An Online Large-group One-session Treatment for Public Speaking Anxiety

The treatment is aimed at reducing public speaking anxiety by using cognitive and behavioral techniques. Following a psychoeducation phase, different speaking tasks are conducted to expose the individuals to their feared situation on the one hand and to address common cognitive processes characterizing public speaking anxiety, e.g. self-focused attention, on the other hand. The exercises will be conducted in smaller groups. After treatment, participants receive a worksheet with questions aimed at enhancing the processing of what was learned during treatment in terms of expectancy violation. For example, they are asked if what they were most worried about occured and what actually happened compared to what they predicted to happen. This should highlight the discrepancy between anticipated and actual outcomes. The intervention is conducted in an online group format via videoconference with a duration of approximately 5 hours.

The treatment is aimed at reducing public speaking anxiety by using cognitive and behavioral techniques. Following a psychoeducation phase, different speaking tasks are conducted to expose the individuals to their feared situation on the one hand and to address common cognitive processes characterizing public speaking anxiety, e.g. self-focused attention, on the other hand. The exercises will be conducted in smaller groups. After treatment, participants receive a worksheet that addresses basic contentual information concerning the treatment without a specific attempt to highlight the discrepancy between anticipated and actual outcomes. For example, participants will be asked how they would explain public speaking anxiety and exposure therapy to a friend and what advantages they see in conducting treatments like this in groups. The intervention is conducted in an online group format via videoconference with a duration of approximately 5 hours.