问答题 A physician starCs playing a harsh mental tape in her head every time a new patient calls: What if I make the wrong diagnosis? I"m a terrible doctor. Haw did I get into medical school? An executive loses his jab despite 25 productive years, he tells himself: I"m a loser. I can"t provide far my family, and I"ll never be able to do it again. If these real-life examples sound familiar, you may have a caustic commentary running in your head, too. Psychologists say many of their patients are plagued by a harsh Inner Critic--including some extremely successful people who think it"s the secret to their success.
An Inner Critic can indeed raust you out of bed in the morning, get you an the treadmill (literally and figuratively) and spur you to finish that book or symphony or invention. But the desire to achieve can get hijacked by harsh judgment and unrelenting fear. Unrelenting self-criticism often goes hand in hand with anxiety, and it may even predict depression. Self-criticism is also a factor in eating disorders, and body disorder—that is, preoccupation with one"s perceived physical flaws. Many people"s Inner Critic makes an appearance early in life and is such a constant companion that it"s part of their personality. Psychologists say that children, parCicularly those with a genetic predisposition to depression, may internalize and exaggerate the expectations of parents or peers or socIety one theory is that selt-criticism is anger turned lnward, when sufferers are filled wlth hostllIty but too atraid and lnsecure to let it out. Other theories hoId that people who scoId themseIves are acting out guilt or shame or subconsciousIy shieIding themseIves against criticism from others: Y0u can"t tell me anything l don"t aIready tell myself, even in harsher terms.
Techniques from cognitive behavioraI therapy can be heIpfuIin changing patterns of thought that have become painful. There are many patients, such as doctors, lawyers—who beIieved that if they didn"t flog themseIves, they wouldn"t be successful. And part of psychologists"work is to break through that belief by telling the patients that they usuaIIy succeed in spite of their inner Critics, not because of them(360 words)
[Key words]
depression 抑郁症 cognitive behavioral therapy 认知行为疗法