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Public speaking anxiety is common. In addition to exposure therapy, REBT and increased presence can help.

Learning to detect your musty thinking can help you take a step back when these arise.

Preferential scripts may help you feel concerned and motivated instead of anxious.

REBT can help you to think preferentially, get present, prepare, practice, and face your fear.

You notice yourself feeling anxious about giving a talk. You need to figure out what you're going to say, but you keep procrastinating. You recently used "self-sabotage" to describe your challenge to your friend.

“I don’t know why, but I keep stressing," you say, exasperated. "I want less stress and more enthusiasm."

Fear of public speaking regularly outranks fear of death, spiders, and heights in the list of top fears.

It's very common, and if you have anxiety around delivering a talk, consider these 4 P's: preference, presence, preparation, and practice (exposures).

Preferences (and preference scripts)

Albert Ellis, founder of Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), said that most people believe three basic musts and that this causes stress2. These "musts," also called demands, reveal themselves in the use of words like should, ought to, must, need to, and have to.

What are the 3 basic musts (or demands)?

I must do well and win approval.

You must treat me well.

The world must be easy.

Because life rarely corresponds with these demands, you'll feel distress if you're holding these.

Musty scripts. If you want to give a talk and you hold all three of these beliefs, you'll also notice that your self-talk contains what we might........

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