Regarding Public Speaking: Unusual problem

Some of you may find it strange, and i do too, but well.. here it is:


Why is it that when i'm sitting in the classroom and the professor asks something to me or when i have to say anything else out loud i have a feeling in my throat that it's squeezing and it's highly embarassing because the words barely get out of my throat.


But when i have to go in front of the whole class to make a presentation or to speak something or even if i'm just walking there under everyone's eyes to get out of the room (to go to the bathroom or something) i feel way way more relaxed and am able to speak and make presentations without problems?



I feel like if i can discover why such a divergence happens, i will understand what makes me feel at ease in one situation and not at all at ease in the other. Maybe it has something to do because i am standing, therefore i feel more secure? Or it's because then i'm really supposed to say something and i just don't care anymore?

What the hell happens... i need to know. Because i feel more dreaded when i know that i will have to spend 10 seconds speaking something that the professor asks me when i'm sitting than knowing that i will have to give a 5 minute presentation lol. And i'm in a few classes where the f*cking professor keeps asking for us to participate in the goddamn class! He may think that it makes us pay more attention, but for me it just drives my attention away from the subject to my fear that he will speak my name out loud followed by a question.

I feel the same way when i marketed in the past..i feel more comfortable talking under pressure..when I can act like someone that I'm not perhaps I am ..for only a certain amount of time with people whom I don't talked to on a regular basis. I should become an actor..we both should for that matter..that may make are anxiety worse with acting for longer periods.

Yea thinking back when i was in school i did pretty well in theater classes, and again, that didn't dread me at all in comparison with some other situations that most people would have no problem dealing with.



But the question still remains, if it's just that we're good acting under pressure, as you say, why can't i "act" when i'm sitting and i just have to speak a few damn words? The words just don't get out or get out very weakly...

c'mon no one knows how to stop this voice-losing sympton? i'm in pain here... every class where there's the risk that i'll be asked to speak out loud is a torture.

Hard one. If I were you, I'd tell the professor (over email if possible and otherwise by a note) what's going on. You'd think that he would want to know that you can't concentrate because of what he's doing. Of course, he could also decide to "make you grow up" or something stupid.

As for why it's happening... hmmm. Maybe you feel like it's more personal if one person asks you a question rather than having everyone listen. Here's a theory: maybe you can try to look at the situation from a distance, as if you were watching someone act, or maybe you can imagine you're onstage. Were you good at improv in your acting class? That's what life is. Maybe you can pretend you're in theater or something. Or make up a character (as if in a play) and try to act him out when you're in class.

I don't know if any of this would work, but it's all I can think of. Hope you figure something out. Good luck!

I'm the exact same way. I'm really good at public speaking and I really enjoy it too, but I can't have a conversation with someone. I think part of the reason is that I can plan out what I'm going to say before giving a speech, whereas in a conversation you never know what the other person's going to say so you can't really plan it out.