Public speaking 

Making a speech is something that can cause profound anxiety and prompts a lot of people to seek help from Leeds Hypnotherapy Clinic.

The prospect of public speaking can be daunting – and it’s often made easier by the impression that many other people manage to perform the task with apparent ease.

Now, there are two words used in that last sentence that are worthy of particular attention: “prospect” and “performance.”

A speech is often a duty arranged well in advance and so the person expected to stand up and talk in front of a gathering has ample time to dwell and fret about it – the “prospect” erodes the confidence as intrusive thoughts haunt the speaker’s mind of how his or her “performance” will be received.

They are suffering performance anxiety. They fear being judged badly.

And this condition often affects individuals who might otherwise be considered self-assured people – people who appear confident in other aspects of their lives – in particular their professional lives. Sometimes it is such people who are worse affected because they fear they have so much to lose by having a perceived weakness exposed to public ridicule.

The duty of delivering a speech places them outside their comfort zone, eroding their confidence.

For some the anxiety arises because they are entirely unfamiliar with the process of facing an audience or crowd and having to talk.

For others it is the specific subject of the speech or the particular occasion at which it is to be delivered that is unsettling – it might be a social occasion like a wedding or it mite be a professional engagement, such as introducing business proposals to bosses at work.

Either way, Leeds Hypnotherapy Clinic is able to build the confidence of clients through a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and hypnosis, which enables them to deliver that speech without fear or trepidation.

Preparation of the subject matter is an important factor of any speech, of course. But that is usually easily resolved with a little planning, even if the services of a professional speech writer have to be employed.

It is the emotional – that is the psychological – aspect of speech making that is often the greater challenge.

So, if the prospect of delivering a speech is one you find unnerving, there’s no reason to panic – we can build your confidence here at Leeds Hypnotherapy Clinic and even make your speech an enjoyable experience – not just for your audience but for you as well.

Speaking in public can be very difficult to many people. At Leeds Hypnotherapy Clinic we use a variety of techniques to prepare you for your public presentation, whether that be in a formal interview, addressing colleagues or superiors in a presentation, or giving a best man speech. Stammering and stuttering can also be addressed.