Presentation Anxiety Glossary

Every key term in presentation anxiety, speaking science, and AI coaching — defined clearly, without jargon.

ConditionPhysiologyTreatmentCognitiveAI / EchoPitch

Condition

Glossophobia

The clinical term for fear of public speaking. From the Greek glossa (tongue) and phobos (fear). Affects an estimated 75% of people to some degree. Classified as a specific social phobia under DSM-5.

Presentation anxiety

Situational anxiety triggered by the prospect or act of presenting. Manifests as physical symptoms (shaking, sweating, nausea), cognitive symptoms (mind going blank, catastrophic thinking), and behavioural symptoms (avoidance, over-preparation).

Social anxiety disorder

A DSM-5 anxiety disorder involving intense fear of social situations involving scrutiny or negative evaluation. Broader than glossophobia — affects multiple social contexts. Lifetime prevalence ~13%. Highly treatable with CBT and/or medication.

Rejection sensitive dysphoria

An intense emotional response to real or perceived rejection, criticism, or failure. Common in ADHD. Makes the evaluative element of presentations feel genuinely devastating rather than merely uncomfortable.

Erythrophobia

A specific phobia characterised by fear of blushing. When anxiety about blushing becomes so severe it causes avoidance of social situations, it may meet diagnostic criteria for erythrophobia — a form of social anxiety disorder.

Physiology

Fight-or-flight response

The physiological stress response triggered when the brain perceives social threat. Releases adrenaline and cortisol, causing elevated heart rate, shallow breathing, and muscle tension — all common presentation symptoms. Controlled by the sympathetic nervous system.

Adrenaline (epinephrine)

A hormone released during fight-or-flight. Causes increased heart rate, dilated pupils, and vasodilation near the skin surface — the mechanism behind blushing. Also tightens laryngeal muscles, causing voice shaking and cracking.

Cortisol

The primary stress hormone. High cortisol temporarily impairs hippocampal memory retrieval — the mechanism behind blanking out during presentations. Also contributes to stomach symptoms and voice tension.

Autonomic nervous system

Controls involuntary bodily functions including heart rate, digestion, and blood vessel dilation. Consists of the sympathetic (fight-or-flight) and parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) divisions. Most physical anxiety symptoms are autonomic responses.

Parasympathetic nervous system

The calming division of the autonomic nervous system. Activated by slow, extended-exhale breathing. Counteracts fight-or-flight. The physiological mechanism through which breathing exercises reduce anxiety.

Vagus nerve

The primary nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system, running from the brainstem to the gut. Directly stimulated by slow, extended-exhale breathing. Why breathing exercises reduce anxiety rapidly.

Vasodilation

Widening of blood vessels. In blushing, adrenaline causes cutaneous vasodilation — widening of vessels near the skin surface in the face, neck and chest, increasing blood flow and producing visible redness.

Laryngeal tension

Tightness in the larynx (voice box) muscles caused by stress. Disrupts smooth vocal cord vibration, producing voice shaking, cracking, or a thin, strained quality during presentations.

Treatment

Systematic desensitisation

An evidence-based treatment for specific phobias involving graduated exposure to feared situations in order of increasing difficulty. Repeated non-threatening exposure teaches the brain the stimulus is not genuinely dangerous.

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)

The gold-standard psychological treatment for anxiety disorders. Targets cognitive distortions (catastrophising, mind-reading, all-or-nothing thinking) combined with behavioural experiments to test and correct those beliefs.

Beta-blockers (propranolol)

Medication that blocks adrenaline receptors, preventing physical symptoms of anxiety (racing heart, trembling, blushing, voice tension) without sedation. Prescription-only. Used off-label for performance anxiety in the UK.

Cognitive

Working memory

Short-term cognitive storage for information currently in active use. Impaired by ADHD and by high cortisol under stress. During presentations, holds your structure, your position in it, and the words you're about to say simultaneously.

Procedural memory

Memory for skills and habitual actions. More resistant to stress impairment than declarative memory. Deliberate practice moves presentation delivery from declarative to procedural memory, reducing cognitive load under pressure.

AI / EchoPitch

FACS — Facial Action Coding System

A comprehensive system coding 44 facial Action Units (muscle groups). Developed by Paul Ekman. Used by EchoPitch to analyse confidence, tension, and emotional signals during practice sessions.

VAD model

Valence-Arousal-Dominance — a three-dimensional model of emotional state. Valence (positive/negative), Arousal (calm/excited), Dominance (in control/out of control). Used by EchoPitch to track emotional state changes during practice.

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