Large crowds , rooms full people stress me out where can i get help to overcome this???

Question

Large crowds , rooms full of people, even family get together's stress me to the max. I feel overwhelmed, unable to complete or remember the task that i had set out to do.

Answer 1

You have agoraphobia or anxiety problems. You need to see a psychiatrist and possibly get medications.

Answer 2

I know that many people aren't afraid of speaking in front of people as much as they are afraid of screwing up in front of people and humiliating themselves completely. These are a few tips that have helped me: 1). Don't panic. If the topic is something the crowd is unfamiliar with especially. The people will probably never know whether or not you screw up or not. And even if they do, they probably won't care. The bigger challenge will probably be getting them to pay attention to you moreso than anything else. 2). Practice. Being prepared not only lessens the chance of you screwing up, it makes you more familiar with the topic at hand. And if you are more comfortable with the topic, chances are you will be more comfortable talking about it. 3). Take every opportunity to perform that you can. I was incredibly shy when I was younger, and I can say that the number one thing that made me a lot more comfortable speaking in public was doing it as often as possible. Volunteer for the chance whenever you can, especially if it scares you. For me, I found the experience desensitizing. Driving for the first time is often scary to many people, but after doing it for a while, it becomes routine. Same thing with swimming and for public speaking - at least for me. A few tips I have gotten from other people are to race around the block before a speech, so you are too tired to be tense about it. Another friend of mine who publicly speaks often says that looking at the audience in the forehead instead of the eyes helps, since you can't see them seeing you and it still looks like eye contact from that kind of distance. I've never tried these tips before, but they may help you. One more piece of advice is to speak with other people who are in the business of making public presentations on a regular basis. You may find that some techniques that they use to handle the stress (and I know many professional speakers who still get VERY nervous in front of crowds) that may work better for you than all my suggestions. Good luck!

Answer 3

If you are Canadian, call the Canadian Mental Heath Society and make an appt.; or if you can afford it, get a good recommendation for a psychiatrist or psychologist. Sometimes behaviour modification will help this, and a programme of "desensitization" that will allow you step-by-step forms of relaxation in that situation. Drugs aren't the answer.

Answer 4

Get your hearing checked. I don't know if that's the reason for your problem but I feel the same way and it's because of a mild hearing impairment, so I can't follow a conversation in a crowd.

Answer 5

I used to have this...whether it be going to a get-together at the ex-inlaws (where the atmosphere was far from friendly) to on a couple of occasions...feeling the world close in at Walmart-and
having to leave my cart in the aisle and just GET OUT! Anti-anxiety medication helped, and in time I just learned to listen to
my body (faster breathing, sweating, ect...) and would remove
myself from the situation (I would be afraid of 'causing trouble')
but after awhile it didn't matter-I had to realize what I felt was the
important factor...once I did then it hardly occured anymore.
Good luck!

Answer 6

Check out (http://www.reducingstress.net ) there is a lot of great articles and expert advice on the subject there.

Answer 7

I know exactly how you feel. I have suffered with this, and still do from time to time.