Briscombe Care

Low Self-esteem

Most people assume self-esteem is the same as self-confidence and although self-confidence is related, it's not the same. Self-confident people may also suffer from low self-esteem, for example, actors, celebrities and public figures in our society today that appear to be totally self-confident may have poor self-esteem off stage or away from the media attention.

In Latin, esteem actually means "to estimate", so self-esteem is often defined as how you estimate yourself. Individuals with low self-esteem usually find it difficult to answer "yes" to questions such as "do I like myself?", "do I feel I deserve to be loved?", "do I think I'm a good person" and "do I deserve to be happy?".

Low self-esteem is quite common in today's society and those who accept a limited sense of self worth may be more prone to drug or alcohol abuse as they struggle to find their worth in the world. Low self-esteem may also lead to feeling depressed and hopeless and thinking negatively about yourself and your right to happiness. However, for lots of people there is help available to change negative thinking patterns and there are many strategies and techniques available to build self-esteem.

Most people experience low self-esteem at some point in their life (e.g. if they lose their job or relationship) but they can also experience high self-esteem at other points in their life (e.g. if they are promoted, successfully complete a challenge or fall in love). However, those who can't bounce back after their self-esteem has been bruised and constantly feel negatively about themselves, may be suffering from chronic low self-esteem.

Common signs of low self-esteem include feeling tired a lot of the time and having little motivation to get things done, feeling bored with life and feeling you don't have much to look forward to, thinking a lot about yourself and wishing your life was better, thinking negatively about your abilities and possible opportunities, feeling like a failure or feeling hopeless and depressed.

Causes Of Low Self-Esteem

Generalisations about low self-esteem include:

• Early years are considered particularly important in establishing our self-esteem and our family is a strong force in the development of our individual self-esteem. High self-esteem in parents can be used to nurture children's self-esteem.
• How an individual develops their self-esteem during their time at school can also be an important factor in their sense of worth. Those who develop high self-esteem during this time are generally less likely to engage in destructive behaviour such as alcohol and drug abuse and crime.
• Our own natural personality and the messages and influences we receive from everyone around us about how we should act and feel can affect our self-esteem.
• High self-esteem has to be sought by the individual themselves and can't be "given" to a person. An individual must actively seek to improve their own self-esteem if they are to build their sense of worth.

Help For Low Self-Esteem

Mentoring or counselling can often help those suffering from low self-esteem and help develop a sense of self to ensure a more fulfilling life.

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Please click below to learn more about:

• Low self-esteem
• Anxiety
• Anger
• Mild to moderate depression
• Bereavement
• Return to Counselling

Counselling By Telephone

Telephone counselling can be as supportive and productive as a face-to-face relationship. The main difference between the two approaches is that body language is not a factor when working on the telephone. This need not detract from the process and may indeed prove supportive. This is because distractions are minimised, which helps increased concentration and focus. Thus telephone counselling can work faster than traditional therapeutic encounters. Furthermore, working with a counsellor on the telephone can enable you to feel more able to express yourself freely due to the increased sense of anonymity.

Counselling By Email

Email counselling can prove as effective as both face-to-face and telephone counselling, but it is different again. It relies on the written word and there is a delay in response times. Your counsellor may ask you more questions than usual in order to support their understanding of your issues. You do not have to answer these questions if you do not wish to, however the process does rely on you giving appropriate information to enable productive work to take place. Your counsellor will also support you to work on issues between sessions by giving you a variety of tasks and exercises. Using this medium you will do a lot of the work yourself, guided and supported throughout the process by your counsellor.

For further information, either telephone 0 333 444 555 0 or email info@briscombecare.com