The inner critic or critical inner voice is a concept used in popular psychology and psychotherapy to refer to a subpersonality that judges and demeans a person. [1]
A concept similar in many ways to the Freudian superego as inhibiting censor, [2] or the Jungian active imagination, [3] the inner critic is usually experienced as an inner voice attacking a person, saying that they are bad, wrong, inadequate, worthless, guilty, and so on.
The inner critic often produces feelings of shame, deficiency, low self-esteem, and depression. [4][ page needed] It may also cause self-doubt and undermine self-confidence. It is common for people to have a harsh inner critic that is debilitating. [5]
Neville Symington suggested that such a severely critical inner object is especially noticeable in narcissism. [6]
Jay Earley and Bonnie Weiss have labeled seven types of inner critics—the perfectionist, the taskmaster, the inner controller, the guilt tripper, the destroyer, the underminer, and the molder. [7]
A number of self-help books deal with the inner critic, though some use other terms to denote it, such as "the judge" or "the gremlin". There are two main approaches to working with the inner critic:
Some psychotherapists suggest that either of these two approaches may be appropriate depending on how the inner critic manifests. If the inner critic is intense and stubborn, a friendly approach of valorizing the inner critic's concerns could be helpful; if the inner critic is mild, it may be more appropriate to gently ignore it and make contact with "suppressed organismic experience". [16]
Robert W. Firestone and Lisa Firestone, in their book Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, [9] discuss how the inner voice often seems to protect a person from being hurt or feeling abandoned when in reality it reinforces feelings of shame and guilt, sabotages intimate relationships, and leads to self-destructive behaviors. Their book presents a method for externalizing the critical inner voice in order to turn self-criticisms into statements that can be evaluated objectively. [17]
Meditation or mindfulness practice is considered one effective strategy for dealing with the negative effects of critical thoughts. [18] [19] [20]
The Inner Critic is roughly synonymous with the Freudian superego (Freud, 1923/1949a) ['The ego and the id']. However, there are important differences. Freud (1914/1949b) ['On narcissism: an introduction'] saw the superego as composed of two parts: the ego ideal, which sets standards, and the conscience, which punishes the person for not meeting those standards. AT's [anthetic therapy] concept of the Inner Critic is similar: The 'shoulds' are the standards (ego ideal), which are imposed by the Inner Critic (the punitive conscience).
There are, indeed, not a few people who are well aware that they possess a sort of inner critic or judge who immediately comments on everything they say or do. Insane people hear this voice directly as auditory hallucinations. But normal people too, if their inner life is fairly well developed, are able to reproduce this inaudible voice without difficulty, though as it is notoriously irritating and refactory it is almost always repressed.
Instead, consider beginning to honor the resistance, consider getting to know the critic. The critic holds very valuable information.
I'm just a small, scared person trying to make good art in the world. Perhaps I'm not so different from this even smaller, infinitely more scared creature trying to keep me safe. So take whatever input that creature gives you, acknowledge it, and then make the choices that genuinely nourish you without fear of punishment or guilt.
The research demonstrated that a variety of strategies was used to encourage the inner critic into motion. A flexible approach, tailored to the nature and intensity of the inner critic, appeared to offer the best chance of success. A critic-friendly approach that is attuning to the critic's feelings and concerns and valorizing these appeared to be more beneficial when the critic manifested itself in a stubborn and intensive way. Where the critic presented a milder manifestation the critic could be more easily set aside at a distance or contact could be made with the suppressed organismic experience. Maintaining a uniform approach to the problem without any regard to the way in which the critic was gradually being expressed, appeared to delay the therapy process or even, in certain cases, to be counter-therapeutic, particularly where the critic was quite intense.
The inner critic or critical inner voice is a concept used in popular psychology and psychotherapy to refer to a subpersonality that judges and demeans a person. [1]
A concept similar in many ways to the Freudian superego as inhibiting censor, [2] or the Jungian active imagination, [3] the inner critic is usually experienced as an inner voice attacking a person, saying that they are bad, wrong, inadequate, worthless, guilty, and so on.
The inner critic often produces feelings of shame, deficiency, low self-esteem, and depression. [4][ page needed] It may also cause self-doubt and undermine self-confidence. It is common for people to have a harsh inner critic that is debilitating. [5]
Neville Symington suggested that such a severely critical inner object is especially noticeable in narcissism. [6]
Jay Earley and Bonnie Weiss have labeled seven types of inner critics—the perfectionist, the taskmaster, the inner controller, the guilt tripper, the destroyer, the underminer, and the molder. [7]
A number of self-help books deal with the inner critic, though some use other terms to denote it, such as "the judge" or "the gremlin". There are two main approaches to working with the inner critic:
Some psychotherapists suggest that either of these two approaches may be appropriate depending on how the inner critic manifests. If the inner critic is intense and stubborn, a friendly approach of valorizing the inner critic's concerns could be helpful; if the inner critic is mild, it may be more appropriate to gently ignore it and make contact with "suppressed organismic experience". [16]
Robert W. Firestone and Lisa Firestone, in their book Conquer Your Critical Inner Voice, [9] discuss how the inner voice often seems to protect a person from being hurt or feeling abandoned when in reality it reinforces feelings of shame and guilt, sabotages intimate relationships, and leads to self-destructive behaviors. Their book presents a method for externalizing the critical inner voice in order to turn self-criticisms into statements that can be evaluated objectively. [17]
Meditation or mindfulness practice is considered one effective strategy for dealing with the negative effects of critical thoughts. [18] [19] [20]
The Inner Critic is roughly synonymous with the Freudian superego (Freud, 1923/1949a) ['The ego and the id']. However, there are important differences. Freud (1914/1949b) ['On narcissism: an introduction'] saw the superego as composed of two parts: the ego ideal, which sets standards, and the conscience, which punishes the person for not meeting those standards. AT's [anthetic therapy] concept of the Inner Critic is similar: The 'shoulds' are the standards (ego ideal), which are imposed by the Inner Critic (the punitive conscience).
There are, indeed, not a few people who are well aware that they possess a sort of inner critic or judge who immediately comments on everything they say or do. Insane people hear this voice directly as auditory hallucinations. But normal people too, if their inner life is fairly well developed, are able to reproduce this inaudible voice without difficulty, though as it is notoriously irritating and refactory it is almost always repressed.
Instead, consider beginning to honor the resistance, consider getting to know the critic. The critic holds very valuable information.
I'm just a small, scared person trying to make good art in the world. Perhaps I'm not so different from this even smaller, infinitely more scared creature trying to keep me safe. So take whatever input that creature gives you, acknowledge it, and then make the choices that genuinely nourish you without fear of punishment or guilt.
The research demonstrated that a variety of strategies was used to encourage the inner critic into motion. A flexible approach, tailored to the nature and intensity of the inner critic, appeared to offer the best chance of success. A critic-friendly approach that is attuning to the critic's feelings and concerns and valorizing these appeared to be more beneficial when the critic manifested itself in a stubborn and intensive way. Where the critic presented a milder manifestation the critic could be more easily set aside at a distance or contact could be made with the suppressed organismic experience. Maintaining a uniform approach to the problem without any regard to the way in which the critic was gradually being expressed, appeared to delay the therapy process or even, in certain cases, to be counter-therapeutic, particularly where the critic was quite intense.