Performance Anxiety
Performance anxiety is commonly experienced by many professionals within high demand domains. A polyvagal informed paradigm can be beneficial in managing this manifestation.
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Across any, and all, performance domains, a common experience is that which is termed performance anxiety. This can be the result of many different influences and can manifest in many ways, such as worry about the outcome related to the performance, fear of failure, and fear of the judgments or opinions of others. Regardless of the underlying initiator of this experience, the result can be one in which there can be reduced quality of performance, excess worry or anxiety, a reluctance to enter performance domains, reduced enjoyment and fulfillment, and others.
Overall, the manifestation of performance anxiety can readily lead to professionals avoiding performing their craft or losing the sense of enjoyment associated with engaging in related tasks. This applies within both physical skill related domains and more cognitively focused tasks. This is a commonly experienced and encountered scenario across professionals within any domain, particularly those associated with high demand scenarios and situations. It is not necessarily limited to those performing for an audience. This can be equally experienced amongst professionals not typically considered to be performance based in the context of being observed by others, such as musicians or actors. This, for example, is often encountered by healthcare professionals on account of the impact of their ability to provide care for their patients and the resulting effect on their health and wellbeing.
Regardless of the specifics of the performance domain, there is much discussion surrounding utilization of mind-based skills to address performance anxiety. The efficacy of this strategy is based upon the framework that the manifestation of performance anxiety is related to the thoughts which are experienced by those who experience this occurrence. As a result, this understanding leads to recommendations to address performance anxiety through mind-based skills, such as reframing the performance domain, adjusting self-talk, and increasing confidence.
Each of the aforementioned mind-based skills is beneficial and, in fact, are incorporated within the polyvagal informed toolbox. However, from my perspective, these mind-bases strategies are insufficient to optimally address performance anxiety. The rationale for this lies in the recognition of the underlying biological processes which lead to the various manifestations of performance anxiety. Once the physiological and psychological factors are understood, a more complete understanding of performance anxiety can be reached and, on this basis, a more effective strategy implemented.
From the outset, it is important to recognize that performance anxiety ultimately is the result of becoming stuck within a sympathetic state. This can be illustrated through consideration of the psychological and physiological features typically associated with performance anxiety and comparison to those factors within the usual manifestation of sympathetic states. There is considerable overlap. This reflects how performance anxiety can be considered to be a context specific manifestation of sympathetic states. Common experiences of performance anxiety include thoughts of worry or over-concern related to the outcome, reluctance or loss of enjoyment in performing tasks, increased muscle tone, increased breathing rate with shifts towards chest breathing and prolonged inhalations, defensive or protective postures, increased heart rate, and loss of intonation in the voice. These are also characteristic manifestations of sympathetic states.
With an understanding that performance anxiety results from becoming stuck within sympathetic states, attention can be turned towards a better framework for understanding how this may occur. When we engage in our performance domain, it is often the case that there will be increased sympathetic activation. This may result from internal, external, or relational cues in the environment. It is also the case that some of the attributes of the sympathetic state are desirable within a performance domain, such as increased energy mobilization and greater focus. Michael Allison has described the optimal state for performance to be the hybrid of ventral vagal and sympathetic states. Flow state, widely considered to be the ideal state for performance, also can be mapped to exist at the core of the hybrid state that Michael Allison describes.
As can be appreciated from the above discussion, when we engage within our domain of performance, there is often an increase in sympathetic mobilization. In order to control or modulate the extent of sympathetic activation, we engage our vagal break. This provides the ability to allow a degree of mobilization related to the sympathetic activation while simultaneously maintaining ventral vagal stability. This allows us to enter the hybrid state described by Michael Allison. Within this situation, our biological state is optimally geared towards performing at our best.
If, on the other hand, in response to the cues and stimuli within our performance domain, we are unable to maintain ventral vagal stabilization, we shift into a sympathetic state. If this becomes persistent over time, performance anxiety can result from becoming stuck within the sympathetic state. The manifestations described above often result when this occurs. It is important to note that it is not necessary that this situation unfolds each and every time we perform within our domain. Due to the dynamic nature of our biological states, it may be the case that at times we are able to maintain sufficient ventral vagal stabilization while at other times we are not.
With an understanding of the biological factors which cause performance anxiety in hand, we can consider how best to address this common manifestation. Given that performance anxiety results from decreased ventral vagal stabilization and becoming stuck within sympathetic states, we can manage this scenario by increasing ventral vagal tone at baseline and strengthening vagal break. These are both achieved through intentional and deliberate practices to increase flexibility of the nervous system which have been described in detail in past articles. By enhancing these attributes, we increase the likelihood that our biological response to the cues and stimuli associated with our performance domain will be optimized and we will be able to better maintain our psychology and physiology within the hybrid state described above.
It is also useful to consider how this approach is likely to be more effective than an exclusive focus on mind-based skills. For the reasons described above, and further detailed in past articles, when we shift into sympathetic states, mind-based skills become less useful in their ability to shift our biology back towards ventral vagal stabilized states. As such, we cannot rely on these skills in such situations.
Furthermore, if we attempt to employ mind-based strategies, such as reframing of situations or trying to change self-talk to increase confidence, it can be predicted that there will not be the desired shift towards ventral vagal stabilized states. As the sympathetic state persists, the narrative which often emerges is that the thoughts and feelings resulting from the performance anxiety state are, in fact, accurate and valid. This can readily lead to a deepening of the sympathetic state, possible shifts into dorsal vagal states, and reinforcement of performance anxiety.
Conversely, when we proactively train skills to increase ventral vagal stabilization and enhance the effectiveness of the vagal break, we decrease the likelihood of entering into a performance anxiety state. When we do shift into a sympathetic state, as we inevitably will, we have more robust skills to implement in order to shift back to ventral vagal stabilization. This illustrates how the polyvagal informed paradigm can both reduce the likelihood for performance anxiety as well as better manage it when it manifests.
In order to perform to the limits of our potential within any domain, it is necessary to leverage our biology to support such endeavors. This pursuit inevitably involves exposure to cues of uncertainty and risk across internal, external, and relational pathways. The ability to manage our biology when such shifts occur is a necessary factor in the pursuit of sustainable high performance and forms a key attribute within the Practices of the Healthcare Athlete. To learn more, including about polyvagal informed coaching for healthcare professionals and others in high demand domains, visit www.darindavidson.com.
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REFERENCES
Allison, M. The Play Zone: A Neurophysiological Approach to our Highest Performance. https://theplayzone.com.
Kotler, S. The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. New York: HarperCollins; 2021.