We use the phrase ‘self esteem’ to talk about the beliefs you have about yourself. If you have healthy self esteem, your beliefs about yourself will generally be positive. Negative experiences will be able to be dealt with without it having too much of a long-term negative impact on you. But people with low self esteem will suffer with negative beliefs about themselves. They will tend to focus on their weakness and mistakes that they have made or may find it hard to recognise the positive parts of their personality. They will also blame themselves for any difficulties or failures that they have.
Some factors that can contribute to low self esteem include:
– Difficult childhood experience, e.g. bullying,
– Difficult life events, e.g. end of a relationship, long term illness, being unemployed, grief.
– Personality, such as a tendency towards negative thinking or finding it hard to relate to people can contribute to low self esteem.
– Trauma, abuse or bullying, sexual or psychological abuse can lead to feelings of guilt and low self worth. Low self-esteem and mental health problems can reinforce each other , creating an unhealthy cycle.
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