title: Public-speaking fears in a community sample. Prevalence, impact on functioning, and diagnostic classification.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent epidemiologic studies have revealed that social phobia is more prevalent than has been previously believed. An unresolved issue is the extent to which public-speaking fears constitute a recognizable form of social phobia in a community sample and, moreover, to what extent these fears are associated with functional morbidity.
  
  
  METHODS
  To examine the prevalence and impact of public-speaking fears and their relationship to social phobia in a community sample, we conducted a randomized telephone survey of 499 residents of Winnipeg, Manitoba, a medium-sized midwestern metropolitan area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One third of the respondents reported that they had excessive anxiety when they spoke to a large audience. The onset of fears was early (ie, 50%, 75%, and 90% by the ages of 13, 17, and 20 years, respectively). Anxious cognitions about public speaking included the following fears: doing or saying something embarrassing (64%), one's mind going blank (74%), being unable to continue talking (63%), saying foolish things or not making sense (59%), and trembling, shaking, or showing other signs of anxiety (80%). In total, 10% (n = 49) of the respondents reported that public-speaking anxiety had resulted in a marked interference with their work (2%), social life (1%), or education (4%), or had caused them marked distress (8%). Twenty-three persons (5%) had public-speaking anxiety in isolation (ie, without evidence of additional kinds of social fears).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data support the inclusion of severe forms of public-speaking fears within the social phobia construct and, furthermore, suggest that public-speaking anxiety may have a detrimental impact on the lives of many individuals in the community.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg.
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Stein
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Forde
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008350:Manitoba / Q000453:epidemiology; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013689:Telephone