This thread is really interesting. I've always had a strong inner critic, though I don't feel it came from my mum who always told me how loved I was etc, possibly a bit from my dad who whilst he was loving also had a short temper. However I think school experiences involving being bullied greatly added to it.
Over the past year I've been seeing the Eating Disorders Team with a diagnosis of anorexia. When I first went to them, they spoke about 'the voice of anorexia' and how important it was to recognise when it was anorexia talking in my brain. I found that really hard to accept, and didn't really believe the diagnosis - I didn't have this 'voice' in my head, I wasn't ill, it was just me being stupid.
It's taken many months,and a lot of reading, talking, CBT but I think I understand it kind of now. It is 'me', 'my ' inner voice, but it's massively exacerbated by anorexia.
The revelation came when I read someone's blog, she spoke about how, if someone was in an abusive relationship, with a partner who constantly criticised them, called them lazy, greedy, fat, said 'why did you eat that biscuit, it'll just make you fatter!', 'you need to do more exercise!', 'look at you, your stomach looks huge!', then they will start to believe it. How anyone would feel pretty rubbish if someone constantly spoke to them like that.
But what if that's your own inner voice constantly telling you that? I'd like to think if I was in a relationship like that I'd leave them, but you can't leave your own inner voice. Now I'm trying to use some of the CBT techniques to try to deal with it, but it's not easy.