Source Text 1:

　　A physician starts playing a harsh mental tape in her head every time a new patient calls: What if I make the wrong diagnosis? I’m a terrible doctor. How did I get into medical school? An executive loses his job despite 25 productive years, he tells himself: I’m a loser. I can’t provide for my family, and I’ll never be able to do it again. If these real-life examples sound familiar, you may have a caustic commentary running in your head, too. Psychologists say many of their patients are plagued by a harsh Inner Critic—including some extremely successful people who think it’s the secret to their success.

　　An Inner Critic can indeed roust you out of bed in the morning, get you on the treadmill (literally and figuratively) and spur you to finish that book or symphony or invention. But the desire to achieve can get hijacked by harsh judgment and unrelenting fear. Unrelenting self-criticism often goes hand in hand with anxiety, and it may even predict depression. Self-criticism is also a factor in eating disorders, and body disorder—that is, preoccupation with one’s perceived physical flaws. Many people’s Inner Critic makes an appearance early in life and is such a constant companion that it’s part of their personality. Psychologists say that children, particularly those with a genetic predisposition to depression, may internalize and exaggerate the expectations of parents or peers or society. One theory is that self-criticism is anger turned inward, when sufferers are filled with hostility but too afraid and insecure to let it out. Other theories hold that people who scold themselves are acting out guilt or shame or subconsciously shielding themselves against criticism from others: You can’t tell me anything I don’t already tell myself, even in harsher terms.

　　Techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful in changing patterns of thought that have become painful. There are many patients, such as doctors, lawyers—who believed that if they didn’t flog themselves, they wouldn’t be successful. And part of psychologists’ work is to break through that belief by telling the patients that they usually succeed in spite of their Inner Critics, not because of them. (360 words)

　　【Key words】

　　depression 抑郁癥 cognitive behavioral therapy 認知行為療法