Have you ever been caught in a spiral of self-criticism? When was the last time your inner critic took over your day?
We all have stories we’ve created about ourselves – some of them positive and some of them negative. If you suffer from low self-esteem, your story may include these types of narratives: “I’m a failure,” “I’ll never be able to do that,” or “if only I were smarter or more attractive, I could be happy.”
Dealing effectively with your inner critic doesn’t happen overnight, but if you learn compassionate, evidence-based and actionable skills to handle all those stories, to relate to them skillfully, you can learn to accept yourself as you are and not as who you wish to be.
Key Takeaways
In this conversation, Dr. Joe Oliver, Ph.D. and I discussed:
- What is self-esteem
- How to handle self-criticism
- Defusion: thanking your mind
- How to notice when you’re entangled with your mind
- How to notice and catch your playing-it-safe moves
- Dealing with the monsters of the negative stories with dignity and respect
Table of Contents
About Dr. Joe Oliver, Ph.D.
Dr. Joe Oliver, Ph.D. is a distinguished Clinical Psychologist, Associate Professor, and Program Director for the University College London Post-Graduate Programme in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) Severe Mental Health Problems. He is the Founder of Contextual Consulting, an organization providing training, supervision, and therapy in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
Joe is also the previous Chair of the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) ACT Special Interest Group, which promotes and develops ACT within the UK, by offering professional development opportunities, grants, and training workshops. In addition, he regularly provides ACT and contextual-cognitive behavioural therapy training, both nationally and internationally.
He is the author and editor of several books introducing groundbreaking approaches to promote patient’s recovery through ACT. He has published numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles, and currently, leads randomized control trials in ACT and mindfulness-based stress reduction interventions.
Resources
- The Mindfulness and Acceptance Workbook for Self-Esteem: Using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to Move Beyond Negative Self-Talk and Embrace Self-Compassion
- Contextual Consulting website: https://contextualconsulting.co.uk/
- Dr. Oliver’s Instagram: @contextualconsulting
- Dr. Oliver’s Twitter: @contextconsult
- Dr. Oliver’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joeoliver-contextualconsulting/
