There are a number of symptoms that we can experience when our fight or flight response is triggered. Although this high energy (or nerves or anxiety) can feel like a churning washing machine of symptoms there are actually 3 different ways that these symptoms manifest.
Physiological
The physiological component involves the physical changes that are brought about through activation of the autonomic nervous system. The autonomic nervous system is part of our peripheral nervous system. It is basically the control system for many organs and muscles (eg. digestion, heart rate, respiration). Many of the functions it affects are largely involuntary processes hence they occur below the level of consciousness.
These symptoms tend to rapidly increase right before a performance and are often instrument specific (eg. wind/brass/vocalsists tend to experience a dry mouth, string players finger tremors and pianists sweaty, shaky hands etc.). The interesting thing about this component is that all performers tend to experience the same increase in levels of physiological anxiety from practice to performance regardless of their overall level of anxiety. In other words it does not differentiate between high and low anxious performers.
It’s important to realise that when our fight or flight response is triggered we tend to experience a heightened state of alertness and perception which can lead to more intense sensory experiences. This can actually be really helpful because we may have a greater sensitivity to sound, subtle changes in dynamics etc. but it also means that we can overreact or be adversely affected by what might normally be minor changes in our physical state. So in the course of our everyday life we might have minor changes in heart rate, respiration etc which we don’t even notice. These minor changes can actually take on a major significance in a performance because we basically become supersensitive particularly to those symptoms that can affect our instrument. These normally unnoticeable changes suddenly feel unpleasant and distracting which can lead to an increase in our anxiety or energy levels.
Behavioural
The behavioural symptoms tend to be physical actions that are observable to others. This component includes avoidance techniques which are basically our way of coping when anxiety levels become so high that there is a strong desire to avoid or escape the situation. Avoidance techniques can be obvious or very subtle and include things such as:
Rushing through a performance to get it over and done with as quickly as possible so as to minimise engagement with the situation;
Pulling out of a performance or not turning up on the day;
Mysteriously falling ill on the day of the performance or injuring a finger at netball the night before;
Working on easier, semi-related but unnecessary tasks in practice; and of course, Procrastination, a technique we have all mastered!
We are all pretty good at using avoidance techniques because they do actually reduce our anxiety levels in the short term. But, over the longer term they actually lead to greater anxiety as we can all attest too at 3am in the morning as we madly try to complete an assignment that we have left until the last minute. The panic and stress set in, we are up all night and we don’t do a particularly good job of it! Avoidance techniques can even result in a depressed mood because constantly wimping out of things is not great for our self-respect. So avoiding the situation actually maintains and intensifies our fear.
Cognitive
The cognitive symptoms are not necessarily observable to others and tend to be the most likely to disrupt or impair our performance. This is particularly the case if the performer is thinking quite negatively or is highly concerned about negative evaluation from themself or others.
It is this component that is responsible for:
- Focussing our attention on those phsyiological symptoms that can feel quite uncomfortable;
- Imagined avoidance behaviour where we are creatively plotting (consciously or sub-consciously) and planning as to how we are going to get out of the next performance;
- Maintaining our anxiety through subsequent performances even when things have been going well; and,
- How we perceive our anxiety, i.e. is it helpful (facilitative) or unhelpful (debilitative) to our performance.
Interestingly, it appears that perception of anxiety is far more important than the actual intensity or level of anxiety that a performer experiences. Studies of elite gymnasts have found no differences in anxiety intensity between successful and not so successful performers, however, the better performers viewed the anxiety as being helpful to their performance whilst the not so good performers viewed it as being detrimental to their performance. This is more than just a matter of telling ourselves that anxiety can be beneficial (although it’s a good starting point). It’s likely the better performers knew how to harness that anxiety through various coping strategies.
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