As a speaker and presenter, and as a public-speaking coach, I find psychology among the most useful tools for understanding audiences, how groups work, and how I interact with them.  Now two women, a psychologist and a psychoanalyst, have shared their own public speaking fears--and the lessons they've gleaned from them.

Harriet Lerner, Ph.D., author of The Dance of Connection: How to Talk to Someone When You're Mad, Hurt, Scared, Frustrated, Insulted, Betrayed, or Desperate,writes in...