Why does your brain go “wired stupid” when you speak in public — and how can you fix it?

When you face an audience, your inner ape often overreacts, triggering a pesky primal fight-or-flight response for a harmless situation. Your brain floods your body with adrenaline, oxygen, and cortisol as if you were facing a physical threat. The result? Racing heart, shaky voice, and a frazzled mind — totally unnecessary and unhelpful for delivering a presentation. It’s a neurological nuisance.

It doesn’t have to stay that way. Public speaking anxiety is the most common form of social phobia — but it is completely manageable with CBT.

This episode, based on a top CBT workbook by Veronica Walsh, is fun, fast, and engaging — giving you practical, proven skills to understand and manage public speaking anxiety:

CBT helps you to:

• Shift your perception: See speaking as a ‘task’, and even an opportunity rather than a terrifying threat
• Evaluate your resources: Build the cognitive and emotional skills to handle the task confidently
• Harness adrenaline: Use the natural surge of energy to feel “buzzed and pumped” instead of freaked out
• Change behaviour: Show up and build the skill over time, rather than avoiding or self-sabotaging
• Focus on the message: You’re just the messenger of the information - make the value of what you’re communicating more important than ego or self-judgment — it’s not about you!

By interrupting automatic reactions — cognitive, physical, and emotional — with CBT, you can transform your performance and regulate your nervous system. Science is beautiful — and you have the power to change your mind, mood, and delivery. Dive in!

Access more CBT resources — handouts, workbooks, audios, and videos:

• Blog & free CBT resource guides: iVeronicaWalsh.wordpress.com
• CBT practice (Ireland): CBTandFeelingGood.com