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Digital Seminar

Forging a Healing Alliance with the Inner Critic

The Protective Purpose of Trauma-Related Parts
Faculty:
Janina Fisher, PhD
Duration:
2 Hours 04 Minutes
Copyright:
21 Mar, 2026
Product Code:
NOS096715
Media Type:
Digital Seminar
Access:
Never expires.
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Description

The inner critic gets a bad rap. Yes, we know negative self-talk is harmful and intrusive self-judgments can result in lifelong guilt, self-loathing, hopelessness, and shame. But the inner critic is also a useful adaptation in a dangerous world. Self-rejection and self-criticism are a way children maintain their attachment to abusive attachment figures. So how do we work effectively with it in therapy, acknowledging its original purpose while undoing its destructive power? In this workshop, you’ll learn to help clients cultivate mindful awareness of the inner critic so they can overcome its familiar, trauma-related thought patterns. You’ll discover powerful strategies for challenging it as a truth teller and understanding it as an anxious, protective, trauma-related part. You’ll learn to help clients:

  • Reframe the inner critic as a childhood protector using practical strategies from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, IFS, and TIST
  • Recognize the signs of trauma-related parts and their internal conflicts
  • Lessen the inner critic’s intimidating power while viewing it as a fellow victim of an abusive environment
  • Transform a client's relationship to their inner critic

This event is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification.

CPD

Faculty

Janina Fisher, PhD's Profile

Janina Fisher, PhD Related seminars and products

Janina Fisher, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist, founder of Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST), advisory board member of the Trauma Research Foundation, and coauthor with Pat Ogden of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: Interventions for Attachment and Trauma and author of Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors: Overcoming Self-Alienation and Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma.

 

Speaker Disclosures:
Financial: Dr. Janina Fisher is an international expert and consultant on Trauma and Dissociation. She is a consultant for Khiron House Clinics and the Massachusetts Department of MH Restraint and Seclusion Initiative. Dr. Fisher receives royalties as a published author. She receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties and book royalties from Psychotherapy Networker and PESI, Inc. Dr. Fisher has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.
Non-financial: Dr. Janina Fisher is on the advisory board for the Trauma Research Foundation. She is a patron of the Bowlby Center.

Additional Info

Access for Self-Study (Non-Interactive)

Access never expires for this product.

For a more detailed outline that includes times or durations of time, if needed, please contact cepesi@pesi.com.


Please Note

This product is not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with the IFS Institute and does not qualify for IFS Institute credits or certification.


Objectives

  1. Describe the adaptive value of self-criticism and self-shame (Terizzi & Shook, 2020)
  2. Identify behavioral effects of internal critical voices or thoughts (Volpato et al, 2022)
  3. Implement mindfulness-based interventions for noticing critical thoughts (Goldberg et al, 2022)
  4. Employ parts interventions for helping clients develop increased self-compassion (Neff, 2022; Lanius et al, 2020)

Outline

Adaptation to unsafe childhood environments

  • Importance of childhood compliance and submission
  • Shame as an adaptive response
  • Self-blame facilitates submission and increases safety

Putting words to traumatic experience

  • How cognitive schemas affect perception of self and other
  • Believing negative thoughts increases safety at the cost of self-esteem
  • Inner criticism’s effects on behavior and relationships

Challenging the inner critic

  • Relating to the inner critic as a protector part
  • Dis-identifying with self-blaming schemas
  • Appreciating how it aided in survival

From compassion for the inner critic to self-compassion

  • Noticing what worries the inner critic as a reflection of the traumatic past
  • Befriending the inner critic as a young part
  • Healing the inner critic with warmth and compassion
  • Risks and limitations of this approach

Target Audience

  • Counsellors
  • Social Workers
  • Psychologists
  • Psychotherapists
  • Therapists
  • Marriage & Family Therapists
  • Addiction Counsellors
  • Case Managers
  • Physicians
  • Nurses
  • Other Mental Health Professionals

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