Philippa Perry: Why everyone has an inner critic, and how to stop believing yours
Happy Place
Fearne Cotton
4.7 • 15.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 April 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Should you give your inner critic have a name? Psychotherapist and author Philippa Perry reckons giving that nagging voice in your head a silly name is the first step to stopping it running your life.
In this chat with Fearne, Philippa explains why not feeling ‘good enough’ is often less about truth and more about habit. She shares how to tell the difference between a helpful critical inner voice and a self-sabotaging one, and why negative thought patterns keep us stuck.
Fearne and Philippa also chat about the power of shame, and why talking about the things you feel most embarrassed about is the fastest way to shrink them.
Plus, how is your phone eating away at your ability to connect IRL? And what can you do if you can’t access therapy? Philippa talks through some of her favourite self-therapy exercises.
Philippa’s novel, Shrink Solves Murder, is out on May 7th.
If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:
Philippa’s first Happy Place episode
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and a huge welcome to Happy Place with me Fern Cotton. |
| 0:06.2 | This is the show that encourages you to be kinder to yourself. |
| 0:10.6 | Today I'm chatting to Philippa Perry. |
| 0:12.9 | I've never met anyone who hasn't got an inner critic. |
| 0:16.7 | The difference between people is those that take the inner critic too seriously and become the |
| 0:21.6 | inner critic and those that can observe it and think, not today, thank you. Changing a thought |
| 0:27.9 | pattern is a bit like building some abs. You can't go to the gym, have one session and expect, |
| 0:33.6 | you know, the toned body. You have to go three times a week. And so it is with things like |
| 0:39.0 | thought patterns. You have to practice noticing what they are and deciding to change them. |
| 0:44.7 | I'm really excited about this. Philippa came on Happy Place in 2019, which might as well have been |
| 0:51.9 | the Victorian era. I think It's probably seven years ago. |
| 0:55.0 | It's outrageous. |
| 0:55.6 | We've got a lot to catch up on. |
| 0:57.0 | But I was really excited for many reasons. |
| 1:00.0 | One is I've really enjoyed reading her novel. |
| 1:03.4 | She's got a novel out called Shrink Solves Murder. |
| 1:07.5 | And it's one of those books that's kept me reading for much longer than a book normally would. |
| 1:12.4 | So I get very sleepy at about 10pm, just like the eyes are heavy. |
| 1:17.2 | I'm like, I'm done, I'm out. |
| 1:18.9 | I was up until 10.30 reading this the other night. |
| 1:22.5 | And thank God I was because my son was at my ex's house and he had to get rushed to A&E in an ambulance. |
| 1:31.8 | And I would not have been awake to take that call had I not been up reading this very good book. |
... |
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