DBT TOOL · ANSWER THE HARSH VOICE

Quiet the Inner Critic

When the voice in your head is meaner to you than you would ever be to anyone else - this is how you answer it with the truth.

Quiet the Inner Critic, defined

Quiet the Inner Critic, defined The inner critic is that harsh voice that narrates your worst moments as if they were the whole truth. Quieting it is not pretending everything is fine. It is catching the voice, naming it as the critic, and answering it with something true and kind - the way you would speak to a friend.

Never a straight line. The critic still shows up - you just believe it a little less each time.

21 DAYS TO REWIRE A THOUGHT.
21 WEEKS TO REWIRE A LIFE.

That harsh voice is not the truth about you. When it starts, catch it. Name it - that is the critic. Then answer with one fair, true thing, and speak to yourself the way you would speak to a good friend who was this worn out. Kindness is not weakness. It is accuracy.
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DBT TOOL · THE MOVES

The moves

Plain and small. Tap any move to open it.

1 · Catch the voice

Notice the harsh voice the moment it starts - you always ruin this, you are not enough.

2 · Name the critic

Say it plainly: that is the critic talking, not the truth and not you.

3 · Answer with truth

Answer it with one true, fair thing - the kind of thing the facts actually support.

4 · Speak as a friend

Say to yourself what you would say to a friend who was this tired and trying this hard.

5 · Step back and tell the difference

The critic sounds just like the truth. Step back and tell them apart - the critic is global and harsh ('always', 'never'); the truth is specific and fair. Use the prompts in the record to tell it apart.

See one full pass
CATCH IT
'You are failing at all of this.'
NAME IT
That is the critic, not the facts.
ANSWER IT
I am tired and I showed up again today. I would tell a friend the same.
DISTRESS
Eased from 8/10 to 4/10.
The voice did not vanish. I stopped taking it as gospel. That is the rep.
DBT TOOL · YOUR TURN

Walk it through

Fill it in the moment, or just after. It works on paper too - no buttons needed.

My Quiet the Inner Critic
What the critic said
Catch the voice
Name the critic
Answer with truth
Speak as a friend
Step back and tell the difference
Truth, or the critic? Step back

The critic sounds just like the truth. Step back and tell them apart - the critic is global and harsh ('always', 'never'); the truth is specific and fair.

Distress before/10
Distress after/10
Say it
Your statement builds itself here as you work down the record.
Recover. Rebuild. Renew. · myMove21.com

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You were made and named on purpose, in love. The critic did not write that. When it gets loud, you get still and remember Whose voice tells the truth about you.

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

Psalm 46:10 · NIV
Why it works

Naming a harsh thought and answering it lets the thinking brain regulate the alarm behind the self-talk - read the research.

A general mechanism, not a guarantee. This supports good care; it does not replace it.