It’s common for people to get a little nervous before presenting in front of a large group of people. It’s natural, because we worry if we’ll mess up or if someone in the audience will notice the small shirt stain we picked up during a spaghetti lunch.

However there are some people who are crippled mentally to the point where they can’t speak publicly at all or suffer from acute physical distress, nausea and panic with just the thought of a group presentation.

If you find yourself in this second camp, you probably suffer from glossophobia: the fear of public speaking or otherwise called speech anxiety. Don’t let it distress you too much though; nearly 75% of the population suffers from glossophobia. In fact, many people claim they would rather die than give a speech.

Symptoms of speech anxiety

Some of the symptoms felt during the “fight or flight” process when one is confronted with the prospect of speaking to a group of people in public or in the process of giving a group presentation include:

• Physical distress or nausea
• Feelings of panic
• Increased heart rate and blood pressure
• Excessive sweating
• Dry mouth
• Stuttering, quivering voice or speechlessness

How to overcome a fear of public speaking

It sounds cheesy but practice giving your speech or presentation in front of a mirror. Make eye contact with yourself. Even though it’s just your reflection, many people still have problems making eye contact. If you can watch yourself, you’ve taken a big step forward believe it or not.

After you master making eye contact with your reflection and giving your speech in front of the mirror, try it out on a friend or family member. Some people even find it helpful to give their speech to a pet or small child. While they may not understand exactly what it is you’re talking about, you’re able to get comfortable speaking with other bodies in the room.

Don’t over prepare. You probably already know this from high school or college: the more you cram for something the more you are likely to not perform your best. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t go over your key points and the general flow of your speech, but don’t work on memorizing it line for line. When you put that kind of pressure in yourself, the more likely you are to feel uncomfortable and not perform to your peak potential.

Recruit a cheering section. If you’re speaking in a public forum, it may make you feel better to have people you know and love in the audience. If possible, have them sit near the back of the room. When you make eye contact with someone all the way in the back, it looks as though you’re making eye contact with the entire audience.

Roll with the punches. If you do forget to touch on a point or get some things in your presentation a little bit out of order, just go with it. Odds are the audience doesn’t even know what happened, so why make a big deal out of it.

Perhaps the best thing to remember before getting situated behind that podium is to relax, take a deep breath and give yourself some encouragement. It’s amazing how far the phrase, “You can do it!” can go.

Public Speaking Tips Site

Check out toastmasters.org and learn how you can become the speaker you want to be. There are some interesting stories, tips and techniques you can read about too!

–Magdalena

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I remember this stuffed clown doll named Cookie that my grandmother made me. Cookie the clown kind of looked like this clown doll only without the creepy porcelain face.

I thought my doll looked happy and jovial. My sister, however, did not. Every night my sister would try to fling clothes over Cookie’s head. Finally, I asked her why she was so creeped out and she explained that she thought that Cookie looked like the clown from Stephen King’s It. Even though I hadn’t seen the movie at the time, all I could think of was that clown staring at me all night from across the room.

I’ve always been confused about how a clown—who is supposed to bring joy and laughter to all—could cause such extreme fear. As I’ve grown older, I’ve met more and more adults who completely flip out about clowns.

Coulrophobia is an abnormal or exaggerated fear of clowns. Common among children, coulrophobia can also be found in teens and adults. The degree of fear is different from person to person.

Coulrophobia Theories

There are many theories about how a fear of clowns may develop. Sometimes coulrophobics have had a bad experience with clowns (circus, birthday party, etc.). Another theory is that the way clowns are portrayed in the media can cause fear in children and adults alike. Let us not forget the fright over serial killer John Wayne Gacy, known as The Killer Clown, who dressed as “Pogo the clown” at block parties to entertain children and was convicted for the rape and murder of 33 boys and young men.

Another theory comes from Kathryn Cillick at Phobialist:

I have a theory about the reason for fearing clowns that I thought I would suggest to you. Because clowns have permanent, exaggerated expressions painted on their faces - usually of joy but not always, it renders the observer impotent in measuring facial expression as a precursor of action and for those who are vigilant about their environment, possibly because of past traumatic events, they are unable to interpret and therefore predict what this creature may do to them. This is heightened when we observe the “happy” clown performing some aggressive behavior - it becomes too much to take - creating intense confusion and fear. I don’t know if this is the reason - simply my first thoughts on a very intriguing subject.

Well you don’t need to feel like you’re alone because there are many Hollywood icons who are anti-clown including P. Diddy (he actually had a “No Clowns” clause in his contract), Johnny Depp (he had clown nightmares as a child) and Anthony Bourdain. Let us not forget Bart Simpson’s weary utterance, “Can’t sleep, clown will eat me” as he fears his clown bed will come to life and destroy him.

Treatment for Fear of Clowns

• Consider why you are afraid of clowns and write down your reasons.
• Examine your thoughts and think about whether they are rational.
• Try to find a clown who will help you step-by-step showing you the process he/she takes to put on clown makeup. You may also want to try dressing as a clown to see if you can overcome your fear.

Try different methods work for different people. Only try methods you are comfortable with. If you still have this fear, you may want to consult a health care professional to delve deeper into the root of your fear and overcome it.

–Nolan

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A healthy dose of darkness can feed fear, especially when an overactive imagination is involved. Nyctophobia, a fear of the dark, is common in children but is also observed in adults to some extent.

What makes the fear of darkness interesting is that it isn’t really darkness that is feared, but rather the unknown. It’s the possibility of horrible things happening in the dark that scares us stiff. Darkness is an unknown entity filled with limitless possibility. If people, especially kids, can’t see what’s in the dark, oftentimes nyctophobia is the result.

In children, near darkness can also skew perception: a stuffed animal may appear to be a monster or a shadow on the far wall may really be the boogeyman. Don’t forget the darkness underneath your child’s bed. It may be filled with all sorts of treachery.

How to help your child get over a fear of the dark

Talk about your child’s fears. Start by finding out what exactly your child is afraid of. Monsters? Someone breaking in? Being alone? Reassure him that these are fears many people share and that he isn’t alone.

Comfort your child. One of the best things to do for a child who’s afraid of the dark is to reassure him that he’s safe and secure at home. If your child is afraid of someone breaking in, show him the locks around the house along with any alarm systems or other theft deterrents you may have.

Rationalize and remove what is making your child afraid of the dark. Is a stuffed animal casting a creepy shadow on the wall? Move it. Are the curtains fluttering in the window? Tie them back.

Use a nightlight in your child’s room. Sometimes the smallest light in the darkness can give a child a huge level of comfort.

Give your child control of the darkness. Leave a flashlight by his bedside and within easy reach. That way when the dark is feeling a little more than uncomfortable, your child can examine the room and make sure everything is okay.

Don’t belittle your child’s fear. To them, it’s a serious matter. Stop and think about it; you probably don’t like the unknown either. And while you may not believe the boogieman is living under your bed, you should be sympathetic toward your child’s sensitivity to things unknown.

Don’t reinforce your child’s fear. Checking under the bed for monsters instills in your child the false truth that monsters exist. Instead of talking about monsters, show your child that shadows are harmless.

–Magdalena

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Who doesn’t like a fluffy, sweet, cuddly kitty cat? Ailurophobes don’t, that’s who, and I happen to be one. People understand a fear of snakes or a fear of spiders, neither of which happen to bother me. But tell them you’re a cat phobic and you can hear their jaw hit the floor, followed by disbelieving uncontrolled laughter.

I don’t know why this phobia kicked in. I was the kid that took in all sorts of wild strays in the neighborhood, cats among them. I just know that once it kicked in, it got much worse before it got better. Kittens don’t jolt this irrational fear into gear, but stray cats will definitely do it. Once I get to know certain cats, they don’t bother me at all.

Cat owners think that if they inform me they have a de-clawed cat it will make all the difference in my comfort level, which ranges from outright panic to calm and attentive. I’m sometimes even able to pet the lovable felines. What they don’t understand is it’s an IRRATIONAL fear. I don’t care if the cats have no claws (front or back) and no teeth—cats just simply freak me out. They’re sneaky, and when they sense my fear, they tease me mercilessly (almost as bad as their owners!)

What is Ailurophobia?

Ailurophobia is simply the fear of cats. Not a dislike, mind you, although fear of cats and a dislike of cats may coincide within the same individual.

Like most phobias, the sufferer of Ailurophobia may not even be able to tell you what it is about cats that causes them to break out into a cold sweat, their heart to beat rapidly, or that leaves them positively panicky in the presence of a cat. Cats may just simply freak them out. They seem sneaky and sadistic to the phobic.

Some ailurophobes may have had an activating event, like a cat attack, to put the fear into motion, but even with an initial event, the individual would already have a predisposition to anxiety which may or may not manifest into a phobia.

Cats are drawn to people who don’t like them mainly because they don’t make contact with the cat, avoiding eye contact, which puts the cat at ease. The more the ailurophobe ignores the cat; the more the lap looks comfortable, calming and inviting. So cats aren’t merely being mischievous and wicked by making a b-line for the ailurophobe, they just feel comforted. That isn’t true for all kitty cats—I have been helplessly terrorized by a rascally cat while the owner laughed hysterically at the cat’s new and apparently hilarious behavior, which only caused me to feel that much more vulnerable and ill at ease. I wasted no time in excusing myself from their home, never to return. (Seriously, it was that bad)

What can be done for Ailurophobes?

As with all phobias, desensitization seems to be the only cure. To overcome fear, one must walk through it. There doesn’t seem to be an exception here. The key is to take it one cat at time, one situation at a time. When becoming desensitized to being around cats, make sure you have an understanding and trusted friend or professional with you. Having someone to talk you through the anxiety, panic and fear will greatly aid in the desensitization process. Having someone tease you and aggravate you will only harden or exacerbate the phobia, causing the anxiety to increase.

Each time you are exposed to cats, and can calmly walk through the fear, it gets easier and easier. The phobia itself may never go away, but you won’t find it intolerable and unbearable to be around cats. Initial hesitation will fade into indifference or amicability instead of bounding into full blown panic and terror.

-Anne

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It’s a mouthful for such a small fear. Triskaidekaphobia is the fear of the number 13.

While the number 13 is regarded as a pretty much the epitome of bad luck number in Western society, triskaidekaphobes often go out of their way to avoid the number 13 and numbers associated with it altogether. In some people the fear runs so deep that even numbers whose sum equals 13 are feared and avoided. Try telling a major triskaidekaphobe to go out on 06/07 or 09/04 and see what happens.

Fear of the number 13 in modern society

Triskaidekaphobia in modern society is more common than you may think.

If you’ve ever been to a high rise in the city you may have noticed on your elevator ride up you jump from floor 12 to floor 14. Why? Some building owners believe people would not want to live, rent or otherwise do business on the 13th floor of a building.

Many high rise buildings won’t recognize a 13th floor in its floor plan, meaning the actual 13th floor of a building is labeled the as 14th. Other buildings leave the 13th floor uninhabited or use it for some other purpose. Sometimes 13th floor of a building is marked as 12a or M, the 13th letter of the English alphabet.

In some commercial aircrafts the 13th seating row is missing. The thought behind this is much the same as superstitious building owners: no one would buy tickets in a row with an unlucky number.

Some airports are also lacking a gate number 13 or have it otherwise labeled.

There is a superstition that if thirteen people get together for dinner, one of them will die within the next year. This led to the creation of the Thirteen Club which was formed to debunk this superstition.

This fear of thirteen people dining together may pull from Last Supper, where after dining with his twelve disciples Jesus was soon after crucified. It may also have origins from Norse mythology and the Valhalla Banquet. The story goes that twelve of the gods were invited to a banquet. Loki, who was not invited, intrudes and Balder, the favourite of the gods, is killed.

Even Microsoft, the seemingly unshakable corporate giant, proves it suffers from a bit of triskaidekaphobia when it announced it will be skipping the release of Office 13 and going straight to Office 14.

How to overcome triskaidekaphobia

Rationalizing your fear is probably the best way to overcome triskaidekaphobia. Take a deep breath and think about what makes the 13th floor of a building any different than the 12th or the 14th. How is April 13th different than April 16th? Why would sitting in the 13th row of an aircraft be any more unlucky that sitting in the 9th? If the plane goes down, everyone else is going down with you.

Think about it.

–Magdalena

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