As long as the critic talks in your own voice, every word it says lands like the truth. The fastest way to loosen its grip is to give it a name and a face — because the moment it is a character, it stops being you.
Bring over the opening line you caught last worksheet, or write it fresh. You are about to hand it to a character, so put it down exactly as it sounds.
Picture the voice as a separate person standing in the room. Give it the details that make it a someone, not a fact about you — a name, a tone, and the thing it is always sure it is protecting you from.
A critic this practised was rehearsed somewhere. Often the tone belongs to a real person, or a real season of your life. Hearing whose it is takes some of the air out of it. When you say the line out loud in that tone, who does it sound like, and when did you first start hearing it?
Once the voice has a name and a face, you can test whether it is really you talking or a character running a script. Tick the ones that fit — the more that land, the more clearly this is a voice you can answer rather than a verdict you have to obey.
Now that it has a name, you can answer it instead of obeying it. Say one plain sentence back to the character — not a fight, just the calm correction you would give anyone who was being unfair to a person you cared about.
This assembles from what you wrote above. Read it once — naming the voice this plainly is what turns it from a verdict into a character you can answer.
Next in this pack: The critic catch-log — track when the named voice fires and what believing it costs you.
For personal reflection and growth. This worksheet is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health care.