In this post I’d like to change topic (temporarily) from right effort, and return to the idea and the phenomenon of the toxic inner critic. You’ll find links to a some previous, related posts at the end.

My thinking about “the critic” owes much to Pete Walker, particularly through his book Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving. Walker’s presentation of the critic is drawn from the experiences of many people, including himself, who have suffered from complex PTSD (Cptsd). It may therefore be most applicable to those who have Cptsd, whether clinical or sub-clinical, or some other condition with relevant similarities to Cptsd. However, my impression is that most people do experience some form of a toxic inner critic, and so I imagine Walker’s account will have at least some relevance for most everyone.

The ‘inner’ in ‘inner critic’ can be understood in two ways, hence the title of this article. On the one hand, “the critic” is a mental phenomenon, although ‘mental’ must be understood to include powerful emotive and even physical aspects. Being mental, it is thus inner.

At the same time, this mental and in that sense “inner” critic is critical both of oneself, and of others, the world at large, and even the god(s). In this way it has both an inner or inward-aiming dimension, as well as an outer or outward-aiming dimension. Walker calls these the inner critic and the outer critic. Adding to this, the inner dimension subdivides as well, into criticisms aimed directly at oneself, and into thoughts which present the world as fearful and dangerous. Walker refers to these latter as “endangerment attacks.”

The inner critic as a whole — the toxic mental critic or simply “the critic” — thus subdivides into three dimensions:

1. the inner critic, in the narrowest or most specific sense;

2. the endangerment critic;

3. the outer critic.

It’s important to understand that in the context of Cptsd, all three dimensions of the critic are the internalized voice of an abuser (or abusers). In contexts far removed from that of Cptsd, that phrasing would, possibly, be a bit strong. In every case, however, the critic is a collection of unskillful thought functions.(Unskillful: unwholesome, wrong, in a technical sense derived from Buddhist philosophy and having near equivalents in other philosophical schools) This is not to say that all criticisms are unskillful. Rather, skillful critical thoughts would not be considered part of “the critic” in the sense under discussion here, as this idea and phenomenon is that of a toxic or at least unskillful mental critic.

Here are a few examples of critic-type thoughts:

1. Inner critic: “I’m so pathetic.” “I can’t get anything right.” “Why am I so ugly and stupid?”

2. Endangerment critic: “Everyone will hate me if I don’t do ___ right” [and where “right” is typically perfectionistic]. “There isn’t enough time to take care of everything!” [and where the standard is absurdly stringent].

3. Outer critic: “People are such pieces of shit!” “Why doesn’t anyone care about anything?”

(I don’t know if those are the best examples, but they are something. I would love to be able to offer a huge list of actual critic attacks from many different people, categorized and analyzed, although on the other hand it might be very distressing. Maybe some day.)

Of course such thoughts are not simply thought, but are very much felt as well. If they were not felt so strongly, they would be less difficult to identify and counter. Nor are they necessarily word-thoughts, they may be imaginings, such as imaginatively anticipating danger [in an exaggerated or needless way].

Maybe the most important thing from the practical point of view is to notice critic-thoughts and to see them as critic thoughts. It can also be worth noting or reflecting on which type of critic though each is, i.e. inner critic, endangerment critic, or outer critic. (More could be said but this post is not the place.)

A couple more Cptsd-related posts:

Pete Walker’s Four Grieving Processes: Angering, Crying, Verbal Ventilating, and Passively Feeling

Pete Walker’s Five Key Features of Complex PTSD

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SeekerFive creates expressive photographic artwork: a few selections on Etsy at elementalexpressive.etsy.com.

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SeekerFive is gradually collecting and developing resources to aid in philosophical practice and study at philosophicadvising.com.