Understanding yourself
Performance anxiety
“Lights, camera, action, and my mind goes blank.”
Under the lights, on the stage, in front of the lens. Performance anxiety is common, even among the most accomplished artists, and it can be treated.
Day one of the biggest film of Orpa’s career, on a floor at FDC. The set is lit, the crew of sixty goes quiet, the clapperboard snaps. “Lights, camera, action.” She has played this scene in her head a hundred times. Now her mouth is dry, her heart is hammering, and the first line has vanished. Take two. Take seven. Afterwards, in the make-up room, she cannot stop shaking. She has three more months of shooting.
An illustration drawn from common experience. The person is invented; the pattern is not.
Understanding performance anxiety
Performance anxiety is intense fear before or during a performance: a film take, a stage entrance, a dance solo, a concert, a ramp walk, a live broadcast, and, off the stage, an exam, a viva or a pitch to investors. Actors, singers, dancers, models and presenters know it well, at every level of success. The body prepares to fight or flee: racing heart, dry mouth, shaking hands, a voice that tightens, a mind that goes blank. It is common among gifted and well-prepared people (in a systematic review of 43 studies of professional musicians, between 16.5% and 60% had music performance anxiety), and it is part of the wider family of anxiety disorders when it starts to limit what people do.
Signs worth noticing
- Overwhelming fear in the days or hours before performing
- Physical symptoms that interfere with the performance itself
- Avoiding opportunities, auditions or presentations
- Using alcohol or other substances to get through
How care helps
Cognitive behavioural therapy helps people understand the fear, change the thoughts that feed it, and rehearse gradually under rising pressure until the body learns the stage is safe. A doctor checks for any wider anxiety disorder and discusses whether medication has a place, as a careful, individual decision.
What getting better can look like
The sign, for Orpa, could be a day later in the shoot: the lights, the hush, the clap, the hammering heart, and the line arriving anyway. By the third take, she might be acting again rather than surviving.
Common questions about performance anxiety
Is stage fright a mental illness?
Nerves before a performance are normal, and common even among accomplished actors, singers and speakers. When the fear is intense and starts to limit what you do, such as avoiding auditions, presentations or exams, it can be part of the wider family of anxiety disorders. Either way, it can be treated.
How can I stop my mind going blank on stage or in a viva?
Cognitive behavioural therapy helps people understand the fear, change the thoughts that feed it, and rehearse gradually under rising pressure until the body learns the situation is safe. A doctor also checks for any wider anxiety disorder and discusses whether medication has a place, as an individual decision. Needing alcohol to get through is one of the signs that it is worth getting help.
When to see a psychiatrist
If fear is costing you performances, roles, exams or opportunities, it can be treated, ideally before the next shoot, show or opening night.
Care here is personal: built around your history, your health and what you want to change, and reviewed with you as it goes.
If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 999 or go to the nearest hospital emergency department.
If some of this sounds familiar, a first conversation is a good place to start. You do not need the right words, or to be certain.
Dr. Tajreen is consulting in Uttar Badda now, until 8:00 pm. Call +880 1847-331010Every address and its hours
Sources
- Fernholz et al., Psychological Medicine, 2019 (PMID 31474244)
You do not need to have everything figured out before you begin.
