Performance Anxiety Disorders

Words: 365
Pages: 2

Performance anxiety occurs in musicians not because of a lack of practice or incompetence, but because of underlying psychological issues. In a self-help article for music students at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, performance anxiety is defined as a cognitive distortion. As stated in the formerly mentioned self-help article Coping With Music Performance Anxiety, “Cognitive distortions are logical, but they are not rational. They can create real difficulty with your thinking.” This statement may seem confusing at first, but as one begins to ponder what the difference between logic and rationality is, it becomes perfectly clear. When something is logical it is based fully on a sequence of events to get from a specific problem or starting