Here are my thoughts (which may be wrong)

Criarse is not a reflexive verb, it's a pronominal verb and has a different meaning to criar.

criar - to raise, to bring up.

criarse (pronominal, not reflexive) - to grow up.

I try to see them as different verbs to remind myself that they have different meanings

For example

Acordar - to agree. Acuerdo - I agree.

Acordarse (pronominal, not reflexive) - to remember. Me acuerdo - I remember.

A brief explanation of the different types of pronominal verbs http://www.espanol-ingles.com.mx/spanish-grammar/glossary/pronominal_verbs.html

Guau! Tantos comentarios atentos. Muchas gracias a todos.

Muchas gracias a todos por la ayuda

Spanish can be tricky with verbs, because a verb can be "reflexivo" or "Pronominal" both indicate that the person is carrying out the action or receiving it.  

Yo me ducho todos los días (reflexive)

Yo me seco (el pelo) "pronominal" despues de ducharme(reflexive)

English uses things like "phrasal verbs" to get the point across, where Spanish cannot add anything to a verb for it to make sense.

English can say "take a bath" or "have a shower" , where Spanish can only say "bañarse/ducharse"

We have to add "se" to verbs to indicate if the person is implementing the action or not.  

If you say (" yo baño") we have no way of knowing if the person is bathing themselves or another person(e.g. child) or even an animal(e.g. dog).

more examples:

to make up one's mind (decidirse)

to get up (levantarse)

to sit down (sentarse)

to stand up (pararse)

to speak one's mind (expresarse)

To lose one's temper (explotarse)

To get angry (enojarse/encabronarse)

To poke fun at / To make fun of (burlarse)

English can add prepositions, adverbs, and nouns to verbs for it to make sense, Spanish cannot.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbo_pronominal

Not all verbs are considered reflexive! but some still require a "se" to indicate who is doing the action.

Reflexive verbs always require "se" and pronominal verbs may or may not depending on context.