship
The levels of stress and anxiety vary in different situations for different persons. In most cases, when a person experiences situational anxiety, it is more related to the specific situation than the context or the person.
3: Contextual
When a person experiences anxiety during contextual communication, it triggers their mental state. For instance, you might feel fully confident in front of your family but become severely anxious in front of board members.
Children are more likely to be affected by this as they are innocent and have no idea how it works.
4: Traits
It is a type of communication concern related to the personality type. People who feel anxious when communicating with others always want to avoid a situation, gathering, or places where they will interact.
Symptoms of Communication Anxiety
Stress comes from the physiological changes in the mind when people face people or situations. Some common communication anxiety symptoms include:
- Shaky hands
- Sweating
- Talking too fast
- Stuttering
- Accelerated heart rate
- Low blood pressure
- Dry mouth
- Lump in the throat
- Difficult breathing
What Causes Communication Anxiety?
When someone with CA starts speaking, several reasons can worsen it. They are open to speaking in front of several people, but the association adds to it.
The leading causes of CA include the fear of failure, high stakes, and being the center of attention and judgment.
Speakers face fear of failure as they start manifesting it, feeling they are not well prepared or are not confident in themselves.
Additionally, some speakers may feel fine while practicing but lose their shit in the actual event.
It is common in high-stakes situations such as promotional meetups, ample opportunities, or celebrations where they struggle to be perfectionists with overwhelming pressure to perform.
5 Best Communication Techniques to Overcome Oral Communication Stress
Here, we share a few of the best communication techniques to help you overcome communication problems, especially in personal matters, healthcare, and professional settings.
1: Engage in a positive talk
Negative self-talk destroys your confidence and the ability to communicate. The best exercise to overcome CA is positive self-talk.
Moreover, positive visualization of upcoming situations can help reduce anxiety. So, try to visualize positive things about future interactions to overcome this fear.
2: Peer practice
Studies reveal that peer practice of a particular situation or talk significantly reduces apprehension. Whatever the problem makes you anxious, try practicing with the dialogues and roles playing around that make you nervous.
It will boost your confidence on the spot, and you will be able to respond better.
3: Prepare well
The key to a positive experience is to be prepared mentally and physically. Divert your mind to the positive things, analyze your audience, and organize your ideas before speaking.
Moreover, look for other speakers who are so confident and perform well to gain some positivity.
4: Meditate
Mindfulness meditation is the channel to reduce communication stress. This involves you sitting quietly and focusing on your body sensations.
With some regular practicum, you can become a calmer version of yourself who will not be as anxious as you were in the past.
5: Relaxation techniques
Learning some relaxation techniques can help you grasp a breath before CA.
To avoid difficult breathing and other potential symptoms, learn breathing techniques that involve sitting up straight in a chair and breaking in profoundly through your nose for five seconds.
Inhale, exhale calmly, and repeat this exercise 10 times to feel better.
FAQs
What is one of the significant communication causes of anxiety?
The fear of judgment is the primary cause of communication gap and anxiety. Additionally, negative past experiences, how to be a perfectionist, and sheer pressure to communicate effectively result in anxiety.
How do you overcome speaking anxiety?
The best way is to be prepared and practice communication skills at home. To overcome the anxiety, be confident in your personality and style, start slowly, and confront situations rather than avoid them.
What are the symptoms of speech anxiety?
Some common symptoms of speech anxiety include shortness of breath, stutter, stammer in speech, and butterflies in the stomach. Different physiological changes leave different signs on the overall body.
How does anxiety affect public speaking?
Such individuals who suffer from anxiety during public speaking tend to avoid gatherings. Their hands start shaking, their palms sweat, and their voice shakes.
