A healthy and well-worked self-esteem motivates people to take care of themselves, to take actions for their benefit and to maintain behaviors that promote health in general, from taking care of themselves physically to mentally to prevent diseases of this nature. But what happens when self-esteem is low? Experts explain the main symptoms and possible causes of low self-esteem.
Self-esteem has a considerable influence on people’s lives, both for better and for worse. Having a high self-esteem, as the mental health professionals explain, helps the person to love themselves, to take care of themselves and to have self-compassion in certain situations that can develop on a day-to-day basis, preventing comments or behavior towards the person in question from causing greater harm, among others. Self-esteem, they continue, is fundamental to create a good identity of who you are, what you want and how far you can go. In fact, a person with good self-esteem tends to have a greater focus on learning and perseverance when things do not go as expected. All these factors contribute, likewise, to feeling confident and optimistic, as well as having adequate self-control and being able to face difficult situations.
The importance of working on self-esteem, therefore, is fundamental. However, people are not always aware of a situation of low self-esteem or it is confused with other pathologies and mental illnesses. For psychologists it is essential to know what the symptoms and causes are in order to find out how it affects mental health and to be able to take remedial action.
Do I have low self-esteem? The most characteristic symptoms
There are many characteristics that can influence low self-esteem, which is why it is not always so easy to diagnose. However, as the English psychologist Barcelona of ProyectoART explains, it is essential to pay attention to some specific behaviors that are decisive. One of them, the most common, is the fear of what people will say. But also, the fear of failure, in fact, people with low self-esteem and with this type of fear tend to constantly punish themselves when they make a mistake or something does not go as expected. It is also common for people with low self-esteem to have a constant feeling of guilt and a tendency to please others for fear of rejection. Without forgetting the internal dialogue with themselves which, besides being very hard, is often very radical and there’s no room in there for self-pity. They do not motivate themselves, nor do they have positive phrases or self-confidence, they point out.
All this can have repercussions on people in various ways, for example, in the lack of motivation to exercise or in the lack of commitment to achieve their goals, despite desiring changes in their lives. Moreover, according to professionals, they often act in ways that are contrary to what they would like to do, falling into erratic behaviors and actions that can even interfere with health and feed back into low self-esteem. See, for example, postponing goals in order to act, waiting for motivation to magically arrive or constructing justifications, which increases guilt when not achieving goals. Another of the most common self-esteem problems, ProyectoART explains, are eating disorders. It is very common for people with low self-esteem to suffer from anorexia, bulimia and obesity, which, apart from mental problems, can cause serious damage to physical health.
Causes of low self-esteem
The causes of low self-esteem are very variable, since everything depends on the person in question and their special situation. Experts have identified some aspects that are common, such as exposure to constant criticism during childhood and lack of emotional support, but also traumatic experiences (such as bullying), pressure to meet very high standards or unattainable goals, frequent social comparisons, failure in personal or professional relationships, social isolation, mental health problems such as depression, and even social or cultural conditioning that promotes unattainable ideals -especially of success and beauty, which can affect one’s personal perception.
How to motivate oneself and raise self-esteem
People with low self-esteem tend to underestimate their coping resources and avoid exposing themselves to situations that make them anxious, experts say, which makes it difficult to find a solution. However, there are several ways to find motivation and improve self-esteem, say the industry. The first thing to assume, they stress, is that there is a clear relationship between self-esteem, good habits and health, and that this is circular and feeds back constantly, which is why the person must make an effort to consolidate healthy habits. Persistence, they remind us, is the key. You have to get used to it, and once you have achieved it, you have to stick to it. Among these healthy habits they recommend to practice exercise (which, in addition, generates endorphins that help to feel better physically and mentally), but also to avoid perfectionism, to develop assertiveness (avoiding satisfying only others to focus on what you really want), to enhance sociability and to develop hobbies.
Of course, these are tasks that can be complex for a person with very low or damaged self-esteem. That is why the help of a psychologist in these phases is essential. The mental health expert can help the person to detect what exactly is happening to them and why it is happening, establishing a specific and individual plan so that they can have the necessary mechanisms to face any situation. In this way the patient with low self-esteem will have support and a basis on which to start working and solve their problem, in addition to noticing considerable improvements from the first moment.Â
