Helping Clients to Abandon Pathological Self-Critical Practices

Abstract

In this chapter, a general strategy for helping persons to abandon pathological self-critical practices will be described. At times, the accomplishment of this objective is sufficient by itself for therapy to be terminated. The first domino has been tipped over, setting in motion a series of other positive changes, and therapy may end here with a highly satisfactory outcome. At other times, much attention must be paid to the accomplishment of a second objective, that of helping persons to acquire and to commit themselves to the use of more benign and constructive means of criticizing themselves. The latter will comprise the primary focus of the remainder of the book.

Some problems simply vanish when the attempted solution is correctly interdicted.

Lynn Segal (1991, p. 192)