Performance Anxiety
When You Know You Can Do It—Until the Pressure Is On
You may be well prepared, knowledgeable, and capable—yet when the stakes feel high, anxiety takes over.
Your mind goes blank during an exam. You become overwhelmed before an important presentation or interview. You spend days worrying about how you'll perform, become intensely self-conscious, or find yourself avoiding opportunities because the possibility of failing—or being judged—feels unbearable.
Performance anxiety isn't a reflection of your ability. In fact, it often affects highly capable people who care deeply about doing well.
How Anxiety Gets in the Way
When you're focused on thoughts such as “What if I freeze?” “What if I fail?” or “What will people think of me?” your attention shifts away from the task itself and toward monitoring your performance and anticipating everything that could go wrong.
Physical symptoms—racing heart, sweating, shaking, nausea, difficulty concentrating, or feeling mentally “blank”—can then become another source of anxiety.
Before long, you may become anxious not only about the test, presentation, or performance, but about whether you'll become anxious when it happens.
A CBT Approach to Performance Anxiety
Using TEAM-CBT, we'll identify the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are fueling your anxiety and use evidence-based cognitive and behavioral techniques to begin changing them.
Depending on your particular concerns, our work may include:
Challenging catastrophic and self-defeating thoughts
Reducing fear of failure and negative evaluation
Learning to respond differently to physical symptoms of anxiety
Reducing avoidance and safety behaviors
Building tolerance for uncertainty and imperfection
Practicing new responses to feared situations
Developing greater confidence in your ability to cope—even when you feel anxious
The goal isn't necessarily to eliminate every trace of anxiety. Some anxiety before an important event is normal. The goal is to keep anxiety from controlling your performance, your choices, or your willingness to take on meaningful challenges.
Test Anxiety
Test anxiety can be especially frustrating because your performance may not accurately reflect what you know.
Whether you're preparing for academic exams, professional licensing or certification tests, or another high-stakes examination, we can work on both the thoughts that intensify anxiety and the behaviors that may be reinforcing it.
When ADHD or executive functioning difficulties are also affecting studying, preparation, time management, or test performance, we can address those challenges as part of our work.
Beyond Tests
Performance anxiety isn't limited to the classroom. Similar fears can arise around:
Presentations and public speaking
Job interviews
Professional evaluations
Important meetings
Auditions or performances
Networking and social-professional situations
Other situations in which you feel evaluated or judged
Ready to Feel More Confident Under Pressure?
You don't have to wait until you feel completely fearless to perform effectively. We can work together to change the thoughts and behaviors that intensify anxiety and help you approach high-stakes situations with greater confidence and flexibility.
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation to learn more.📞 212-734-4302
📧 Karen@ManhattanIntegrativeTherapy.com
Contact me today for a free 15-minute consultation.
Contact Karen:
Phone: 212-734-4302