Performance and social anxiety originate with negative self-beliefs and images, mostly unconscious and internalised earlier in life. These inner beliefs can activate negative thoughts, affecting performance in social, work or sporting settings. This may develop into a downward spiral which at its worse leads to an avoidance or cessation of the activity. Identifying how these dynamics develop and are played out for the individual can help to expose and unravel them.

Performance in front of any audience requires the capacity to focus on performance above all else. That is how a tennis player can hit an ace travelling at 130 mph or an actor can temporarily adopt another personality to suit the demand of their script. The problem arises when your focus is hijacked by anxiety. This triggering leads to the perception of imminent threat, mental and physical hyper activation, muscle tensing, reflexive freezing and the impulse to escape. This is usually the cause of most performance anxiety and inhibition as well as inexplicable inabilities to perform tasks that would ordinarily be simple.

Using the CBT principles of solution focused work and motivational techniques can enhance and improve your performance in any area of life, increasing motivation, confidence and ultimately helping you to achieve desired goals and aspirations.

EMDR can be used to enhance performance in most areas of life. Therefore if you would like to improve performance in the work arena, in your sporting endeavours or to be more comfortable in social and interpersonal settings, EMDR can help you achieve this. You can allow yourself to expect more.