Best for inner critic ?

[Boatsetsailrose]

I'm wondering what's the best type of therapy to get for the inner critic work ?

[caroline]

I am so new with all of this, but just had compassion therapy (?) mentioned to me - a quick look on wiki seems to suggest that it might be good for that sort of thing - but hey, i have no idea what it really entails or can do - but it is a term you can look up at least.  Sure someone with more experience/knowledge will be able to help you out.  Good luck x

[SweetFreedom]

I'm newly exploring all this as well, and am not the well versed in various types of therapy, but I've found that having a consistent mindfulness meditation practice of at least 10 min a day to make a really big difference. Not that it eliminates the Inner Critic-- that's the work that takes a while-- but it helps to be aware of it, and not react to it. I feel like I've got a birds eye view of my IC and I find it much easier to note it, possibly even laugh at it, and carry on.

Another big one for me that goes hand in hand with mindfulness is labeling the inner critic when it starts-- saying in my head "there's the inner critic again"-- and labelling my emotional flashback as such so that i"m consciously aware that I'm having it. It makes it easier to stay more objective with it.

Another one I do is the NLP trick of imagining the inner critic as a picture and an internal dialogue in my head, and then pushing that picture further away in space, say 50 feet away or more, in my minds eye so that it's just a little picture waaaaay over there. I do the same thing with the voice where I imagine the sound of the critic getting quieter and quieter as it moves away. Sometimes I imagine that his voice becomes high pitched like mickey mouse as he moves away too. As strange as that sounds, it really works well.

I find it's also helpful to remember that the Inner/Outer Critic IS NOT YOU. It's not your voice, even thought it seems like it. It's YOUR CAREGIVERS toxic shame that you have internalized. For me, that's an important piece to remember. It's my parents talking in my head.

I have yet to try hypnotherapy for it, but that may be worth a shot as well. And exercise seems to reeeallly help keep my mood and internal dialogue in check too.

Hope that helps a bit. Best of luck. Please let us know if you find something really effective for you!

[Ren]

"Conquer your Critical Inner Voice"  Robert Firestone has been recommended.