Therapy for Self-Esteem
Do you feel uncomfortable or awkward in social situations, do you suffer from anxiety or depression? Do you compare yourself to others and feel you are less than? Do you look at social media and wish that your lives looked as happy or fun as theirs? If you feel this way, remind yourself that those pictures are not necessarily real, and that they are of one moment in time and not a reflection of everyday of their lives.
Self-esteem is a concept that describes how we feel about ourselves. When a person has high self-esteem, they feel confident, centered, and worthy of love. People with low self-esteem may feel shame and self-doubt, they may feel critical of themselves and may feel uncomfortable with love or praise.
Some Signs of Low Self-Esteem
People with low self-esteem may cope with it using one of the following three models:
- Imposter Syndrome - Some people may be less confident in their abilities or self-worth -- in these cases, they may project false confidence and mask their insecurities by using their accomplishments. People who struggle with perfection and procrastination may feel they are putting up a facade and they may also feel like imposters.
- Rebellion - People in this group may pretend not to care about others' opinions of them. They may have feelings of inferiority and may feel unsure about themselves. These feelings may come across as anger or blame. Some people may act out by defying authority and even breaking the law.
- Victimhood - People in this group experience low self-esteem. As a result of these feelings, they may feel helpless when faced with challenges. They may feel victimized and may rely on others due to lack of confidence in their own abilities.
Low self-esteem may result in some of the following:
- Depression and anxiety
- Lack of joy in life
- Anger, guilt, sadness
- Self-doubt
- A lack of resilience
- Loneliness
- Isolation
- Low self reliance - reliance on others
- Self-harm
The Good News: Low Self-Esteem can be treated
Self-esteem is something that can be changed. It can be improved by changing your beliefs, behavior and how you think about yourself. As most self-esteem issues have been influenced in childhood, people have been living with low self-esteem for a very long time. For this reason, it can be improved with the help of a trained therapist.
A therapist can help you develop a healthier and more realistic sense of self, discover where your low self-esteem came from and provide tools. You can learn tools to change these negative self beliefs and critical self-talk and replace them with self-love and self-compassion.
If any of the above speak to you or you experience low self-esteem, reach out to me, to explore what you can do to help yourself. Keep in mind that this is better than retail therapy :) Call to discuss what you can do to feel better.