Dallas Self-Esteem Therapy: Transforming Teens in Texas

What is Self Esteem?

Self-esteem is your general opinion of yourself, your abilities, and your limitations. A healthy self-esteem is shaped by thoughts, interactions, relationships, and each experience you endure. A healthy self-esteem is maintained by focusing on characteristics such as confidence, adaptability, and balance of locus of control. When your self-esteem is high, you just feel good about yourself and look at the world with a sense of positivity; you embrace your capability to handle tasks that come your way. You respect yourself and know you deserve that from others. On the contrary, when your self-esteem is too low, you do not value yourself for as much as you are worth, instead casting doubt on your abilities and fretting that you aren’t good enough, or able to face challenges you’re up against. It is very important to have a healthy sense of worth, in all aspects. Such health is relevant in all areas of life: professional, personal, and biological.

Factors which influence self-esteem

Your self-esteem starts developing as a child. It is shaped by the following factors:

• Your thoughts and perceptions
• How others react to you
• Friends and loved ones’ treatment toward you
• Experiences at home, school, work, & in the community
• Illness or disability
• Culture, religion, & morals
• Socioeconomic status
• Position in society
• Media

Relationships

Your relationships with people close to you, which can include parents, siblings, extended family, peers, friends, advisors, teachers, and co-workers, are crucial in defining self-esteem Whether a loved one treats you with respect or not can be the difference in a good or bad outlook on yourself. The beliefs you hold about yourself are shaped by the messages and responses you’ve received from close ones throughout time. If you constantly receive positive feedback from others, you will feel good about yourself. If you are consistently the recipient of negative messages, by being teased or degraded, then you will most likely not feel good about yourself.

Thoughts and perceptions

Despite the significant influences of others, one’s own thoughts and feelings have the largest impact on self-esteem. Luckily these factors are within your power to change for the better—if necessary. If you harp on your weaknesses, mistakes, or shortcomings, you will reinforce a negative concept of yourself. A balanced, more correct, self-view can be attained by learning to change the negative thought-feeling-response cycle you may be stuck in.

Impacts of low self-esteem

• Over 70% of girls ages 15-17 avoid activities, such as attending school, when they feel insecure about themselves
• 15% of high school males attempt to lose weight because they are not happy with their appearance
• 75% of females with low self-esteem report that hey have engaged in negative activities, such as self-harm, bullying, smoking, drinking, and eating disorders
• Only 25% of girls with a healthy self-esteem engage in those activities
• A woman’s self-esteem is more strongly correlated with how she views her body, than the correlation with how much she actually weighs

Addressing low self-esteem

Psychotherapy addresses issues with self-esteem by helping one become more confident and self-aware. Therapy can aid in individuals discovering activities that improve confidence. Therapists also work with you to develop realistic goals and teach you to treat yourself with the kindness and understanding you would have toward others. Goal-directed forms of therapy include solution-focused and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Working with a therapist can give you a sense of unequivocal positive regard, which stimulates self-respect and an improvement in the way you see yourself and your ability to succeed in all areas.

Who will benefit from self-esteem counseling?

Teenagers are especially at risk for having low self-esteem, due to the nature of the time in one’s life. Puberty involves physical, emotional, and societal instability. Females often experience low self-esteem due to the societal expectations for women to look and act a certain way. However, men are just as susceptible to experiencing negative self-concepts and insecurities, which develop into an overall negative view of oneself.  If you feel that your self-concept and negative thoughts are stopping you from achieving goals, interfering with work, or causing you mental distress, counseling on this psychological construct will help you. You may be surprised at how much the way you see yourself can improve your life and the way you view the world!

Benefits of having a healthy self-esteem

• Being confident in expressing your opinions and desires
• Making decisions assertively
• Forming stable, healthy, relationships which don’t suffer from insecurities, which stem from a negative self-concept
• Developing realistic expectations of yourself; not overly criticizing yourself when you make mistakes, or underestimating your own worth
• Being more resilient in the face of stress and obstacles
• Less likelihood of developing eating disorders, depression, and anxiety

References:

Mayo Clinic on Self Esteem

11 Facts about Teen Self Esteem

Good Therapy on Self Esteem