Self-criticism: what is it, how does it manifest itself and how to get rid of self-criticism?

Healthy self-criticism is essential for everyone. It helps people move towards achieving their goals. Excessive search and endless analysis of one's own shortcomings and mistakes lead to excessive self-criticism.

Self-criticism is understood as identification of their own mistakes, analysis and assessment of the negative aspects of their own actions, their thinking and behavior. Self-criticism in psychology is a reflexive attitude of a person to himself, an increased exactingness to his own person and an irreconcilable attitude towards his mistakes (they are constantly being searched for), taking measures to eradicate them. In simple terms, this means that self-criticism is associated with self-esteem, and self-criticism is a character trait.

An adequate perception of oneself, one's positive and negative traits is called healthy self-criticism. A critical attitude towards oneself indicates a person's mental health. Too low a level of self-criticism is associated with too much high self-esteem, because of which a person is not able to admit his mistakes. He shies away from responsibility, sees exclusivity in himself, considering himself the best.

Decreased self-esteem leads to excessive self-criticism, in which there is a loss of self-confidence. Excessive self-criticism means that the individual has some mental deviations. Such a person blames himself for all the troubles. He considers himself an unworthy person.

Psychologists identify a number of signs of too self-critical people.

1. Instead of analyzing his mistakes, a person evaluates and criticizes himself as a person. At the same time, self-esteem is greatly reduced, there is a likelihood of increased errors in the future.
2. Self-critical people, out of fear of failure, avoid risks when making decisions.
3. A person prone to excessive self-criticism is afraid to openly express his opinion, since he believes that such unqualified and unauthorized reasoning does not deserve attention.
4. The self-critical person is focused on his faults. The results of the actions performed always do not suit him, since he necessarily reveals flaws, which once again convince him of the inability to do something well.
5. The constant scrolling of negative scenarios in the head, the expectation of personal failure lead to increased anxiety.
6. Insisting on one's desires and asking for help is impossible due to the fear of rejection. In addition, a self-critical person is afraid to appear weak and inept in his own eyes.

On the one hand, the assessment of one's own actions allows a person to discern and correct personal shortcomings. On the other hand, excessive self-criticism leads to undesirable consequences.

A person capable of introspection can admit his own mistakes and find a compromise solution with others. Adequate healthy self-esteem has several benefits:

• the individual's understanding of the inefficiency or effectiveness of his actions;
• getting additional motivation;
• setting new goals, developing a plan to achieve them;
• adequate analysis of their activities;
• the ability to correct their own actions;
• the ability to draw the right conclusions;
• getting rid of excessive self-confidence;
• the formation of respect for other individuals;
• demonstration of the ability to admit their mistakes and shortcomings;
• the ability to eliminate problems and errors;
• the opportunity to get better and better.

Increased self-criticism suppresses the initiative and independence of the individual. A person becomes convinced that nothing will work out anyway. The emergence of fears kills the desire to try to do something again. Feelings of guilt and shame are born. Self-esteem drops dramatically.

All this can result in mental disorders, neuroses and depression. The lack of adequate self-criticism leads to self-examination and self-criticism. This condition is facilitated by the following reasons:

• contradictory feelings and motives, lack of a clear understanding of one's desires, conflict and disagreements with oneself, which often lead to the fact that self-criticism becomes a way of life;
• the inability to determine one's own life guidelines, reliance on other people's beliefs, principles, value system invariably lead to excessive self-criticism;
• the absence of personal boundaries, a lack of understanding of one's own responsibility and the guilt of other people, the inability to exercise control over the situation lead to attributing all difficulties, failures and problems to one's own account.

A sign of objective criticism is the availability of accurate information and an assessment of some data.. Subjective criticism based on a single fact.An objective interpretation of information goes something like this: an individual underestimates his abilities, but after sensibly analyzing the events, he realizes that his career is going quite well, he motivates his colleagues to move up the career ladder, family life also brings him a lot of joy and happiness. Consequently, his attitude of worthlessness was provoked by someone's subjective criticism. Excessive parental exactingness, undeserved punishment, humiliation of children give rise to excessive criticism and set the mind on worthlessness.

Subjective criticism is based on the assessment of one trait. It is based on the feelings and emotions of a particular person. Subjective opinion can be imposed by society or any person from the environment. Assessment of their own actions occurs depending on the value system, personal beliefs and beliefs. An overestimated or underestimated self-esteem will correspond to a certain self-criticism.

Excessive self-criticism consists of focusing on their own shortcomings without accepting their merits... A person simply does not notice good qualities in himself. He is focused on flaws and is confident that he does not deserve the benefits of life. This opinion is often not true.

Excessive self-criticism prevents an individual from looking at circumstances from the outside and finding suitable prospects for himself. A person immersed in inner experiences is focused on his negative features and does not notice the events taking place around him.

Self-critical people tend to subject all their actions to a rigorous assessment, endlessly look for flaws in themselves. The established stable behavior of looking for one's own mistakes deprives the person of a happy self-awareness. In all his actions, a person sees insignificance and insignificance. He refuses new opportunities, does not attempt to achieve the desired result. Fears and doubts do not allow the personality to reveal itself, to be realized in due measure.

A person with overestimated self-criticism constantly thinks that the problems remaining in the past are returning. He comprehends them again and emotionally experiences them. The systematic return of thoughts to past events erodes a person from the inside. Analysis of past actions should lead the person to learn positive lessons, and not to self-criticism.

An individual engaging in constant self-criticism sees the world in a dark color. Self-doubt builds up the atmosphere, a person ceases to notice his own merits, does not see any prospects and does not understand how to fix the situation. He does not even strive to work on himself.

Too much self-criticism leads to excessive distrust. A person who possesses such a quality is not able to open his soul to people, gradually fencing himself off from them. Suspiciousness deprives him of the opportunity to acquire personal happiness.

The ability to perceive the world positively restores mental balance, contributes to the acquisition of additional opportunities. Some ways of working on your own consciousness help to get rid of harsh self-criticism.

• Taking responsibility is manifested in the ability to hold accountable for your actions in front of the mind and heart.... Always remember that any action you take is carried out in accordance with your choice, so never blame others for negative consequences. Take responsibility for everything that happens.
• Analysis of feelings helps a lot in the fight against self-criticism. Control yourself, do not listen too much to the opinions of others. Don't submit to your anxious thoughts, don't question your own strengths. Self-criticism always needs correction. Inner freedom is gained by calming violent emotions through the analysis of feelings.
• The "piggy bank" of one's own success raises self-esteem to the required level. Record all successfully completed cases in a notebook. Shift your focus from your weaknesses to your strengths. Get rid of the habit of regularly berating yourself for any reason. Accumulate your achievements, gradually come closer to understanding your individual value. Recognize your successes, praise yourself.
• A characterization by an independent person helps to get rid of negative thinking. Ask someone you know to write down all your strengths, weaknesses, strengths and weaknesses on a piece of paper.
• Parallels between yourself and other people are meaningless.... Stop comparing yourself to others. All people have different abilities and abilities. Accept your own characteristics and use them to your advantage, focus only on yourself. Each person has his own character and temperament. It is impossible to force a choleric person to perform monotonous work and it is pointless to accuse the phlegmatic person of being slow.
• It is necessary to listen to the opinions of others, but you should not live by other people's thoughts. Try to find your own view of things and events. Try to find individuality and inner harmony. This is a good way to get rid of self-criticism.
• Doing what you love restores mental balance, instills in a person inspiration and a desire to act, to overcome various obstacles on the way to the implementation of the planned actions. Engage in creativity or sports, build your own business, raise children. Favorite work helps to reveal strengths, to demonstrate them to others. This gets rid of oppressive thoughts and contributes to the acquisition of inner freedom.