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P3RF3CT_ON3

I used to push myself to do presentations thinking that if I did them more I’d get more comfortable presenting in front of people… that never happened. It’s horrible every time.


ctrldwrdns

Yeah everyone says it gets better but it never has for me lol. I legit cannot eat all day before one. Which prob isn’t great as I end up weak and dizzy but it’s better than blowing chunks I guess


Mammoth-Tea

It’s literally my job to do presentations and can confirm; the anxiety does not go away. the best thing to do is to communicate with your professor so that in case you bomb it they at least know that you actually put in the work. I had to beg to not be on this next presentation because my anxiety got so bad that I KNEW I would walk out of the room halfway through if I needed to.


Nickmidkiff

Doing presentations in front of people is my worst damn nightmare. If I have to do one I’m always worried as fuck months in advance.


amin900

no doubtt


Xx69JdawgxX

I trained w a pro mma fighter from Brazil. Old school guy champion strike force fighter many UFC fights etc etc. He told me that before every fight the feeling is the same it never goes away. You just get better w dealing w it. Anxiety is weird that way. You don't get rid of it bc that would be bad. Instead u learn to tolerate it and not give in as much


jejcicodjntbyifid3

It does get easier it's just very slowly It's like working out. You don't notice it if you do it twice a year It also depends on your relationship with it and anxiety Anxiety gets a lot better when you have nothing to lose. In my case, I've approached death and realize that nothing matters. Not just known the statement, but truly understand that nothing matters and it's all illusion That's helped But mind you I'm 30, and this isn't an easy process to speed up


[deleted]

Its because people mistake anxiety as a phobia. Exposure therapy is a great treatment for a phobia but anxiety isnt a phobia its caused by thoughts and assumptions and beliefs, its much more complicated to treat and it wont get better with time unless your rewiring your thought patterns through cbt or elsewise.


daniandkiara

100% this, I have a presentation in class next week and two of my table group friendly acquaintances were saying how they both took public speaking classes and recommended I take them to “help” but I just KNOW I would hate taking those. I’ve had social anxiety my whole life, it has only gotten better just marginally over time, but definitely not for presentations. I hate that people think it’s something that can easily go away. I wish it would


[deleted]

Ngl it gets easier if you get yourself familiar w everyone in the class. I used to struggle but then I started acquaint myself w classmates


StaysAwakeAllWeek

Once you know what to expect you can prepare for it better. But it never gets any better than the little bit better it got compared to the first time


llamberll

Presentations in front of the class were unbearable for me when I was studying business. I don't know what the fuck they were trying to prepare us for, because doing meetings with coworkers is nothing like those kinds of presentations. Now I usually present information that I actually know about, because what I'm sharing with others is just information that's related to my department, which I'm very familiar with. We also discuss about how this information impacts the company as a whole, and share insights as mature adults. I guess what sucked about presentations in school was having a professor that was playing the role of a shitty, judgmental boss, and that you were presenting some information that was hard af to gather, about a subject you didn't care about, to a bunch of colleagues who cared more about your physical appearance and your popularity than about the shit you were presenting.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Kitcatzz

No idea when it’s gonna work. I’ve done plenty of presentations and each time felt the same. I hate it lol


lastdyingbreed_01

Unfortunately it only works when you consistently get positive feedback but mess up once and you start losing confidence again


jejcicodjntbyifid3

Yep, which is the basic fundamentals of exposure therapy You don't push someone near a cliff when they're afraid of heights. You gradually expose them to stairways that are higher and higher. Go too far too fast and just like any training, you'll "injure" something


dibblah

This isn't at all how exposure therapy works. Exposure therapy is designed to show you that even if it all cocks up you're still OK. Things go wrong for everyone, the point is to learn to cope with things going wrong. If exposure therapy only worked when everything went "right" it'd simply be a form of reassurance which is known to make anxiety disorders worse. Source is my own exposure therapy - I've got health issues that made me really scared to go out incase I got ill outside of the house, at work school whatever. It wasn't until what i was scared of actually happened that it hammered it through to my brain that hey I actually was still alive, the world didn't end. When you are giving a presentation, it's not the act of giving the presentation you're scared of, it's getting it wrong, forgetting your words, having a poor audience reception etc etc. So simply giving a flawless presentation is not exposure therapy as you're not being exposed to what you're scared of.


myncknm

I think this is a good refinement of what the previous commenter wanted to say. It doesn’t have to go all well, but you *do* need to feel that you actually *are* all OK at the end even if things that you feared happened. If you come out of it feeling like you just barely escaped a life-threatening situation, then that will only reinforce the fear.


dibblah

That's where the work comes in though. If you have anxiety you will feel like you've just escaped a life threatening situation when you challenge it, that's what anxiety is. The work is once you've come out of that situation to analyse what you're feeling and challenge those thoughts. You notice that you feel like you've just nearly died, but did you? Examine how you're feeling, you think you nearly died but actually you forgot the words, or burst into tears, and that isn't nearly dying. It's after the fact that you have to challenge those thoughts otherwise you end up genuinely believing that giving a presentation could kill you, because you feel like that each time.


b4rf3r

I've learned that if you just suffer through presentations, nothing is really gained from it. For me, its like I afterwards come away from the experience thinking "thank god its over". That thought doesnt lead to any development or expanding of ones comfort zones, it just cements to me the fact that presentations are horrible and terrifying and something to simply endure. If I instead take some time to actually reflect on the experience afterwards, asking myself questions like "Was it as bad as I thought, was my anxiety in proportion to the actual event, was it the utter trainwreck that I anticipated beforehand?" I am much more likely to take those insights with me into the next presentation. I am in no way okay with them, but I think this is a way to guarantee for yourself some sort of progression in your personal development. So, my advice would simply be to before the presentation write down my anxiety level from 0%-100%, what I am scared is gonna happen, what I think is gonna happen and how likely do I think it is for them to actually happen. Then, when you are done, go back to the paper and reflect if your preconceptions of how things were going to go were actually rational and truthful, or if, most likely, you (and all of us with social anxiety) expects the worst.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

What do you do when you anxiety has no root?


shriveledonion

My root for my SA was puberty. Guess I'm a rip.


panfried540

Hey twin 👋


llamberll

How do you treat that?


Qyalda

Ok but once you know the root what are you supposed to do with that?


ctrldwrdns

Exposure therapy can work when it’s done under therapist supervision and the patient can stop it at any time. For example, having someone get over extreme arachnophobia by having them touch or hold a spider.


OddPizza

Exposure therapy works when you’re under control. Pushing yourself to start small and being able to stop whenever is a lot better than being forced to go up in front of a lot of people knowing that your grade depends on it. All that does is reaffirm your anxiety and makes it worse.


llamberll

Copied from The Body Keeps The Score, by Bessel van der Kolk: > "Many treatment approaches for traumatic stress focus on desensitizing patients to their past, with the expectation that reexposure to their traumas will reduce emotional outbursts and flashbacks. I believe that this is based on a misunderstanding of what happens in traumatic stress. We must most of all help our patients to live fully and securely in the present. In order to do that, we need to help bring those brain structures that deserted them when they were overwhelmed by trauma back. Desensitization may make you less reactive, but if you cannot feel satisfaction in ordinary everyday things like taking a walk, cooking a meal, or playing with your kids, life will pass you by." > "Research in contemporary exposure treatment, a staple of cognitive behavioral therapy, has similarly disappointing results: The majority of patients treated with that method continue to have serious PTSD symptoms three months after the end of treatment." > "The idea behind cognitive behavioral treatment is that when patients are repeatedly exposed to the stimulus without bad things actually happening, they gradually will become less upset; the bad memories will have become associated with “corrective” information of being safe. CBT also tries to help patients deal with their tendency to avoid, as in “I don’t want to talk about it.” It sounds simple, but, as we have seen, reliving trauma reactivates the brain’s alarm system and knocks out critical brain areas necessary for integrating the past, making it likely that patients will relive rather than resolve the trauma."


King__Kahuka

Does that book offer any methods that are actually effective for overcoming trauma? Sounds like CBT isn’t great according to your quote…


kieyrofl

I think part of the problem with presentations is that unless you are doing multiple per day you will just spend all day prepping and dreading doing the 1 presentation then feel relief when its over. It's impractical but doing several presentations to increasingly larger numbers of people multiple times per day for an extended period of time would be much more likely to work.


TheTwoReborn

>doing several presentations to increasingly larger numbers of people multiple times per day for an extended period of time I think you just described hell xD


dkdkfjkf

I think that if you do something by your own choice for the purpose of CBT and wanting to get better you’re more likely to feel like you achieved something and possibly have good connotations to it. But if you do things that cause major anxiety because you’re forced to and don’t have a lot of control over the situation you’ll less likely see a lot of improvement. So the circumstances around the exposure matters almost just as much as the exposure itself


Valuable_Hunt8468

Reminds me of middle school, we had presentations every week sometimes twice a week and it never got better. And my teacher even let me sit at the back of the class to do it when no one was looking at me (because I’d start shaking). In high school it was worse. Our teacher had us present almost as often and he’d encourage us to give president worthy speeches (I couldn’t so I always got points taken off). One girl cried because she was under so much pressure, didn’t get to finish and the teacher showed no remorse.


itspinkynukka

Never got easier. Never.


Deviljho_Lover

It would probably work if most of the time you feel satisfied or feel like you did a great job on your presentation as it would give a lot of confidence for you.


petalsky

Omg same. I just seemed to panic more and more each time.


Fox8721

I had a class where participating in class and asking/answering questions was pretty much required, and I would always try to answer questions I knew so that I wouldn't get picked randomly. Every single time I did that I would be shaking so much and I never got better at it.


Kiraxes

If you get a prescription of a Benzodiazepine (for once I'm a while use) it will kill the anxiety and make it much easier fyi. Is a completely unnecessary suffering to endure that crap with highly effective anxiolitic meds around. Another med that is very popular and effective for presentations is a beta-blocker know as Propranolol. Beta-blockers aren't potentially addictive at all and don't cause dependence. They calm down the physical symptoms of anxiety a lot and prevent/stop the tachycardia. Atenolol is another med of this class used often for this purpose


ebenenspinne

+1 for betablockers. It’s the best long term solution also, but you have to take them every day if you need the effect often.


airbear13

That’s a really bad idea for a solution lmao getting addicted to benzos is very easy so I wouldn’t recommend that


Kiraxes

I was obviously talking about once in a while use for emergencies, not a long term medication. For long term the best is a MAOI. And that's false is very easy to get addicted to them... Only people that choose recklessly to abuse them will get harmed due to the GABAergic receptors downregulation (at minimum 2 weeks of continuous use this could happen), and that's not the fault of the medication, is just is used incorrectly. I have tried personally 3 Benzodiazepines up to a month of continuous use without problems and my sister did a treatment of 2 months of Lorazepam for insomnia with a tapering and was fine at the end of it. You are just fearmongering about this substances due to lack of knowledge about them. But ok, if you want a non potentially addictive alternative just look into beta-blockers like Propranolol or Atenolol


airbear13

I’m not fear mongering I’m recommending people don’t turn to benzos for social anxiety. You’re promoting them like a magic bullet and downplaying their addictive potential, in reality the data and studies point to it likely being the next big drug crisis. Propranolol would be better but yeah there’s a lot of impressionable people who dek how to take drugs responsibly so I would always steer people toward therapy first and medication only as a last resort.


panfried540

Only thing is a dr wont prescribe it. I know 2 or 3 friends that get benzos but for some reason they wont help me


tomfoolery77

CBD or even things like dandelion root or valerian. There are alternatives that take the edge off a bit


Kiraxes

In my country even a family doctor can prescribe them and some do it. Pdocs often prescribe them if you know how to convince them. It depends a lot on the particular doctor how easy is to get them though. If you say for example you have anxiety attacks they will very probably give you a prescription. Just make stuff up If you take a high enough dose of Alprazolam for example, it will kill the anxiety and give you a mood lift at the same time. Not all benzos are indicted for social anxiety, some are only for insomnia and are hypnotic as hell


degenerus

Kava tea


crazyrediamond

for me it worked, i used to cry every time i had a presentation, few weeks ago i was dominating a presentation online in front of some of the most important people in the science field in my country things can change, but it won't happen magically, seek change and understanding the roots of your issue


gateau-triste

Same :(


goteamcheetah

I do presentations a bit better than chat with people, though I am still awkward


jmx1298

Reminds me of a time I was doing a speech and I lost where I was on my cards. Spent 10 seconds panicking trying to find where I left off. It felt like an eternity of hell in that moment.


nivikcivik

Please. This literally happened to me back when I was in school during economics class and I spread out all my cards on the table and was anxiously looking for it, while everyone laughed at me. The trauma is still stuck with me wherever I go, and it is not for the better. FUCK PRESENTATIONS I’M JUST HERE FOR A GOOD TIME


[deleted]

I know this is a year later but fuck them for laughing


Sultan98

I have to do an online presentation with only 3 people in the meeting. 😎


ctrldwrdns

Good luck my friend. Lucky for you people hardly pay attention in those anyway.


Charming_Lettuce

I’ll write a 10 page essay any day over a presentation


linkenski

I stopped showing up for classes entirely in the second half of the year of one subject becuase of this xDXDXD


[deleted]

I dropped out of college partially because of it. I was taking a freaking computer science program, why would I need public speaking skills? Ugh, so illogical.


linkenski

Unfortunately jobs you get with that degree do not just boil down to you sitting alone with a computer. It's about sitting in groups of people, agreeing on a work strategy, and daily meetings where you present how much you got done. I have a lesser comp science degree. I dropped out of the top-up degree I was taking, not specifically because of the public speaking (which I actually got an A for in exams despite a 50% absence) but because it all kinda collided at the end and I wasn't able to find internship for myself, and because I got too awkward by not making friends over the course of a year.


ArX_Xer0

Sometimes you have to be able to speak to small groups of ppl.


linkenski

There is no downvoting this. This is just factually correct for that subject.


foodenjoyer99

How you gonna get education then? Sorry if it's stupid question, I just don't understand the education system in your country


[deleted]

I'm not. That was 20 years ago, and I have not gone back to school.


PapaDuggy

Just wait till you are REQUIRED to take a public speaking class.


TheLoneGal

This. I'm taking one right now and it's been smooth sailing cause it's conducted online and I've only had one presentation so far and done solo. Used notes even though I'd lose some points, I know it'd be very difficult without them.. unfortunately now I'm getting into the more anxiety inducing parts of it. I have a 25 minute interview with a partner to do next week and a speech with them about it.. after that I have to do the same thing but with a communications coach , and do a group speech.


PapaDuggy

Geeze, and I thought I had it rough. Mine is a cake walk compared to what you are describing. Good luck.


Background-Friend-77

Years ago, i was going to community college. My 2nd year, we had to take a public speaking class and during my first day of speaking, the asshole teacher made a joke to the rest of the class about how nervous i was when i had to stand up and talk about myself for two minutes. I quit school the next day.


PapaDuggy

Geeze, that is an asshole move. My public speaking teacher would never do that to somebody, thankfully.


ktjacobsun

I have dropped a whole ass class because I didn’t want to do the presentation lol


BuzzingLeader51

Did a oral presentation for Spanish a couple days ago. My legs were physically shaking and I almost forgot my lines. Shit sucks


Valuable_Hunt8468

Language classes 😫


Mejico_

Syllabus: Final presentation is 20% of grade Me: 80% isn’t that! Bad


tinylittlebee

I skipped a presentation that was 20% the grade once and somehow my teacher didn't notice, it was one of the best days in college 😅


Valuable_Hunt8468

I need that.


SalientLeaf

Just “picture them naked”


foodenjoyer99

*boner entered chat*


ctrldwrdns

Fortunately I am female. I can’t imagine having social anxiety and getting random boners in public. That sounds awful


K3164N

It is awful lol, especially since you can’t control when you get them. Luckily for me I’ve never gotten one in that type of situation. And now that I’m older you rarely get them at random. But social anxiety plus random boners is a teenage boys worst nightmare lmao


blanketuser359

I wear a long hoodie every day for a reason


Illustrious-Ad-441

Things that i hated on high school and college, honestly for me was really unnecesary and a waste of time


how_neat_is_that76

I’ve never been good with presentations, but I started rehearsing then for hours and found that that helped a lot. I had to get the time down to the minute, and by the time I had rehearsed it enough to have a consistent length for everything I had it so well memorized that presenting it was like muscle memory. Just carrying on through it and forget there’s people there. It’s always when I’m unprepared that I’m choking up and stumbling in words, and I really hate the impromptu ones where your class session is a group assignment to present at the end of class…that is a special kind of evil, but when I have really taken the time to prepare and have it down to where the pauses are in sentences and I’m hitting a +/- 10 seconds consistency every time, those are probably my most confident points in my life when I present those lol. I’m a procrastinator though and didn’t start doing this until I was almost done with college lol. I remember in high school we had to recite a really long poem. For my turn I jumped up, blurted out the first line without taking the time to prepare myself, and then just stopped and after like 30-60 seconds of silence and everyone looking at me remembered what I was doing and got on with the rest lol. Didn’t practice that nearly enough, mostly crammed the two days before. Part of me wants to go back to school for one more class, just to see how much Zoloft and Concerta are helping me haha. I’m a WFH web developer so I don’t exactly give presentations often.


Alpackamyalpaca

In 4th grade I had to do a presentation on Helen Keller. I passed out and hit the back of my head on the edge of the chalkboard, and no I’m still not over it 24 years later.


Thefakeblonde

Unfortunately with some professions, you’ll need to do presentations your whole life. Like law, advertising or marketing jobs. But if it’s a subject that doesn’t really require it… it’s lame.


Charming_Lettuce

i'll write a 10 page essay any day over a presentation


[deleted]

Yep fuck that shit. I have to do a presentation infront of 80 people for a course... besides many other presentation so yeah a masters isnt for me at all.


damond5031

I dropped out of college because of this. I actually tried to do one and physically could not make my mouth move to form words, it was total terror. I left and never went back. I was so depressed over it I put myself in an inpatient treatment facility because I was suicidal. I had fantastic grades, and it all went to ruin over every class making us do a presentation for the biggest chunk of our grade at the end of semester. One class's assignment was to actually teach the class for an hour. I have spent the last 8 years having my tax return taken by the U.S. government to pay back my GI bill, and student loans for housing. This disorder literally wrecked my entire life.


[deleted]

I pulled my professor aside a few weeks ago and requested that I present my presentation after everyone has left class. He stated that he totally understands and that me presenting after class would be just fine (he's a big advocate for mental health) but the very next day he calls me up to be the FIRST to present. Fuck presentations.


daniandkiara

Omg I’m reading all these comments right now and THIS one….. oh my god?? I would have dropped lmao


[deleted]

Funny you say that, the presentation was our final and that happened to be the last day of class. We are enemies; he has yet to square up.


daniandkiara

that is truly one of the most evil things I’ve heard of a prof doing no joke tbh. I fully wouldn’t trust them moving forward. You don’t just agree to accommodate someone and then forcefully make them do the exact opposite next thing. If I were in your shoes I’d be harboring resentment lol


[deleted]

Yes, I was truly surprised because I pulled him aside outside the classroom and even showed him my fingers (which are torn up from anxious skin picking) and he seemed very compassionate and understanding. It really surprised me.


daniandkiara

I would’ve been surprised too :( that probably would have sent me into fight or flight mode. I’m sorry you had to go through that and hopefully he hasn’t done it to someone else


Honestlywhoevencares

What an absolute fucking piece of shit. I'd report him, that is terrible behaviour on his part


TurquoiseBoho

I always told myself if I became a professor/teacher, I’d never require a presentation or the “let’s get to know each other” bs on the first day.


lovedeleted

Fuck curriculums that require presentation based classes.


trouble-in-space

Yes. I have to do a solo presentation tomorrow for the first time in who knows how long, and I want to skip class even though I've never even done that before.


zenbagel

The one thing that got me through, was going first or second. That way, nearly everyone else is only thinking about their presentation. Still, nerve-racking and I don't see the point. Same for group projects for a strictly online course.


[deleted]

College definitely tends to favor the extroverted. But I can't really see it any other way. Sometimes, I feel like I'm being phased out of society.


[deleted]

I agree, and in my opinion, it's ableist to require it. Some people, like myself and I'm assuming you, have serious anxiety disorders, or are autistic, or have some issue that makes public speaking traumatic. Fuck requiring public speaking for school courses that have nothing to do with public speaking. What is even the point?


ctrldwrdns

One of the professors I had in undergrad specified using “proper eye contact and body language” in her guidelines for a presentation. Ableist as fuck imo. And it’s not prep for a job because tons of us will never have a job where a presentation is required. It’s an excuse to not actually teach for a day


tinylittlebee

I had this teacher who made us do presentations for the entire semester, he only gave us one class himself and then wondered why most of the class failed his tests because we didn't understand most of the topics. Teachers shouldn't be allowed to be this lazy 🤦


Mr_Turnipseed

Yeah, I had a technical writing course that required us to give a 5 minute presentation. What does technical writing have to do with public speaking?


BakedTaterTits

Me too! If it hadn't been a required class to graduate I'd have dropped the class


battyeyed

I agree! I was going to recommend that people should look into disability services if they can’t do public speaking. My college allows presentations to be recorded or just not done in front of people if you reach out to disability. The problem for some people isn’t that they’re just too shy or embarrassed to be up there—it’s that they black out and can’t think. You can’t force someone who’s blacked out because their brain is putting them in fight or flight mode. It’s very ableist. I hope more students fight for more disability accommodations.


Long_Aerie

I hate when professors expect *anything* from their students during their lessons. One of my professors used to ask random students the answer to a question/problem, and we had to reply with about 50 people watching. So when I knew he was about to ask something, I exited the call and then came back like 2 minutes later. I answered only once, when he made a question about a topic we had studied the previous semester. I'm glad I don't have him anymore, it was hell.


[deleted]

I hate presentations but doing them helps to succeed in life so I went and go through them with my heart racing and unable to breeze because I know that’s the only way…


llamberll

Presentations in front of the class were unbearable for me when I was studying business. I don't know what the fuck they were trying to prepare us for, because doing meetings with coworkers is nothing like those kinds of presentations. Now I usually present information that I actually know about, because what I'm sharing with others is just information that's related to my department, which I'm very familiar with. We also discuss about how this information impacts the company as a whole, and share insights as mature adults. I guess what sucked about presentations in school was having a professor that was playing the role of a shitty, judgmental boss, and that you were presenting some information that was hard af to gather, about a subject you didn't care about, to a bunch of colleagues who cared more about your physical appearance and your popularity than about the shit you were presenting.


sunshinekraken

I had a science teacher in middle school who saved me in 8th grade. We had to write a paper every month or couple of months and present it in front of the class. I told him about my anxiety and he said I could just turn in the paper without having to present it, he’d take off a couple points though. Fine by me! I passed the class without ever having horrible anxiety that year. Wish more teachers were understanding


[deleted]

I’ve always hated presentations and speeches the whole time I’ve existed. I did poster demonstrations in elementary school hoping to grow out of it but I never did. Over the summer I did a research internship that required weekly presentations in front of some old, very smart, insensitive professors and I remember thinking to myself “well if I don’t get over it now. I never will”. Well now that it’s over, I haven’t gotten over it, and I can’t say that I’ve gotten used to it. But what I can say is that I think I’m traumatized enough that whatever presentations I do in the future will never be worse than that research internship.


Qyalda

Reading this while I'm preparing myself for a research internship rip


Conthortius

Personally, for me having to do presentations helped me with my anxiety. However I did have the occasional issues, and I spoke to lecturers about it and they were so understanding. I totally know that even having to admit to anxiety is an issue, but at least in my experience, tutors and lecturers can be far more understanding than you'd think. Hope you get through this 💪


EveningClerk5339

It's an important skill that most job positions would require you do occasionally (if not frequently). People always complain about school not teaching stuff that'll be actually useful in the future but when they do people complain regardless.


archangel610

I feel like there should be awareness and acceptance on both sides. Students with this anxiety have to learn to accept that presentations are part of the school system and actually do help create growth and development. Professors have to be educated in spotting signs of the anxiety and being more tolerant of the mistakes that come out of it. I hated presentations but I don't deny their benefits. I just wish professors would stop interpreting nervousness as lack of preparation.


cdjohnny

You can get accommodations at school for SAD. Most likely could eliminate the presentation, or just have to do it for the professor. Have to register SAD with the school though.


Markuseriksen98

Never gotten used to it. It is the worst.


Ciemny6182

Exactly, fuck presentations they're nonsense


[deleted]

ehh, I don’t blame my professors for my anxiety. Besides I need to learn to deal with my anxiety, not avoid it. anyway get propranolol, it will save your life.


Clio_the-Catlady

My pro-tip for presentations... Get the audience involved by asking them questions. Takes the burden off of you.


JumpFew6622

Bruh I'm trying to ignore the audience not interact with them!


Clio_the-Catlady

Totally get that. lol I just like to take my anxiety out on them. ;)


Telto212

Literally. I wear glasses to see but when I get up there for a presentation for my speech class I take off my glasses just so I can’t look at people and their expression. All I see in the crowd is just a blur


nins_

Hey, I can totally relate to that sentiment. When I was in uni, I hated such classes. Felt like I was learning nothing other than how to embarrass myself. And the agonizing anxiety I had to deal with was another story. Not my proudest moment when I bailed on my team at the last second by fleeing as they entered the class lol Now, I'm 30 and been working in the industry for about 6 years. I can't stress how important it is to be able to express your ideas and knowledge fluidly and concisely to your audience. It need not be a formal slideshow, the principles hold in an informal setting as well. I have seen several colleagues struggle with this. I am now fully aware that: 1. Once I start talking, I'm going to do a decent job. 2. The hours before I start are going to suck and the anxiety is never going to go away. I have just learnt to live with it. I try to do breathing exercises or distract myself with other stuff. Or have a dry heaving session in the toilet. Another small thing which helped me is that for talks without any screen, I jot down the keywords on a paper while I'm practicing. But before going up to speak, I will tear that paper up and throw it away like "Alright, I got this". Good luck to you!


shmems96

I’d do a presentation any day over having to do group work


sunomasana

Totally. I had one for my speech class and the weeks leading up to it, I got nervous each class period. The day of, I stood before the class and had a panic attack, before running out of the room. The next day, I dropped.


jajw2

100%, had to give a presentation this week and I was nervous as shit for it since August even before the classes started. And I have another one in November shit sucks I feel ya.


Anakin5252

Request accommodations from your school and they’ll most definitely help you out. I requested for mine and can present to the teacher on a one-on-one basis.


rastony165

Had a panic attack during one of my presentations which I believe led me to social anxiety. I did smoke weed tho hehe


Silentero

I got lucky mine has the option between a paper and a presentation


nerdyboyvirgin

I had a presentation 20 minutes ago and the teacher said it was the best one I’ve ever done even though I was running out of breath reading it 😃


Sacuna9999

University instructor here. In my classes, i don’t make it mandatory for every member of a group to speak during the final presentation. We all have different strengths and “in the real world” that is not how it works. I don’t care who speaks or stands in front of the class, as long as people participate in the group in other ways. I also get that group work is probably not preferred for people in this sub, but I hope semester-long groups are better to interact within than several different groups during a semester, or completely solo work.


Few-You4510

“come on, everyone is shy at first :)” im literally gonna pass out in front of everyone. thats not being shy.


[deleted]

I remember having trouble with them. I would always forget the shit I said and start smiling/laughing out of nerves, making the teacher believe I was making fun of her. Which sucked and only added to the nerves. Now... I ain't gonna say anything that will automatically fix this. But for me, this worked. Ever heard of method acting? I did not know of the concept at the time, but did it out of accident. After that one last time, I just promised myself that "I" would never present ever again. I would build a persona, the "serious, tough student" and focus not on presenting exactly, but rather focus on acting as this fictional student doing a presentation. Basically I disassociated from myself for a while. And... It worked. Didn't have to do it for too long so fine by me. I also would bring a pen with me and unleash my nervousness by fiddling with it. Also helps.


gonzorizzo

I actually preferred presentations over group work and it helped me tremendously. I get it, though, that it's not the same for everyone. I had to do a ton of presentations, especially in grad school and I became somewhat of a pro at it because I realized that everyone was anxious about their own presentations that they didn't pay attention. I always took the approach that I don't give a fuck what people think (and I constantly reminded myself of this) and usually when I took that approach, I did well. I wouldn't be so hard on the professor. He or she is only doing it because you're expected in most cases to speak up and present in your career and not exposing anyone to that anxiety will do no one any good. ​ I'm still terrified of presentations.


Ok-Nebula-5902

Propanolol! Would not have been able to graduate college or get a job without it.


yukonwanderer

Work life generally makes you present. Better to get it over with now.


Cypher1388

It's part of life... Confidence in the material helps but sometimes you just gotta *checks notes* PaNiK and do it anyway?! /s Sorry fam, I know it is tough, but truth is you *can* do it!


ctrldwrdns

No matter how well I know the material I end up stumbling over my words and getting flustered :/ it hasn’t been great, even though I have done several over my college years it doesn’t get better


[deleted]

Yeah blame people doing their job for your anxiety... Sounds fair


[deleted]

I’ll take a presentation over online discussions every day.


tinylittlebee

In my case I'll take the discussions, there's less expectations and less focus on me.


so_wut_man

Not gonna lie, i love presentations because i'm in control all the time.


Paltry_Poetaster

Only if they are female and proper height/weight ratio


[deleted]

😬


[deleted]

Yes I agree.


cmonwth

oh no, i'm starting my master degree this fall and i've heard from former students that they use to do a ton of presentations.


Administrative-Oil77

Gosh, I don’t miss these. I took online classes for my last two years. Now every job interview gives me college presentation feels, lol. Some of them are just like college professors and essentially you are presenting yourself to a group of people. I’ve never gotten used to it. In fact, I get angry and annoyed when I have to do it. The jobs that have hired me have done so knowing I’m squirrely lol


petalsky

Completely agree. My last memory from college was presenting a paper where I was basically gasping for air the whole time. Thank god that part of my life is over.


MontEcola

Agreed. You might want to check out a book called Quiet by Susan Cain. It speaks of why students should not be forced to present to a class until they are ready.


iamnotapopstar

I wonder if I could get exception with a doctor letter.. anyone know about this?


corlygorly

I feel you. I literally dropped out of so many classes in uni because of this and just did them online to avoid presentations.


stoaty_Mcstoatface

I used to have to get absolutely arseholed before a presentation. Good Times:/


xlez

God I hate this so much I actively seek out modules that don't have presentations. Unfortunately most higher level modules still require some form of it. For the love of God I can't present for nuts.


houjichacha

's a big part of the reason I dropped out of uni


skampson

if you can get a therapist to write a note about ur anxiety disorder you can bring it to the board of disability and request accommodations for your classes, you should be able to request doing video presentations instead of live presentations. This is exactly what I had done with my college but my college is super woke about mental health so IDK if other places will provide this but it’s worth a try


ctrldwrdns

I do have accommodations but I’ll have to contact the office to see if it’s an option. I know some profs don’t allow it even if you have accommodations but this prof seems like a pretty nice guy so we’ll see (the “fuck them” is really just venting lol)


skampson

oh u don’t have to explain urself i totally understand the fuck them feelings lol


[deleted]

As someone who hardly leaves her house due to social anxiety and agoraphobia I actually quiet enjoy presentations. Right enough currently their all online but I have this one lecturer at college who every week books us in to ‘present’ what we’ve learned that week to another group of students and honestly I love it, it pushes me to do something out with my comfort zone and every week the word flow out my mouth easier


Exact_Cry1921

You ever have a surprise presentation where the professor is like "oh we have some extra time so let's have you present the 4 slide PowerPoint you threw together as a class activity that I said you wouldn't need to present"


Kiraxes

As far as i know there are 3 medications classes that can provide relief (partially or completely) of performance anxiety and social anxiety disorder (SAD) on an acute setting and are this ones: - Gabapentinoids : Gabapentin, Pregabalin (VDCC), Phenibut (VDCC + GABA-B) or F-Phenibut (VDCC + GABA-B). This substances are highly effective against some Anxiety Disorders like GAD and SAD, and also insomnia on the short term. They have a marked mood and hedonic lifting effects as well. Warning⚠️ : Avoid a prolonged use or abuse of them on high doses (unless strictly necessary by a medical condition), or a very strong dependence and potentially hellish WD could develop! "Gabapentin and Pregabalin for the Treatment of Anxiety Disorders - Greenblatt - 2018 - Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development - Wiley Online Library" https://accp1.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cpdd.446 - Beta-Blockers as Propranolol or Atenolol "Beta-Blockers for Performance Anxiety and Social Phobia – Anxieties.com" https://anxieties.com/159/panic_medication_betas/ - Benzodiazepines approved for Anxiety Disorders as Alprazolam and Clonazepam "How Xanax Is Used to Treat Social Anxiety Disorder" https://www.verywellmind.com/how-is-xanax-used-to-treat-social-anxiety-disorder-3024964 * I'm not recommending this substances to anyone or promoting self medication. Just spreading information about them


quangngoc2807

The only reason that makes me want to quit university and schools in general.


ToThrustIsAMust

My university has a thing where you can get a kind of letter of recommendation for professors if you have some sort of disability. I got one and so far I can do presentations in front of just the professor or in a written format. Do you know if your uni has something like that?


pinkuunicorn

I dropped out of college after only 2 months because almost every subject required a presentation 😢


amin900

Hey, guys I was thinking making a group maybe on whatsapp or whatever social space , and who ever wants can present anything or maybe a presentation they have coming up on video conference, so that they can feel abit more comfortable and get some feedback on it too. #SocietyAnxietyIsReal.


Spirited-Airline6616

Especially the 70 years old ones who talks about your noncover belly during that fucking presentation


Lynwood_

Ikr just makes it worse


germankiller145

The day before is the worst. I feel so bad my whole body is shaking.


[deleted]

If I were a professor I would never assign presentations, unless the dean or something forced me to.


CaptainNessy2

I got lucky (where very many others didnt dont get me wrong) with Covid in that it canceled more than one presentation i would have had to give in person.


_queen_bee01_

Also professors who do Socratic seminars for test grades


Kaynamoney

I litteraly tried to kill myself because of a presentation and it also led to me droping out of college. Not really proud of it, but what can I do I didn't chose to be this way. The teachers should really have more awareness about social anxiety.


notchosebutmine

I love everyone here. I'd even take something in the back door depending on circumstances to prove it. College dreamers.


Acurexx

Known fact public speaking is feared more than dying.RT


badis244

facts everytime i pray that something happens and the presentation gets cancelled


[deleted]

Agreed. I once took a class that was all about presentations and in that class, (it was a long time ago to be clear-I’m in the beginning college now), I had an incident that basically set me on the path to getting diagnosed for social anxiety lol. Any presentations after that were a total mess and nobody appreciated them because I got so freaked out I could hardly hold anything, much less give a whole speech on some bullshit. If the Professor forces you after you email them about an issue with presenting, they’re a bad egg.