> If you have a fear of speaking in front of an audience, which phobia do youhave?And the answer: Glossophobia. Photo credit: King University Online[https://online.king.edu/news/glossophobia-gone/].A phobia is a fear thatinterferes with someone's daily life. Glossophobia is extreme fear of publicspeaking, and people with this phobia can experience severe physical symptoms,when they even think about being in front of a group of people.If you've ever felt filled with fear at the prospect of public speaking, you'renot alone. An estimated 75% of the population suffers from glossophobia, makingit one of the most prominent phobias around. Phobias are understood to be irrational or disproportionately feared items,activities, or states of being. Many phobias do not pose any actual physicaldanger, yet the body's response to a phobia is often instantaneous and provides consistent feelings of fear. For example, someone with a phobia of driving overbridges (yes, it's a real phobia) wouldn't experience fear, say, only 1 out of10 times they drove over a bridge; rather, their fear response would occur eachtime they encountered one. The degree of fear or anxiety differs widely fromperson to person, and situation to situation – anything from anticipatoryanxiety to a full blown panic attack may occur when presented with a phobia. So what exactly happens physically if you have a phobia? When presented with thesubject of your phobia, your brain sets off warning signals nearly instantly.First, the amygdala recognizes the danger presented by the phobia, and gesturesto the hypothalamus, which triggers your fight or flight response. Meanwhile,the hippocampus takes note of the fear for next time, all the while your heartraces and sweat glands activate. For most people, the prefrontal cortex – therational, uniquely human part of the brain – can calm the amygdala down, but ifyou have a phobia, that process doesn't quite work as effectively. Learn more about phobias below.