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35 I L T A N E T . O R G H ow many times have you heard that the fear of public speaking is, for most of us, our biggest fear? Each year, Chapman University conducts a poll on what Americans are the most afraid of. In 2019, the fear of public speaking was one of the fears that made the list. It came in at number 54. How can something that's quoted as a "#1 fear" end up so far down the list? According to the poll, the top 5 fears were: 1. Corrupt government officials 2. Pollution of oceans, rivers and lakes 3. People I love becoming seriously ill 4. Pollution of drinking water 5. People I love dying Our biggest fears have a persistent quality to them, whereas the fear of public speaking is more situational. Most of us don't lie awake at night and worry about speaking in public. Of course, there are some people who do, but most of us worry about public speaking when we have a speech to give. Fear! Fear is something which certain psychologists are keenly interested in. One of those psychologists, Dr. Karl Albrecht, identified 5 basic fears, out of which almost all of our other so-called fears are manufactured. Those 5 fears are: • Extinction – the fear of annihilation, of ceasing to exist. It is more than just a fear of death but speaks to our fear that we would simply no longer be. He calls this an existential anxiety. • Mutilation or Bodily Invasion – this one is self explanatory. And very creepy. • The Loss of Autonomy – this is the fear of being restricted, confined, trapped, or suffocated. Dr. Albrecht puts it like this – it is "the fear of being immobilized, paralyzed, restricted, enveloped, overwhelmed, entrapped." • Separation, Abandonment or Rejection – the fear of abandonment, rejection, and loss of connectedness; of becoming a non-person—not wanted, respected, or valued by anyone else. • Humiliation, Shame or Worthlessness – Dr. Albrecht called this type of fear, "Ego-death". We all need to feel lovable, worthy of love and of value in the world order to have healthy relationships with others – and with ourselves. At the risk of stating the obvious, unless you work somewhere really dark, the two basic fears that underlie our fear of public speaking are Separation, Abandonment or Rejection and Humiliation, Shame or Worthlessness. Although public speaking in the abstract may not be a driving fear, it's still very real. And that's because it taps into some of our most basic fears as human beings. We are social creatures that want to belong and feel connected to and respected by our peers. Anything that invites criticism or outright rejection is frightening. We also need to have a healthy sense of self worth in order to thrive. Being asked to speak in public stirs up those fears of being deemed unworthy, of embarrassing ourselves, of being found lacking. Fear Factors While understanding the root cause of our fear of public speaking is helpful, it doesn't necessarily make it go away. Fortunately, psychologists have identified 4 factors which contribute to the fear of public speaking: Physiology,

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