Anxiety & Panic Disorders Health Center

Stage Fright (Performance Anxiety)

Overcoming Performance Anxiety: Tricks of the Trade

There are also mental tricks you can play to help you perform with less anxiety. These include:

• Focus on the friendliest faces in the audience.
• Laugh when you can, it can help you relax.
• Make yourself look good. When you look good, you feel good.

These tips should help reduce performance anxiety. But if they don't, talk to a counselor or therapist trained in treating anxiety issues. You may benefit from more intensive therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, to help overcome performance anxiety. In addition, medications, such as beta-blockers, a heart medicine that lowers heart rate, are sometimes used by people with performance anxiety.

Confronting your fears and learning ways to reduce and manage them can be empowering. Not only will it make you feel good about yourself, you may discover that you are a more confident performer, too.