Global Therapy

When you have low self esteem you tend to view life in a very negative way which makes everything seem hopeless, pointless, too much effort, you see yourself as being worthless, think other people are better than you, have difficulty in saying what you really feel and want, lack confidence and find it difficult to stand up for yourself and be assertive and consequently find that often people will take advantage of you and treat you badly. This in turn makes you feel depressed.

There may be any number of reasons why you may have low self esteem. It could be abuse you have suffered as a child, or as an adult, you may have had a breakdown in a relationship, been involved in a violent relationship, been bullied, lost your job, be suffering from ill health - there are all sorts of things which can affect a person's self esteem. You may find that you have not been able to talk about some of the difficult things which have happened to you, you may not have received any support and be trying to cope on your own. You may have been in a situation where you felt another person had control over you - you felt powerless to do anything about it - you may have felt used - all these things can lead to a person having low self esteem.

You may not feel valued as a person, may not feel loved and wanted, may not have much affection, you may not feel cared about. You may feel that nobody is there to listen to you - how you really feel, you may feel isolated and alone and unsupported.

We all feel inadequate or insecure at times. You might be worried about performing well in a new job, feeling insecure about your body image in a new relationship, or feeling like you are not a 'good enough' parent. This is part of being human.

However, if you find that you are persistently feeling that you aren’t good enough, and it’s having an overwhelming or debilitating impact on your life, it could be a sign of low self-esteem or low confidence.

So many of us struggle to believe that we are worthy of love and acceptance. It could be helpful to think about where this belief could have come from and what you can do to heal and rebuild it.