Our inner critic is important to us as a defense against the world, and to push us to do better. But in depression, that can become way over low, and is a bit of a vicious circle.

We start listening too much to the critic, which reinforces our low self esteem, which is made worse by the depression, which makes the critic even more believable, which makes us listen even more, yada yada yada.

Something that was good has now become harmful, developed through time and experiences, trauma and pain. It becomes hard to shake.

Very hard.