Hi sIx,

    You are starting at the top of your cognitive hierarchy instead of the bottom. I think developing the hierarchy is where a therapist is most helpful in this process. It can take some exploration and coaching to find the bottom step on the hierarchy--that place where a little anxiety is noticed, but not so much that one feels at all overwhelmed by it.

    Stagefright is a phobia. It can vary tremendously in severity--from one person to another or from one proscribed situation to another. There are a number of pretty good books and manuals in print that can help one work on this successfully--with or without a therapist. One that I particularly recommend is "The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook." (I'm not at my office right now so can't give you the author.)

    It is also perfectly NORMAL for most of us to experience some anxiety around performing in front of others. It is a problem if it interfers with a person doing what the want to do, or doing it to the best of their ability, or if it causes significant subjective distress and/or disturbing physical symptoms.

    Some people can perform and perform well in spite of the phobic reaction--but the nausea, panic and other symptoms just before the performance are truly distressing. If nausea and vomiting are the most aversive of symptoms, it may be that once you have upchucked--the worst has already happened so you can get on with the show.

    For some of us, myself included, the symptoms are not so dramatic, but they significantly interfer with the quality of our performance, or keep us from performing at all.

Janie