That voice in your head is not the truth of who you are.
Dr. Christine Sparacino
Psychoanalytic Psychologist
I offer weekly and biweekly virtual sessions for adults of all ages in individual therapy, coaching & groups.
The cost is $230 per therapy session without insurance (along with a receipt for out-of-network reimbursement). Aetna and Blue Cross accepted for Arizona residents.
Let's begin with a free 15-minute consultation to discuss how we might work together. This initial conversation provides an opportunity for us to explore your goals for therapy and see if our approach aligns with what you're seeking.
Do you constantly criticize yourself and focus on your flaws? Do you doubt your decisions and underestimate your accomplishments, even when others recognize them? Do you speak to yourself in a way you would never speak to someone you love?
That running commentary is often called the inner critic. Everyone has some version of it, but for many people it becomes the loudest voice in the room: judging, comparing, and keeping score. Over time, it wears down your self-esteem, your relationships, and your mood.
The inner critic functions to protect us from potential rejection. It is the voice of fear, and its messages don't just keep us safe, they keep us small: avoiding opportunities and second-guessing ourselves. Instead of silencing the inner critic, we can learn to use its critiques to our advantage.
From a psychoanalytic perspective, the inner critic isn't random. It's a voice you learned somewhere, often early in life, from experiences and relationships that taught you what you had to be in order to be acceptable. Which is good news, in a way. A voice that was learned can be understood, and a voice that is understood begins to lose its authority.
Self-esteem is your sense of self-worth and self-acceptance, and it's an essential component of overall wellbeing. When the inner critic runs unchecked, it chips away at that foundation. Persistent self-criticism is closely linked with anxiety, depression, and eating disorders, and it can create a negative cycle: harsh thoughts lower your mood, and a lowered mood makes the harsh thoughts more believable.
Sometimes it shows up as a mood shift you can't quite name. You don't feel like your normal self. You feel disconnected from friends and loved ones, or the things you used to enjoy have gone flat.
When individuals have a healthy level of self-esteem, they tend to have a more positive outlook on life, experience greater life satisfaction, and have a stronger sense of purpose. Healthy self-esteem supports emotional regulation, enhances self-compassion, and gives you a solid foundation for handling life's ups and downs.
Psychotherapy can be instrumental in quieting the inner critic by addressing its underlying sources, fostering self-awareness, and providing tools to challenge the negative beliefs it repeats.
It is normal to have an inner critic, and therapy helps by providing a safe space to bring awareness to its lies. Working together, we can identify the fears and doubts keeping you small and learn how to use self-compassion to respond to the inner critic's attacks. Therapy can help you see yourself as you truly are, not as the inner critic would have you believe.
Together, we will explore where your inner critic came from: past experiences, childhood influences, and the negative self-beliefs they left behind. Once you understand where these beliefs about yourself originated, you can begin to challenge them. And as you challenge them, you'll experience them shift and reshape into a more accurate picture of who you truly are.
The goal isn't to silence self-reflection. It's to replace a punishing voice with an honest one, so you can feel like yourself again, only better.
Online therapy eliminates barriers related to location, mobility, or transportation. Individuals can access therapy sessions from the comfort of their own homes, making mental health support more accessible to those in remote areas or with limited mobility. It provides greater flexibility in scheduling appointments, allowing individuals to find time slots that work best for their busy lives. It reduces the need for travel time and can accommodate various time zones, making therapy more convenient for individuals with hectic schedules.
I am licensed through Psy Pact to provide psychotherapy in 39 states, with states being added. For more information and to see if your state participates visit here.
The inner critic is usually a learned voice. It often takes shape early in life, absorbed from critical caregivers, high-pressure environments, painful experiences, or moments where love and approval felt conditional. It originally developed to protect you, by keeping you in line before anyone else could criticize you first. The trouble is that it never updated. Therapy helps you trace the voice back to its source, which is the first step in turning its volume down.
Constantly criticizing yourself, focusing on perceived flaws, and engaging in negative self-talk are common indicators. People with a harsh inner critic often doubt their abilities, second-guess their decisions, and underestimate their skills and accomplishments. Everyone experiences moments of self-doubt, but when the self-criticism is persistent and pervasive, it can have a significant impact on your wellbeing and quality of life.
Yes. Therapy helps you identify the negative thought patterns and beliefs that fuel self-criticism, many of them longstanding beliefs formed from past experience. Together we work to recognize and challenge that negative self-talk and replace it with a more balanced and realistic view of yourself. Clients are often surprised by how much lighter life feels when the critic is no longer narrating it.
Persistent low mood and harsh self-criticism often travel together, and it's also quite common to experience anxiety alongside both.
If you've been feeling sad, flat, or disconnected for more than a couple of weeks, or you've lost interest in things you usually enjoy, therapy can help with that too.
We'll look at the whole picture, not just one label, and work toward you feeling like yourself again.
Take action today and start taking steps towards a better future.
