in the self-system theory of U.S. psychoanalyst Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949), this refers to the internalized personification of impulses and behaviors that are considered to be negative. These need to be hidden or disguised from others or from the self. In a child, for instance, the bad me effect may arise out of a sense of parental disapproval that in turn gives rise to anxiety and self-doubt. Compare good me. See also not me.
BAD ME: “A person who says bad me has likely personified unpleasant aspects of him- or herself, for the purposes of hiding them from others. “