The inner critic on the move: Analysis of the change process in a case of short‐term client‐centred/experiential therapy

Abstract

The term ‘inner critic’ describes the strong inner normative voice with which some people block themselves. In client‐centred/experiential psychotherapy this voice is considered as a process disturbance that interferes with the organismic experiencing of the client. Although various attempts have been made to characterise the way the inner critic appears in therapy, these are mostly based on clinical impressions rather than systematic research. This paper introduces a new model of the phenomenon of the ‘inner critic’ in psychotherapy, structured around five main process clusters: 1.A past history of rejection, restriction and neglect 2.Negative self-schemes 3.Information processing deficits 4.Self-protective behaviours 5.Interpersonal problems. The operation of these factors is illustrated through analysis of a single case which draws on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods to explore aspects of the inner critic within a good outcome case of client‐centred/experiential psychotherapy. The aim of this analysis is to chart the various manifestations of the inner critic and to examine how they gradually evolve during the course of therapy. In a first stage we give a narrative account of each session, including some excerpts from the transcript, along with an analysis of the key themes within each session. The second stage of the analysis offers a summary of the quantitative data that we collected, analysed in terms of longitudinal trends across the case as a whole. Finally, we discuss the limitations of our study, explore the implications for practice and make some suggestions for future research.

Humanistic psychotherapy research 1990–2015: From methodological innovation to evidence-supported treatment outcomes and beyond

“…Intensive case analyses also have been employed to develop a theory of emotional transformation (McNally, Timulak, & Greenberg, 2014), resolution of self-critical processes (Stinckens, Lietaer, & Leijssen, 2002), and successful resolution of health anxiety (Smith, Shoemark, McLeod, & McLeod, 2014) in the context of humanistic therapy treatments. Taken as a whole, findings indicate that, in addition to depression (Elliott et al, 2013), HP approaches such as EFT can initiate healing processes for a range of clinical disorders for which group outcome evidence of treatment effectiveness has yet to be established.…”

The Scars of the Inner Critic: Perfectionism and Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury in Eating Disorders

“…The results of our study clearly indicated that ED patients with NSSI show higher levels of ECP (self-critical style) compared with ED patients without NSSI. In client-centred and experiential therapy, the critical self-talk or the inner self-criticising voice is known as the 'inner critic' (Stinckens, Lietaer & Leijssen, 2002). Therefore, from a phenomenological and psychotherapeutic viewpoint, we may interpret self-injury in ED patients as 'the scars of the inner critic'.…”

What Novice Family Therapists Experience During a Session… A Qualitative Study of Novice Therapists' Inner Conversations During the Session

“…In certain ways, these stern self‐critical remarks seem similar to what is referred to in the literature as the inner critic (e.g., Stinckens, Lietaer, & Leijssen, , ): “The inner critic symbolizes the strict, inner normative voice that interferes with the individual's organismic experiencing process.” (Stinckens et al., , p. 59). The inner critic usually presents itself in a characterizing way: It is not nuanced, stern, and sometimes really devastating.…”