Two-Chair Technique for the Inner Critic: an Online Chair Work Stage

Speak as your inner critic from one chair, answer from the other, and rate how harsh the critic was after each turn. Notice whether the critic softens.

Adults Teens Thoughts & skills Emotion-focused Games

15–30 minutesIn person and on videoFor clinicians

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Use with care

Chair work can raise strong feelings fast.

Use it in session, pace the turns, and stop if the client is overwhelmed. Do not role-reverse with an abuser without trauma training. Not for acute psychosis, frequent dissociation, or when self-harm risk is high. With a recent or traumatic loss, wait until the client is stable enough to settle after strong feeling.

For clinicians

Run chair work with a client in session. You pace the turns and stop if feelings get too strong. It is not a self-help exercise.

How to play

If asked, pick who is in the other chair. Other exercises are in Settings.
Tap a chair to sit in it. Speak out loud from that seat.
Switch seats and answer from the other chair. The prompt changes with you.
In inner-critic mode, rate how harsh the critic was after each turn.
Tap Finish. The summary shows at once; add what you need if you like, and copy it.

About the technique

Chair work asks a client to give voice to different parts of experience by speaking from, and to, separate chairs. It has roots in J. L. Moreno’s psychodrama and Fritz Perls’s Gestalt therapy (Kellogg, 2004), and Leslie Greenberg developed two-chair dialogue into a researched task in emotion-focused therapy (Greenberg, 1979). For self-criticism, the client speaks as the inner critic from one chair, then answers from the other as the self who receives the criticism. Schema therapy uses similar dialogues between modes, such as a punitive critic and a vulnerable child (Young et al., 2003).

Change often comes when the criticized self voices the hurt and need beneath the attack and the critic softens. In a pilot study with nine self-critical clients, two-chair dialogue was followed by less self-criticism, fewer depressive and anxiety symptoms and more self-compassion, maintained at six months (Shahar et al., 2012). Empty-chair work for unresolved hurt outperformed a psychoeducation group in a trial (Paivio & Greenberg, 1995), and a meta-analysis of psychodramatic techniques found role reversal among the most effective (Kipper & Ritchie, 2003). The evidence is promising but comes from small studies.

It suits adults and older teens with harsh self-criticism, in session, once the alliance can hold strong feeling. Pace the turns and stop if the client is overwhelmed. Avoid it with acute psychosis, frequent dissociation or high self-harm risk, wait after a recent traumatic loss, and do not role-reverse with an abuser without trauma training.

For therapists: how to run it

Goal

Hear your critic from the outside, notice whether the critic softens, and say what you need from it.

In session

In person: turn the screen to the client, or use a tablet, and set two real chairs facing each other. The screen keeps the prompts and the turn timer.
If the person hurt or frightened the client, choose Someone who hurt me – no appreciation prompts and no sitting as them.
On video: press Play together and send the link. The client taps the chairs on their own phone while you see the same room and the turn timer.
You direct: say “switch” when a turn lands, tap Another prompt to deepen, and slow down or stop if feelings run high.
Close with the last question on the screen and the copied summary. Typed lines stay on the client's device.

As homework

Not given as self-guided homework. Use it together in session.

With a group

Psychodrama groups: share your screen as host, one protagonist joins and moves between chairs while the group watches.
Group members can double the protagonist or, with consent, take the other chair – never for someone who hurt the protagonist.
Keep turns short (1 minute) and debrief with sharing, not advice.

Good to know

The same chair-work stage, starting in two-chair inner critic mode. Based on Leslie Greenberg's emotion-focused two-chair work for self-critical splits: the critic speaks, the criticized self answers, and the therapist guides until the critic softens and the self voices its need.

Worksheets that pair with this tool

Sources & credibility

Method: Chair work: Gestalt empty chair, emotion-focused two-chair dialogue, psychodrama role reversal, schema mode dialogues
Developed by: J. L. Moreno (psychodrama), Fritz Perls (Gestalt), Leslie Greenberg (emotion-focused two-chair), Jeffrey Young and Arnoud Arntz (schema modes), Scott Kellogg (Transformational Chairwork)
First described: 1940s–2015
Approach: Psychodrama, Gestalt, emotion-focused therapy, schema therapy
Evidence: Supported by studiesA meta-analysis of psychodrama found medium-large effects, with role reversal among the strongest techniques. Two-chair work for self-criticism and empty-chair work for unresolved hurt are researched parts of emotion-focused therapy; reviews of chairwork are promising but mixed.

References

Kipper, D. A. & Ritchie, T. D. (2003). The effectiveness of psychodramatic techniques: a meta-analysis. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 7(1), 13–25. Source
Greenberg, L. S. (1979). Resolving splits: use of the two chair technique. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 16(3), 316–324. Source
Shahar, B., Carlin, E. R., Engle, D. E., Hegde, J., Szepsenwol, O. & Arkowitz, H. (2012). A pilot investigation of emotion-focused two-chair dialogue intervention for self-criticism. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 19(6), 496–507. Source
Kellogg, S. (2004). Dialogical encounters: contemporary perspectives on "chairwork" in psychotherapy. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 41(3), 310–320. Source
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S. & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema Therapy: A Practitioner's Guide. Guilford.
Paivio, S. C. & Greenberg, L. S. (1995). Resolving unfinished business: efficacy of experiential therapy using empty-chair dialogue. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63(3), 419–425. Source

How it was made

Built by the Mentalyc team from the original method and the published sources listed here. Nothing you enter is stored.

Questions people ask

What does inner critic mean?

The inner critic is the harsh inner voice that judges, blames or puts you down. Everyone has one to some degree; it becomes a problem when it is constant or cruel.

How do you quiet your inner critic?

Start by noticing its voice and naming it, then answer it the way you would a friend. In two-chair work, you speak as the critic, then reply from the criticized part, which often softens the critic over time.

What is the two-chair technique used for?

The two-chair technique, from Gestalt and emotion-focused therapy, helps with inner conflicts such as self-criticism or a hard decision. The client moves between chairs to give each side a voice.

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Michael Thompson, MSc

Michael's background combines doctoral training in clinical psychology with research on motivation, learning, and emotional regulation.

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Table Of Contents

About the technique
For therapists: how to run it
Worksheets that pair with this tool
Sources & credibility
Questions people ask

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