Exploring self-criticism through a CBS lens: Facilitating the journey towards self-acceptance and self-compassion in both clinicians and clients
Self-criticism is a transdiagnostic process at the heart of many mental health problems (Schanche 2013), including social anxiety (Gautreau, et al. 2015), depression, eating disorders (Porter, Zelkowitz and Cole 2018, Williams and Levinson 2022, Zelkowitz and Cole 2019), binge eating, body image concerns (Noordenbos, Aliakbari and R. 2014), hoarding (Chou 2018), self-harm, emotional dysregulation (Zelkowitz and Cole 2019), perfectionism, and suicide probability (O'Neill, et al. 2021). Criticism from others is also a common experience for people who experience marginalization and discrimination because of their gender and sexual orientation (Chen, et al. 2022), and minority status. The life-time experience of criticism from others often results in heightened self-stigma, self-criticism, and experiences of shame that drive mental health problems and need to be explicitly addressed within therapy.
Clinicians are also at risk of heightened self-criticism due to the ambiguous nature of our work, the high standards we set for ourselves and our urgency and desire to help others. Clinicians in training and early career clinicians are particularly vulnerable to heightened self-criticism due to frequent evaluations and uncertainty (Richardson, Trusty and George 2018). Ongoing self-criticism can contribute to professional burnout, stress, mental and physical health problems in professionals, and can result in experienced practitioners leaving the profession.
Both clinician and client can benefit from having a range of strategies to alleviate the impact of self-critical thoughts and generate new, more helpful ways of responding to self-critical thoughts. Furthermore, clinicians in supervisory or training roles are in a position where they can cultivate a more compassionate response to self criticism in the next generation of clinicians. To be effective, these strategies need to accommodate individual differences in information-processing, personal identity, minority status and personal preferences of the individual sitting in front of them, and for themselves. Not everyone is able to visualize or use imagery in exercises, sustain longer mindfulness activities in session, or implement daily mindfulness practices, yet would benefit from developing deeper skills in self-compassion.
This experiential workshop will explore the phenomenology of self criticism through a CBS lens for both clinician, supervisor, and client. Participants will be presented with a thorough conceptualization of self-criticism as an inherent element of language structure and learning that sits within a cultural, social and minority stress context, and contributes to mental health problems and self-stigma. Participants will explore different experiences of self-criticism and the close relationship this can have with shame and avoidance. The function of self-criticism as being both helpful and unhelpful self-criticism will be considered in the context of many people’s reluctance to let go of self-critical patterns.
Across each session, participants will explore different strategies to address the process of self-criticism, drawing from compassion-focused therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy and other behavioral and emotional-regulation approaches to develop a ‘tool-kit’ of options when working with diverse people and communities. In doing so, participants will develop a greater ability to navigate their own self-criticism and offer themselves compassion as a professional.
About Sarah Pegrum, Ph.D.:
Dr. Sarah Pegrum graduated from her combined Master of Psychology (Clinical)/Doctor of Philosophy at Australian Catholic University in 2010. She has gone on to practice in Newfoundland, Canada, specializing in body image and eating disorders. Dr. Pegrum’s practice is integrative and draws heavily from contextual behavioural science. She was introduced to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in 2007, and since that point in time she has attended multiple workshops, trainings and conferences to hone her knowledge and skills. Dr. Pegrum is passionate about training others in ACT, and has been providing workshops, consultation, and supervision since 2013. In 2022 she became a ACBS Peer Reviewed trainer. She is currently the president of the ACBS Atlantic Canada chapter and runs the ACTing with Body Image Facebook group and meetings.
About Jennifer Kemp, MPsych (Clinical):
Jennifer Kemp, BSc(Psych)Hons, MPsych(Clinical), GradDipApplSc(Psychology of Coaching), MAPS, FCCLP. Jennifer Kemp is a privately practicing Clinical Psychologist based in Adelaide who works with older adolescents and adults experiencing perfectionism, eating disorders, body image problems, life-long anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and chronic illness. Most of these clients are neurodivergent. Using a neurodiversity-affirming approach, Jennifer weaves together acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), behaviour therapy and compassion-focused approaches to help her clients improve their mental health, develop self-compassion skills and move towards self-acceptance. Jennifer balances her practice with writing, presenting, and supervision consultations. She is the author of “The ACT Workbook for Perfectionism: Build Your Best (Imperfect) Life Using Powerful Acceptance & Commitment Therapy and Self-Compassion Skills” and a sought-after speaker, trainer, and podcast guest, delivering live workshops and webinars to professionals internationally, including for the Australian Psychological Society, Association for Contextual Behavioral Science (ACBS), and International OCD Foundation (IOCDF) among others.
On completion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
1. Describe contextual factors that underpin the self-criticism for clients and clinicians, including the impact of minority status and discrimination on individual experiences of self-stigma and self-criticism.
2. Explain how self-criticism is a transdiagnostic process at the heart of many mental health and interpersonal difficulties including social anxiety, depression, perfectionism, body-image problems, eating disorders and burnout.
3. Identify unhelpful patterns of responding to self-criticism in self and others, and how this can perpetuate self-critical thinking patterns and interferes with living a valued life through self-reflective and experiential exercises.
4. Describe the process of self-criticism using a clinical behavior analysis framework, applying a functional analysis approach to working with self-criticism in self and clients.
5. Demonstrate alternate responses to self-criticism to facilitate participants’ connection with values as a clinician through role plays, case studies and group discussion.
6. Describe how to make peace with the self-critic by transforming the function of self-criticism, opening the door to greater self-compassion.
7. Identify common challenges and barriers clients experience to self compassion including a reluctance to let go of self-critical patterns and how to respond to this in therapy.
8. Drawing on diverse therapeutic approaches both within CBS and elsewhere, demonstrate several different approaches to working with self-criticism that accommodate individual differences in information-processing, personal identity, minority status and personal preference, and help people respond to self-criticism in ways that help them move towards a valued life.
Target Audience: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Clinical
Components: Conceptual analysis, Experiential exercises, Didactic presentation, Case presentation, Role play
Package Includes: A general certificate of attendance