The Forms of Self‐criticizing/Attacking and Self‐reassuring Scale (FSCRS) is a self‐report questionnaire that assesses the forms of self‐criticism and self‐reassurance. The aim of this study was to explore the latent structure of the FSCRS in nonclinical and clinical samples. Data from 381 participants from the general population and from 304 participants from clinical settings were subjected to confirmatory factor analyses to explore several structural models reflecting alternative representations of the FSCRS dimensionality. Overall, the model with the best fit to the data, in both samples, was the three‐factor model (inadequate self, hated self and reassured self subscales) replicating the FSCRS original structure. The scale showed good psychometric characteristics, and the three factors discriminated between the clinical and nonclinical samples. To our knowledge, this is the first study to confirm the factor structure of the FSCRS in a purely clinical sample, and to test alternative models. This study adds to the existent literature that has been supporting the conceptualization of self‐criticism as a multidimensional construct. Given the good psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the FSCRS, its use is encouraged and recommended for the assessment of self‐criticism in both clinical and research settings. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message Our results suggest that self‐criticism is associated with psychopathology indicators and, for this reason, should be addressed in clinical settings. Also, self‐criticism is not a single process, and thus therapists may need to explore in more detail its different forms (i.e., feeling inadequate and hateful feelings for the self). The FSCRS questionnaire may be an important tool in aiding therapists in assessing their patients, given its ability to discriminate individuals from the normal population and individuals from clinical settings. Thus, self‐criticism is s not only theoretically but also clinically meaningful. Given the idea that self‐reassuring operates through a different affect system, helping people develop inner warmth and compassion for the self may be important to counteract feelings of self‐hatred and self‐attack.