About performance anxiety
Everyone knows a certain tension or performance anxiety with a difficult task. It motivates you to do your best and it can be very helpful in achieving a good performance, such as giving a speech, taking an exam or writing a paper. The tension gives you an impulse and ensures that you can act in a focused and alert manner. After completing the difficult task, the stress will diminish on its own.
What is performance anxiety?
When you suffer from performance anxiety, you have a persistent and often irrational fear of failure. You are afraid of making mistakes, doing something wrong, or not performing well enough. Fear of failure manifests itself in all kinds of situations in which you are judged by others or by yourself. You want to do something right so badly, that you are afraid that you cannot meet your own expectations or the expectations of others. You can block, postpone tasks or work extra hard.
However, if you are extremely afraid of failure, this can become a problem. You are so tense that you can no longer concentrate properly and make many more mistakes than usual. You can even end up in a vicious circle. You can then suffer from negative thoughts, worry, sweating, trembling, insomnia, blackouts and more. Because of your fear of failure you underperform, which confirms your feeling that you indeed cannot do it. The next time, your fear of failure becomes even stronger because it went wrong before. Or you prepare less or not at all because you think it will fail anyway. The result is that your fear of failure is maintained or gets worse.
Types of performance anxiety
Performance anxiety can manifest itself in different situations and can be divided into cognitive performance anxiety, social performance anxiety and motor performance anxiety. Cognitive performance anxiety is the best known variant.
Cognitive performance anxiety
With cognitive performance anxiety, you are afraid that you have not learned well enough or that your knowledge is insufficient. You may feel nervous for days before an exam, sleep badly or suffer from stomach aches or headaches. The fear of failure becomes dominant, causing you to perform below your actual level.
Within cognitive performance anxiety, a distinction can be made between active performance anxiety and passive performance anxiety. People with active performance anxiety work hard, want to do everything without mistakes and strive for the best possible result. By working extremely hard, they try to minimize the chance of failure. This often costs a lot of energy. You may continue endlessly refining your paper or keep preparing and practising your presentation.
People with passive performance anxiety often procrastinate and try to avoid the situation that causes the fear. They do not believe that their efforts will make a difference and therefore postpone the task for as long as possible or avoid it completely.
Social performance anxiety
Social performance anxiety shows itself in contact with other people. You are afraid to say or do something wrong. You attach a lot of importance to what others think of you and you fear that you will not be seen as nice, smart or good enough. This form of performance anxiety may arise, for example, when meeting new people, applying for a job or giving a presentation.
Motor performance anxiety
Motor performance anxiety relates to physical actions. You are physically able to perform the action, but the tension gets in the way. This can happen during a sports match, where you make unnecessary mistakes, during a party with many strangers, where you knock over a glass, or during creative tasks such as drawing or painting.
Symptoms of performance anxiety
Signs of performance anxiety can include:
- Feelings of insecurity
- Low or negative self-esteem
- Fear of criticism
- Worrying and negative thoughts
- Avoiding new or difficult situations
- Procrastination
- Perfectionism
- Studying or working below your level
- Difficulty passing tests or exams
- Working too long on the same assignment
- Stress, tension or blackouts
In addition, you may experience physical symptoms such as palpitations, headaches, sleep problems, hyperventilation, stomach pain, nausea, shaking or sweating. These symptoms can sometimes seem to come out of nowhere.
What are the causes of performance anxiety?
Performance anxiety can be related to a negative or low self-esteem. Because of constant comparison with others, you may set the bar very high or even too high for yourself. This makes it almost impossible to achieve your own goals, which can lead to fear of failure. You may then start avoiding challenges or new situations because you are afraid of failing. And if avoidance is not possible, your performance may be negatively affected by uncertainty and tension.
Perfectionism and performance anxiety often go together. You strive for a perfect result, you do not allow yourself to make mistakes and you are not satisfied with an average performance. Precisely because you put so much pressure on yourself, the fear of failure increases.
In children, performance anxiety can develop if parents or teachers set standards that are too high and the child feels strong pressure to perform without being able to meet those expectations. Negative experiences such as being bullied, hurt or ignored can also undermine self-confidence and contribute to insecurity and fear of failure.
Treatment of performance anxiety
If your performance anxiety interferes with your daily life, it is wise to seek professional help. During treatment, we identify the cause of your performance anxiety. We help you look at your own performance or behaviour more realistically, so that your self-image can improve and your self-confidence can grow. Avoidance behaviour and procrastination are also addressed during treatment.
Please read our Performance anxiety treatment page if you would like to know how we can help you with your performance anxiety.
Contact Psychologen Amsterdam
Do you recognize your symptoms and do you need help or do you just have a question about the treatment of your performance anxiety? Then call for an appointment or send a message to Psychologen Amsterdam.
