Performance Anxiety Treatment in Texas or Colorado
Does it feel like you are getting in your own way from performing at your best?
You may have the skills, knowledge, or proper preparation, but when it comes to putting everything together when it counts, it all goes out the window. Performance anxiety can affect people in all sorts of domains. From performing music at a concert, giving a presentation at work, playing sports in front of others, to taking a test at school, people often face the pressure to perform in their daily life. Too often, this pressure can be too much to manage and results in negatively affecting performance. To first address performance anxiety, it is important to understand what it is – and what it is not!
What is Performance Anxiety?
Performance anxiety differs from stress or nerves. Feeling a certain amount of stress can actually be healthy. Stress can help motivate people, spurring them into preparation or increasing their focus. Certain levels of stress demonstrate that someone cares about their performance and wants to do well. Another differentiator of healthy stress is that it is typically experienced when someone is in direct contact with a specific stressor (i.e., their performance). In the end, feeling stress or nerves can improve performance.
On the other hand, the underlying factor of performance anxiety is that it impairs performance. The symptoms of performance anxiety are more intense than that of normative stress. The intensity of the symptoms can result in people becoming worried about them, which only increases the symptoms’ salience. In effect, people get anxious about feeling anxious. The experience of performance anxiety can also become persistent, nagging someone even when they are not actually engaging in their performance or in the lead-up to their performance.
Common Symptoms of Performance Anxiety
There are many different symptoms of performance anxiety, which can be experienced physically, mentally, and behaviorally. Common physical symptoms include sweating, increased heart rate, shallow breathing, and shaking. Common cognitive symptoms include thoughts of failure, overthinking, and one’s mind going blank. Common behavioral symptoms include avoiding the performance or performing worse than expected.
How We Can Help
Our therapists are trained in working with people who experience performance anxiety in many domains. First, it will be important to become aware of the specific symptoms, as well as the specific triggers that often contribute to these symptoms. There may also be reason to explore any past experiences that could be the root causes of the current performance anxiety. Our therapists can help process these experiences, as well as teach various coping strategies to directly reduce performance anxiety. These coping strategies could include self-talk, relaxation strategies (e.g., deep breathing), and imagery. With our help, you can be on your way to maximizing your performance potential!
Interested in Improving Your Performance Through Counseling in Texas or Colorado?
You no longer have to crumble under the pressure of an important performance! Working with one of our trained therapists can help you reduce performance anxiety and improve your performance. To start therapy in Dallas, TX, follow these steps:
2. Meet with one of our caring therapists that specializes in performance anxiety
3. Start realizing your performance potential!
Other Counseling Services in Dallas, TX
Performance anxiety treatment is not the only thing we offer at Sunrise Counseling. We provide a variety of services to clients from our Dallas TX-based therapy office and the surrounding areas. Other mental health services we provide at Sunrise Counseling include:
Social Difficulties
Attention Difficulties
Self-esteem issues
Body image
Parent training
LGBTQ+ Concerns
Grief and Loss
Career concerns
Adjustment difficulties due to various life changes
Depression
Teen Therapy