Week 4: Coping with Performance Anxiety
Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! This week, I continued reading The Psychology of Performance Anxiety, which focuses on treatments and coping strategies for performance anxiety in its second half. It even provides real-life experiences from musicians who have used these strategies. I also watched some informational videos on overcoming performance anxiety.
While the relationship between motivation and performance anxiety is my main focus, I’m also exploring how musicians cope with performance anxiety. So, my survey asks whether participants use coping strategies and allows them to choose the ones they use from a list of common methods—or add their own. In today’s post, I would like to share the most common coping strategies I listed in my survey and explain how they work.
Beta-blockers
Beta-blockers (such as propranolol) are common medications that can be used to treat severe performance anxiety.
When people experience stress, their bodies produce hormones like norepinephrine and epinephrine. These hormones attach to adrenergic receptors, causing physical symptoms of anxiety. Specifically, beta-receptors (a type of adrenergic receptor) affect skeletal muscles, causing shaking and an increased heart rate. Beta-blockers bind to these receptors and block the physical effects of norepinephrine and epinephrine. As a result, they reduce physical symptoms like shaking and a racing heart, making it easier for musicians to perform. However, they do not reduce psychological symptoms of anxiety, such as worry or nervousness (Kenny, 2011).
Mental training
There are many ways musicians can mentally train to reduce or overcome performance anxiety. However, it’s important to note that mental preparation is not a substitute for physical preparation. If you haven’t practiced enough for an audition or performance, your anxiety might stem from a lack of confidence. But if you’ve prepared as best as you can and still feel anxious, mental strategies can help.
One useful technique is visualization. Instead of focusing on what could go wrong, musicians can picture themselves performing successfully. This can help shift their mindset from fear to confidence.
Another strategy is positive self-talk. Negative thoughts are a major cause of performance anxiety, so replacing them with positive thoughts can decrease anxiety.
Additionally, motivation regulation — specifically increasing intrinsic motivation — can prevent burnout, decreasing anxiety. A musician can do this through attribution training, a technique that can help them change their explanations for their successes and failures. For example, if a musician attributes failure to a lack of ability, they might feel unmotivated. However, if they recognize that failure resulted from insufficient practice or effort—something they can control—they are more likely to stay motivated and improve in the future.
Finally, relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, are commonly used to manage performance anxiety. Slow, deep breaths can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which signals the body to relax. This can decrease symptoms of anxiety, by lowering heart rate and reducing stress hormones.
Next Steps
These are just a few of the strategies I’ve learned about so far, but I’m excited to continue exploring this topic. In the coming weeks, I’ll analyze the responses from my survey to see which coping strategies musicians actually use and how effective they find them. Stay tuned for more updates!
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