63: The Mailbox: My Inner Critic Is Called Dick

Welcome to another episode of The Good Mood Clinic Podcast!

Join us as we discuss a listener's email about her inner critic to whom she has given the name 'Dick'.  A listener, whom we refer to as 'Mia' has sent us  a detailed email about her inner critic.  'Dick' the critic, says all sorts of nasty and punitive things to Mia, but sometimes Mia feels that he actually protects her.  How can this be? Does her critic actually protect her from something?  Could it have a protective role and if so does that make it something else? 

In this episode, Gemma and Justine take a very deep dive into the concept of the inner critic and related modes in schema therapy.  

• How can we define the inner critic
• Where does the inner critic come from
• What are modes in schema therapy
• Could 'Dick' actually be a coping mode instead of a critic?
• Why is it useful to pull apart the messages a critic says to us
• What had Ronald Fairbairn's "Moral Defense" have to do with it all? 
• What is the Flagellating Over-Controller Mode in schema therapy & what is its function?
• We mention that this defence mechanism is also relevant for schema chemistry and why some people tend to blame themselves for bad treatment. 
• We hope we have given Mia a few potential hypotheses to think about with her own therapist.