Response to Handling Criticism

I wrote a blog last week entitled, Emotional Strength: Handling Criticism. In that blog I stated that “Remembering that being defensive, we are closed to what’s most important to be learned and that “feedback”, “criticism” is not always easy to give just as well as receiving, but it brings about change…” In Recovery we as consumers are always subject to criticism, especially self-criticism, in our relationships to others; as we may be drug addicted or alcoholics, we spend our time, even free time in delving in criticism. Therapists are inclined to use constructive criticism to guide clients to better understand situations which warrant recovering truths or ferreting out negative characteristics.
What is criticism? “Criticism is the practice of judging merits and faults of something or someone in a sometimes negative, sometimes intelligible or articulate way.” Criticism can be directed toward an idea, a relationship, a condition, a process, person, place or thing. It can be personal or impersonal. Criticism in all is the result of critical thinking. There exist a psychology of criticism both cognitive and emotional with behavioral means of criticism and there is also an influence on how people react.
“There is the Psychology of criticism: a) motivation, b) meaning, c) effect, d) response, e) quantity and quality, f) form, g) learning, l) subliminal, repression or denial.”
In all, people want to use criticism to achieve some kind of improvement, in other words there is a positive reason in creating a criticism. Criticism is a formidable weapon which can create difficulty of respect for someone, causing disrespect and surfeiting equality. As a recovered drug addict and alcoholic, I met with criticism most of my life, though my self-esteem was not much to think about, neither was my attitude towards other people, who saw my way of life as being such a heathen, albeit a degenerate in some respects. This gave me many negative feelings towards other people without regard to what the positive constraints might be at the time. There is a balance to criticism and it’s always important never to overdo, nor be timid, keeping thoughts always consistent. It’s important to be neither overtly critical nor without being uncritical. People who are to critical, are looked at as being too negative, with no constructive attitude. There are those persons who are uncritical and they are known as naïve or superficial. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism
“Psychologist concerned with human communication, such as therapist, therefore recommends that people should choose the right words to express their criticism”. I made my mistake in using the word “feedback” instead of criticism. Where feedback can be both positive and negative, so can criticisms; they can be mistaken for one another. In response to a comment made, there exist a psychopathology of criticism which is a study of unhealthy forms of criticism and also responses to criticism. They are found in the US Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In this Manual you may find; Low Self Esteem (being sensitive to criticism), Paranoid Personality Disorder, Avoidant Personality Disorder, Hypercriticism (fault finding or nagging) and other disorders. To understand pathological criticism and responses, situations must be created to bring out the good or bad side of peoples with such illnesses, in order to bring them into an understanding state about the illness and how it can be controlled.

Written by Donald S.