Treating individuals with debilitating performance anxiety: An introduction.

Clinicians often see clients who have debilitating performance anxiety. They suffer from public speaking anxiety, stage fright, test-taking anxiety, and writing block. Their condition is so severe as to threaten to end their academic or professional career. Musicians and athletes also seek help because their anxiety before and during an event causes them to perform at a level well below their demonstrated capabilities. An estimated 2% of the U.S. population is afflicted by debilitating performance anxiety. Effective treatments are now available. This article reviews those behavioral, cognitive, and technological therapies that have shown great promise for treating individuals who have debilitating performance anxiety and introduces this issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session devoted to this topic. Copyright 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.