Let's talk a bit about self-criticism in anxiety and depression. One of the hallmarks of depression is that the person is extremely negative. They're negative about the outside world but also very negative towards themselves.💙

And when people think about self-criticism, they think about the harsh aspects of it, they think about the person saying to themselves how stupid they are, how they'll never succeed, how they're a failure, calling themselves names, you're an idiot, you're a fool, and obviously worse names.💙

But there can be much subtler forms of self-criticism. For example, if you don't rate your opinion very highly, if you don't think other people are going to receive your opinion that it doesn't matter, then that's a form of self-criticism.💙

You're going to avoid bringing up how you feel about things. And then in social situations, you're going to feel anxiety because you're going to be there in the social situation. Other people are going to be interacting, giving their opinions on different things, and you're going to be feeling uncomfortable because you don't value your own opinion.💙

So you don't really want to be sharing it for fear of being criticized. But also, that's a self-criticism. That's a negative self-belief and negative self-talk that your opinion isn't good enough.💙

And then there are examples when you have opportunities and you don't take the opportunities for fear of not doing well, fear of criticism, fear of it not coming out perfect. That, again, is negative self-belief.💙

It's more subtle than the overt harsh criticism. And it's this low-level self-criticism that can be exceptionally damaging. If we feel like we need to blend in, we feel like we're not good enough, then we have anxiety because we think we're going to get found out for not being good enough, for not having valuable opinions.💙

And that can then lead to harsher criticism and the onset of depression. So it might be helpful to try to keep track of your thoughts. Are you doing things that are self-critical, even though they're not overtly attacking you, but they are in a subtle way through not doing things, still having a negative opinion of yourself?💙

And is that generating anxiety because you don't want to be found out?💙