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Inner Critic: The Who and How
The inner critic is a voice in our head that constantly criticizes, belittles, and judges us. It can be a cruel and deeply damaging force, but fortunately, there are numerous effective strategies for weakening its power.
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What is the Inner Critic?
- The inner critic is a voice in our head that constantly criticizes, belittles, and judges us.
- It has many names: inner critic, judge, saboteur, the superego.
- In CBT frameworks, its activities are summed up as automatic negative thoughts (ANTs).
- Its relentless destructive chatter is also described as negative self-talk.
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The Origins of the Inner Critic
- Most psychologists agree that the roots of our inner critics are to be found in childhood.
- Sigmund Freud explained the formation of our superegos as a process during which we internalize external views of ourselves – predominantly those of our parents.
- At the same time, we accept wider social expectations and ethical norms, and start to generate ego ideals – of which we then regularly tend to fall short.
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The Impact of the Inner Critic
- The inner critic can be a cruel and deeply damaging force.
- Its strength and impact determine our overall mental wellbeing.
- The destructive voice in our heads is never satisfied and can soil and spoil anything we may achieve, no matter how impressive.
- It magnifies the negative, spreading discontent and worse in our lives.
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Strategies for Weakening its Power
- One of the first steps is to identify the inner critic and create space to evaluate our thoughts.
- Another strategy is to challenge your inner critic using self-compassion and meditation.
- Adopting an ACT approach can also be powerful: identifying the inner critic, labeling it, observing what it does without judgment, and then letting it go.
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CURATOR'S NOTE
The inner critic is a voice in our head that constantly criticizes, belittles, and judges us. It can be a cruel and deeply damaging force, but fortunately, there are numerous effective strategies for weakening its power.
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