A short YouTube video by Robert Summa arguing that Toastmasters and typical exposure-based public-speaking courses are ineffective—and can worsen—glossophobia (fear of public speaking). Summa cites prevalence claims (78% have a phobia) and an Ivy League study he says shows anxiety can increase 9–35× with repeated exposure; he advocates working with certified speaking-phobia specialists or psychologists and promotes his three-week remote program.
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Toastmasters sucks. Okay, guys, so here's the controversial troop. And I hope I don't get a lot of flack for this. Might get a lot of haters, but how can I make such a bold claim that Toastmasters sucks? Well, the honest truth is Toastmasters doesn't really suck. It just may not be right for everybody, especially for those who are trying to get over their fear of public speaking. So those of us without the fear of public speaking, well, Toastmasters can actually be a great haven to work on your art and craft of public speaking. But here's the problem for that 78% of us that actually have a phobia. Public speaking, it's definitely not the right avenue. As a matter of fact, I would say probably almost about 40 to 50% of my clients that I work with have actually tried Toastmasters before. And of course, it didn't work for them. It didn't help at all because they don't have the expertise in a phobia. But it goes a lot farther than this. It actually can be counterproductive and make your phobia 9 to 35 times worse. That's right. 9 to 35 times worse. I'm going to kind of go over it right now and review this in this video. So we need to expose a flaw in exposure therapy for glossophobia. And glossophobia is the official term for fear of public speaking. It's the astrophobia itself. And exposure therapy is the old adage of practice makes perfect. Just keep getting up that mic. Just keep practicing. You're going to get better and you're getting over your fear. Which is just a myth. It's a huge myth. And I have other videos on that. But just to go over it, practice does not always make perfect. The traditional exposure therapy suggests that repeated exposure to your fear situations reduces anxiety over time. However, glossophobia is much different from your typical simple phobias like spiders or snakes or things like. Or dogs, things like that. So for the fear of public speaking, the opposite actually happens for us. So it all starts with our brain's role in fear response. And every single, single time, we have a negative experience when it comes to public speaking, which is a different type of phobia, well, it actually triggers our amygdala, and our amygdala is in charge of the fight or flight response is part of our brain's fear center. So each time we have a negative experience when we're practicing, the amygdala interprets public speaking as a genuine physical danger. And that is why toastmasters in public speaking courses don't work for the fear of public speaking or when you're trying to get over it. So practice does not make perfect. It actually amplifies your anxiety. So instead of reducing your fear, every single time we try to practice to try to get over our fear, it actually fortifies the idea that public speaking is a real dangerous threat to us. So subsequent presentations actually magnify all those physiological symptoms like the pounding heart, the quivering voice, the shaking hands, the sweating, all those symptoms that we hate. And also the psychological anxiety, the dread, the anticipatory dread that we get up to nine to 35 times worse. And that's an Ivy League university study. So really quickly, what does work? Well, working with a certified speaking phobia expert or a psychologist that specializes in glossophobia and panic attacks, right? So you can always work with the psychologist or you can work with a certified speaking phobia expert like myself. We need specialized guidance to get over your fear of public speaking. So overcoming glossophobia requires that targeted strategies that exposure therapy just cannot provide and actually only makes it worse. And a certified speaking phobia expert understands all the nuanced challenges in the exact approach for breaking this phobia forever. So what we do is we actually eradicate the root cause. Unlike traditional methods, a certified coach focuses on erasing the phobia itself, not just managing the symptoms with all those surface level tips like, you know, just keep practicing or deep breathing exercises, all those things that just don't work and actually make it worse. So a targeted approach that a specialist will use actually addresses it at the root cause and it leads to a genuine, long lasting solution for confidence. And then once you're over phobia, well, now that's the time to go to Toastmasters or your typical public speaking coach course. You know, those seminars are actually wonderful once you're over phobia, but the thing is, they just can't help you get over phobia. They're not certified in phobia, they're not certified in panic attack anxiety, and all those physiological symptoms in the psychological systems that happen when it comes to the anticipatory dread of public speaking. So only after erasing the phobia and becoming a confident speaker do things like Toastmasters make sense. So once the fear is conquered, Toastmasters can then serve as a valuable tool for refining your public speaking skills. So if you want to learn more about how to get rid of this phobia public speaking, just feel free to watch my workshop, you're going to learn a lot more. So you're going to learn everything about the powerful and unique phobia and then you're going to learn how you can reach out and schedule a free discovery call directly with me so that we can work together and literally overcome your phobia of public speaking in just three weeks from the comfort of your home. And there's no traveling, there's no scheduling. It's literally as soon as you start your three weeks, you're done. So you can click on the link below, watch the workshop and then reach out to me and schedule a call. It's a free discovery call and you're going to learn so much when you take this course. So even if you don't schedule the call, I really urge you to watch this course and learn a lot about this phobia and what steps you can take to actually get rid of it and get rid of it forever. So I hope you found this video really, really helpful. Thank you so much.
