Self-Criticism: Conceptualization, Assessment and Interventions

Abstract

Self-criticism, considered as a transdiagnostic concept in the emergence of various psychopathologies, is considered as negative evaluations directed towards oneself especially in perceived failure situations. In literature various views regarding self-criticism, suggesting it as a personality trait, a style of relating to oneself, a coping response to various situations, or a safety strategy developed to restrain negative experiences, exist. In this regard, various researchers have conceptualized self-criticism with different dimensions and structures, leading to the development of various measurement tools. Findings obtained from these scales indicate that self-criticism is a risk factor for psychopathology and a factor that affects individuals to experience difficult emotions and their engagement in various challenging behaviors such as perfectionism and emotional eating. For this reason, several interventions aimed at reducing individuals' levels of self-criticism have been conducted in the literature. In this study the scales developed based on different conceptualizations of self-criticism were introduced, the effects of self-criticism on individuals were presented by compiling results of studies in which the relationships between self-criticism and various variables were examined and finally the results of intervention studies based on Cognitive Therapy, Emotion-Focused Therapy, and Compassion-Focused Therapy were summarized. It is believed that providing comprehensive theoretical and empirical knowledge related to self-criticism will contribute to future studies in the field.