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'Self-criticism' (or auto-critique) refers to the pointing out of things critical/important to one's own beliefs, thoughts, actions, behaviour or results; it can form part of private, personal reflection or a group discussion. It is an essential element of critical thought.
Most people regard self-criticism as healthy and necessary for learning, but excessive or enforced self-criticism as unhealthy.
Under some totalitarian systems of communism, important party members who had fallen out of favor with the political elite were sometimes forced to undergo "self-criticism" sessions, producing either written or verbal statements detailing how they had been ideologically mistaken, and affirming their new belief in the party line. Self-criticism, however, did not guarantee political rehabilitation, and oftentimes offenders were still executed.
In the People's Republic of China, self-criticism, called ''jiǎntǎo'' () in Chinese, is an important part of Maoist practice.