speaking willies

[IAMSUPER]

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Hi gang,

I've got a problem. Ya see, I get really nervous with public speaking. I mean really nouvous! Other than that I'm smart and dynamite with patients, I mean totally wunderbar. Am I just gonna have to suffer through residency? How many talks am I gonna have to give? I wanna do Psych btw.
I don't understand how public speaking ability should correlate to my success as a Psychiatrist.

 

[Encephalopathy]

I recall a study that found a fear of public speaking was more common that fear of death. Try a beta-blocker, and practice.

 

[2tall]

Have you taken a public speaking class before? Imagined your audience naked? Does the size of your audience matter (e.g. when presenting a patient on rounds vs grand rounds)?

Define "really nervous"? Repetitive words ("uh..uh..uh"), loss of bladder function, catatonia...

 

[appelsoranjes]

EXPOSURE!!!!! and challenge/reframe any cognitions that may be distorted. As a phd in psychology who used to throw up before talking in front of my high school class...to someone who has taught general psychology to classes of 200+ students (with damn good evaluations if I do say so myself), I'm a success story 🙂

Hi gang,

I've got a problem. Ya see, I get really nervous with public speaking. I mean really nouvous! Other than that I'm smart and dynamite with patients, I mean totally wunderbar. Am I just gonna have to suffer through residency? How many talks am I gonna have to give? I wanna do Psych btw.
I don't understand how public speaking ability should correlate to my success as a Psychiatrist.

 

[Thorazine]

the best thing you can do is be well-prepared. the first time i had to lecture 300 people, i went over the slides every single day for 2 weeks beforehand. i ended up still having to take a benzo that day. that lecture went alright, i found myself saying "ok" each time i advanced the slide, but i didnt puke or anything. the next lecture went alot smoother. i found myself not even noticing the crowd. i was really scared of seeing 300 pairs of eyeballs on me, but being up on stage with the lights low, i couldnt even see them.
i still get a little nervous, and my anxiety is worse if i dont feel prepared, but the only way to get over it is to just do it. its never as bad as you imagine.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Get practice (= exposure therapy, as mentioned above).
If you're an undergrad take a speech/communications course.
You could also look into Toastmasters, a voluntary organization that addresses this very issue.

 

[PsychMedStudent]

It shouldn't correlate in any way to your success as a psychiatrist, but no matter what you do, you never know when you'll be called upon to speak to a large group of people. And since there are a few good options out there for dealing with those "willies", you might as well give them a shot, just so you don't have to worry so much about it going forward.

 

[whopper]

I don't understand how public speaking ability should correlate to my success as a Psychiatrist.

It can affect your performance if you head group threrapy-which psychaitrists usually don't do. The only times I've headed groups, I volunteered to do so, or was made to do it in residency, but that was very atypical. (I think it was the hospital just trying to save money). I do think however that you should at least do some group therapy in residency to learn about this. At least in all the states I've seen, group therapy needs to be headed by 2 people. One person often takes a more passive role. That person can just sit & nod.

It can also affect your ability to give presentations, which again is atypical. Most clinical psychiatrists do not do this. You may have to do a grand rounds at the end--a 1 time presentation at the end of residency.

I don't know to what extreme your situation is. I do know however that several people I know have the same problem & were able to do their grand rounds fine.

Another factor is several programs have a morning rounds where a resident presents a case. All IM programs I've seen have this, not all psychiatry programs have this. You possibly could be the resident who has to do this. If your program does this, it'll rotate between you & the other residents. Depending no how often that would be, and how many residents there are--it could be once every few days to once every few months.

I don't know if you'd consider this public speaking, but in treatment teams which usually number about 4-8 people (MD/DO, psychologist, Nurse manager, social worker, substance abuse counselor, a few nurses among others), the psychiatrist is expected to head this. (Then again I've seen some psychiatrists not head the team due to laziness, but they are supposed to ideally be the treatment team leader). To most this is not really public speaking since it is not speaking to a large crowd.

If the problem is on an order that you feel you cannot handle, and it may affect your performance, I suggest you do speak to the PD about it.

 

[Indryd]

ooooohhhh speaking willies...!

This thread is not about what I thought it was going to be about.

 

[psychforme]

I also thought this was about a patient talking to his penis.

 

[Indryd]

I also thought this was about a patient talking to his penis.

I actually thought it was about a penis talking to a patient.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

I actually thought it was about a penis talking to a patient.

Is that ALL that you psychiatrists can think about?

 

[fMRI]

Is that ALL that you psychiatrists can think about?

Nope.
It only gets interesting when their mother's penis is talking back. 😀