What kinds of things do you beat yourself up for?

Last night, in my group, someone mentioned a book (forget the title) about dealing with your inner critic. For most people, the inner critic is bad, but for people who are mentally ill, he (or she) can be so bad, he is judge, jury, and executioner (not a metaphor).

One of the techniques this person told us is mentioned in the book is talking back to your critic and denying his judgments. But sometimes this can be very difficult, and the inner critic is so strong, you just have no choice but to label yourself as bad, or a failure, or undeserving, or incompetent (my “favorite”) or whatever.

When your inner critic is at its worst, what is it beating you up for?

Are you able to talk back to it at all?

How do you accept yourself for the things the critic wants to hurt you for?