Dyslexics affected twice by fear of failure!

Fear of failure is many times a direct consequence of dyslexia.

fear-of-failure-dyslexics-dyslexia-work-presentationWhat many people do not know is that fear of failure blocks the brain in its operation and thus worsens the dyslexia itself considerably. Sometimes it is even so that 50% to 75% of the problems that have dyslexics with language, is caused by the fear of failure. This has to do with their different way of thinking. Once dyslexics are under severe stress or anxiety during an exam, presentation or job interview, when following a new training or having to write a report or assignment, the language in their brain is shut off!

Fear of failure leads to reduced self-confidence and is often the cause of dyslexics in performing worse than they really can and frequently well below their level of intelligence in work or study.

You can learn to cope with fear of failure, you can reduce it. In doing so the immediate consequence is that the symptoms of dyslexia are reduced. The dyslexia will not disappear, but it becomes more manageable. When the fear of failure is reduced, it is easier to develop your own way of working and as a result the burden of dyslexia will diminish further.

Fear of failure can express itself in many different ways:

  • suffering from undermining and negative thoughts and feelings;
  • a strong tendency towards perfectionism;
  • a great urge to prove yourself or preparing yourself five times better than is required;
  • being completely stressed out before an examination, assessment or test;
  • taking work at home to check it once more for errors;
  • delaying or avoiding certain activities completely;
  • being tense, dreading things, getting all hot and sweaty;
  • therefore forgetting what you have done, what has been asked of you or what you have said yourself;
  • not speaking at meetings for fear of committing a blunder;
  • fear of being exposed as incompetent, that your colleagues see that you cannot do it;
  • having a blackout when you are faced with a difficult task for you;
  • rejecting a promotion because you are afraid of not living up to it.

Causes of fear of failure

Fear of failure is inevitable if you have dyslexia. Even at primary school dyslexics notice that they are different from the rest of their classmates. They are worse at language and information processing than other children. This then often leads to poor self-confidence.

That is worsened when dyslexics undergo explicitly negative experience at school: teachers who made a fool of the dyslexic child, or labelled them as lazy or stupid and so denied all the other qualities of the dyslexic child. So whenever you are confronted with similar situations as an adult, this old unconscious pain is triggered again. This is experienced as fear, tension in the body and a high degree of stress.

The result is that you cannot find words for what you want to say, or you cannot read what is there any more or you become blocked when you have to write.

It is also regularly the case that the origin of the fear of failure has nothing to do with the dyslexia at all, but rather arose from a traumatic experience as a child in your family. The stress and tension that result from that also may mean that the processing of language becomes blocked and the dyslexia worsens.

Dyslexia the cause of fear of failure!?

This Italian film of Giovanni Sabattini and produced by Vittorio Melotti shows what problems children with dyslexia can have at school and they definitely cause fear of failure:

 

More films on our own YouTube Channel.