[moonkid]

I have been having some kind of abusive thoughts towards myself lately.
In a way that I say bad things to myself inside my head.
It's a strange experience because these thoughts just appear in my head and it's like whispers that are said to me inside my head, not like I say or think these things.
I cannot properly explain this, it's not like I'm "hearing voices" but I do not feel like these are my own thoughts either. In a way I tell myself inside my head what I think other people might think of me?
It's a theory. I don't know.
I don't know what this is and it just feels weird.

Google "Inner-Critic" and read some of the links that come up.

You can also click on "home" in upper left corner here at PC and type "Inner-Critic" in the search engine there and many articles will come up about it.

Hope that helps explain things.

Sincerely,
Pflower



PS ... I've found that challenging mine helps reduce its frequency and intensity.

[hobo2000]

I experience the same thing except the thoughts are mostly muted into whispers or negative feelings I believe are coming from others to protect myself from any possible harm I could encounter from others. I think we are just channeling our Anxiety and lack of social skills into different ways and it manifests as these "voices" of ourselves trying to protect ourselves from harm or embarrassment. Maybe you are trying too hard to be someone you are not or you are afraid to face something and it is making you hear those voices. Maybe if you tried being more true to your self the voices will stop.

I hope you feel better soon.

[Teddy Bear]

I used to have a conversation with myself. Try to change the topic.

We all have that inner-voice, the one that runs a commentary on ourselves and actions. My own actually is the voice of my mother - who was a very big critic and bully in my life. Hence, my inner-voice is extremely critical. It reflects those messages I tended to receive during my formative years. I am guessing that you received the same.

This voice is not the same as the voices one hears when delusional or schizophrenic. I understand those are more 'separate' or disjointed.

In CBT I learned to call these critical ideas and 'phrases' from my inner voice are automatic negative thoughts. The therapy doesn't mean you no longer have these thoughts; rather, it gives you the skill to challenge them and consider there may be alternative positive thoughts instead. Interestingly, while the negative thoughts are in the tone of my mother's voice the positive thoughts (that more and more often champion over the negative) are in my own.

[MickeyCheeky]

I've never experienced such a thing, do you have a doctor? Maybe you can try to ask, although people have given you some good suggestions here as well

Originally Posted by MickeyCheeky

I've never experienced such a thing, do you have a doctor? Maybe you can try to ask, although people have given you some good suggestions here as well

I think what the OP is referring to is the voice of conscious. It is that voice most of us have that weighs out our decisions. ie. I should or shouldn't do such-in-such. For some, this voice is more critical. It's not a delusional thing. It is normal. It is when it gets more negative (I am this, I am that, I shouldn't do this, I will fail, I am a loser, etc) that therapy helps to challenge it.

[Open Eyes]

It's good that you are recognizing this challenge. Write down all these critical thoughts you experience. Work on figuring out where they come from as often these thoughts evolve from the things others say to us, yet, these things are really about the failures of others and "not" ourselves.

Here is an example of how we imprint things "unknowingly" from an early age.

I taught very young children how to ride. I had ponies that I trained to be really good with very young children. One of the students I had presented me with a challenge I had not had before. This student would request that we stop so she could "rest". She did this a lot with me. I had to work at helping her prolong her ability to stay engaged.
Her mother told me that she tended to be lazy and not very athletic. Yet, she actually "was" athletic until she had to stop and "rest" in this strange ritual she had. Come to find out that when she was very little her mother was fighting breast cancer and it was her mother who would engage with her and need to "stop" and rest. Her mother must have constantly said to her, "Not now, mommy needs to rest a bit" and also looked tired and sigh which is another thing this little girl did. What this little girl did not know, what even her own mother did not realize is that this little girl "imprinted" this behavior pattern.

I had a therapist that struggled with depression and he insisted this was hereditary because his mother also struggled with it. As time went by I began to notice that any time my conversation was about my mother or me mothering, he would literally transform in front of my eyes to where his eyes would literally change into droopy sleepy eyes. My therapist had no idea he was doing this either.

We, as human beings begin learning things at very young ages before we have any sense of anything around us. This predisposes us to forming an inner critic that can affect us in ways we honestly do not know.

So, writing down these things you hear in your mind is a good place to start so you can trace them and begin to work on dismissing them as "spam in your mind" that you were somehow encouraged to think unknowingly. Often how we "treat" and "feel about ourselves" is something we were taught to do "unknowingly".

[Unrigged64072835]

I call it negative self-talk. It can also be an inner critic. I have a few thanks to my abusive father. I'm still working on quelling them, but by countering them and providing positive responses (or ignoring them and doing something else) I'm making progress.