My Therapy Reflections #9 (Part A) - Befriending My Inner Critic

The Dysregulated Podcast

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In the next chapter of My Therapy Reflections, I share a very significant IFS (Internal Family Systems) breakthrough that has reframed how I view some of my darkest moments. When life feels too loud and too bright (which is most of the time), I tend to mentally retreat, like hiding in a tunnel—a cold, dark place that where I sometimes I can sleep for days. But this session revealed something surprising: my internal parts weren’t trying to trap me there like I had thought. They were waiting at the top, encouraging me to come back.

Even my inner critic—the voice I’ve long seen as cruel and as my enemy—was there trying to help. Not to tear me down, but to shield me from a world I’m not built for. This unexpected shift helped me see that every part of me, even the ones I’ve battled with, have been trying to protect me in their own, unique way.

I also uncovered a younger part of myself, frozen at age 15, holding trauma I hadn’t accessed in years. That story continues in Part B. But in this episode, it’s all about beginning to see your inner system not as broken, but as misunderstood. Maybe, like me, you’ll start to feel compassion for the parts of yourself you once feared.

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Chapters

1. Introducing the Therapy Reflection Series (00:00:00)

2. The Reality of Internal Family Systems (00:03:25)

3. The Tunnel: My Mental Hibernation (00:09:11)

4. Meeting My Parts at the Top (00:16:13)

5. The Inner Critic's Surprising Role (00:23:42)

6. Discovering My 15-Year-Old Self (00:34:45)

7. Finding Hope and Moving Forward (00:46:12)