Presentation fear, more commonly referred to as fear of public speaking is thought to be THE MOST COMMON fear, thought to be greater than the fear of death itself.

In fact a famous American comedian, Jerry Seinfeld once said, “According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that seem right? That means to the average person, if you have to go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy?

For how many people reading this might that be true?

So what are some of the common causes of this fear?

Well they can be:

• Experience of a humiliating event/s
• Criticism
• Emotional coldness in family situations
• Unpredictable parenting: such as getting aggressive either verbally or physically when the child makes a mistake
• Learnt behaviour from parents, typically if the parent infers it is dangerous to be seen

What might class as a humiliating event?

For a child it might simply being told off for, “making a mistake”.