E.B. White once said “writing is an act of faith.” Yet so often, forces in our psyche prey on self-belief and interrupt our creative process, whatever we may be creating. Below is a powerful two-minute film with Anthony Hopkins, that shows the crippling role the Critic or Censor can play in our internal cast of characters. As a young dancer tries out her moves, she is attacked verbally by a malevolent Anthony Hopkins. She’s left literally lying on the floor, as Hopkins urges her to “go on, dance.” Although the film (based on a Czech play) was originally made to protest against state censorship, I believe that there is a similar kind of censorship that often takes place inside us and it equally needs our vigilance.

Sometimes the Inner Critic/Censor is easy to spot in ourselves. Other times, it’s harder, (it can hide behind a voice of reason, and/or a protective role), but if we’re easily knocked off our path by others, and talked out of our ideas, then outer obstacles are probably chiming with some serious self-doubt inside. If we feel the need to criticise others, then this can also be a sign. I sometimes see in my arts psychotherapy practice, people who are fiercely protective of the rights and freedoms of others, who are ruled by a dictatorial internal regime in their psyche.

The Inner Critic can appear through a myriad of statements and self-doubts – “I’m/it’s not good enough, why bother, why should I, it will never work, don’t be silly, who do you think you are, that’s useless, childish, rubbish, a waste of time, other people do it better, it/I should be better, etc…” If there’s a tyranny of ‘shoulds or should nots’ in our heads, the Inner Critic is in play. This psychic predator is a killer of natural creativity and beginnings.

Tragically, if our Inner Critic or Censor kills off the urge and impetus to try in the first place, we don’t learn how to stay in the creative process, to engage in the inevitable tussle of the unknown, and/or don’t put in the hard work to complete our work. Inspiration needs to be fleshed out and made real through repetition and practice. Graft and craft. The Inner Critic kills off both beginnings and endings.

If we don’t engage with clumsy starts, or learn to play with ideas, and accept our inevitable mistakes, then we have cut off any potential to develop ideas, qualities, skills, or anything new. For anyone working with growth and creativity, in whatever capacity, the Inner Critic needs to be met. If we can make them/him/her/it visible, it can stop them wielding quite so much power. In my line of work, I use creative and reflective tools from arts therapy and depth psychology… tools to help us visualise and engage our own Critic, to help us understand what it’s trying to do, and where it might have come from.

Yet, arts therapy offers us something else too… an opportunity to connect to our creative flow and nature through actively playing with creative materials. In doing so, there’s a chance to build up our inner allies, and counter-agents as self-support. What a difference it makes… to have some kind of welcoming committee for new and precious, or old and forgotten ideas and emerging parts of ourselves. It can help us reclaim some much needed energy. Unless we can learn to face our inner critic, and potentially transform it, we risk remaining vulnerable, not only to critical attacks inside, but also those of people outside.

So many people have so much to offer to the world, but stop themselves from ever exploring and finding out what unique, creative contributions they could bring.

For anyone interested in finding out more, I’m running Navigating the Inner Critic, a creative CPD workshop on Saturday 7 June, in Studio 34, a purpose-built arts therapy studio. For women therapists, art therapists, facilitator, creators, here’s a chance to explore your inner critic and allies, in ways to strengthen your own creative process as well as hold others. CPD workshops

Pia Jones is an integrative arts psychotherapist, author, creative workshop facilitator and TEDx speaker, who draws upon the arts, archetypal myths and nature, in her work.