Your Inner Critic Makes Depression Worse
That inner critic. Yikes.
Where do we even begin when talking about the Inner Critic?
Everyone (that I know of) has some version of an Inner Critic.
Most people have a part of us that we refer to as our Inner Critic. It’s the part of us that tends to be a little bit…well critical. Alright, let’s be real, it’s often way more than a “little” bit critical.
The Inner Critic is the part that constantly puts you down. It’s the voice that says:
“you’ll never be good enough, so why try,”
“you’re an adult, you should be handling this better,” or
“you’re going to fail anyway so you might as well give up now.”
The Inner Critic often tends to be loud and difficult to ignore.
Believe it or not, your Inner Critic isn’t trying to hurt you.
Inner Critics usually get a pretty bad reputation because to be frank, they’re pretty fuckin mean!
Even though, it doesn’t seem like it, your Inner Critic is actually trying to keep you safe and protected. It keeps you safe by being SO mean that you never want to venture out of your comfort zone.
As long as you keep doing the things you’ve always done, your Inner Critic thinks that you’ll stay safe. So it says whatever it needs to say to make you give up and play small in your life.
Your Inner Critic can keep you stuck.
When your Inner Critic is so mean that you feel like giving up, you start to feel stuck. You stop thinking about things you want for your life and stop working towards your goals because your Inner Critic has already convinced you that you’ll never have it anyway.
Your Inner Critic can make you quit before you start.
The louder your Inner Critic is the more likely you are to give up. When you start giving up, you lose your sense of autonomy and belief in your own capabilities. When this happens, hopelessness and helplessness get even more intense.
Your Inner Critic can amplify your depression symptoms.
Your Inner Critic may not be the cause of your depression, but it sure isn’t helping you get out of it!
The Inner Critic can exacerbate many of the most common symptoms of depression:
Depressed mood, feeling sad, empty, or hopeless (easy to lose hope when your Inner Critic tells you what you want isn’t possible or that you’ll never be good enough to get it).
Loss of interest or pleasure in most activities (hard to enjoy things when your Inner Critic shows up and tells you that “you should be being productive right now” or “you should be doing better”).
Feelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt (it’s hard to find value in yourself or view yourself as worthy, when there is a never ending voice telling you that you’re not).
Difficulty concentrating (hard to concentrate when your Inner Critic is constantly in your ear putting you down).
Recurrent thoughts of death (sometimes the Inner Critic can be so harsh, that people dream of finding an escape).
Your Inner Critic Isn’t the Only Voice.
Your Inner Critic may be the loudest voice in your inner world, but it’s not the only one there. Somewhere beneath it you are there, the real you. When the real you steps forward, the Inner Critic can shift into a different role. That part can learn to support you without the intense criticism.
How Therapy Can Help Depression (and the Inner Critic).
Depression Treatment can help you start to understand your Inner Critic at a deeper level. You’ll have an opportunity to learn more about that part and why it does what it does. Therapy can also help you set boundaries with your Inner Critic and teach it to talk to you differently. If you have questions about treatment for depression or would like to book a session with me, please use the Contact Me button below.
