To measure this, the researchers asked participants to respond to a series of statements about failure and how they react to it. They found that those with a self-critical personality style were more likely to have a failure-related action orientation – aka, they tended to “get stuck in persisting thoughts about unpleasant experiences”.

They also asked them to reveal how they felt when faced with failure – for example, whether they felt anxious – and outline any psychological symptoms that usually come about as a result, such as anxiety, depression or trouble sleeping.

They found that people with a self-critical personality style were both more likely to feel anxious about failure and experience psychological symptoms as a result – and linked it back to the fact that these people were more likely to get ‘stuck’ thinking about failure compared to their non-critical counterparts.

Mental health: do you find it hard to give yourself a break? Try this technique for silencing your inner critic