Severe

Hey y’all. I’m sure this is an extremely common post on this subreddit, but I need to get this off my chest. I have an interview on Tuesday for a position that would be really good for me. Competition was intense, and I’m shocked that I got a call. However, I’ve always had extremely severe interview anxiety. It’s to the point where for a week in advance it’s all I can think of. I’m unable to focus on other tasks that need to be done, and when I try to prepare and practice I get overwhelmed and have to stop. What makes it worse is that it’s a panel interview, which I’ve never experienced before. I know I have all of the skills I need to succeed for the role itself. Hell, I got into a PhD program in the field. But I’ve only passed about 3 interviews in my life, each only 15 minutes. This one will be an hour long, and I feel likes there’s no amount of preparing that will make me feel confident about it. Since I’m graduating from college, everything feels much more intense as I feel like everything’s on the line. What’s so frustrating is that the fear is just about the interview. Whenever I start a new role, I’m fine. I always make a fool out of myself. I’ve had to leave mid interview crying, tear up during the interview and panic saying “i don’t know,” and have frequently cancelled interviews the day of. I’ve tried so hard to improve my interviewing abilities. I took a class on job searching. I research company websites before interviews. I write out questions and answers and practice beforehand. All of that practice flies out of my brain when I’m actually being interviewed. If anyone else with bad anxiety has any tips that have helped them, please let me know.