Counselling for Low Self-Esteem
Low self-esteem affects how you see yourself, your abilities and your worth. It can shape your confidence, relationships and the way you approach life.
Understanding Low Self-Esteem
If you have healthy self-esteem, your beliefs about yourself will generally be positive. As a result, when you experience difficult times in your life, you will generally be able to deal with them, without it having much of a long-term negative impact on you.
If you have low self-esteem, your beliefs about yourself will often be negative and lacking in confidence. You may find yourself focusing on your weaknesses or past mistakes, and struggling to recognise your strengths. Therefore, you tend to blame yourself for any difficulties or failures that have occurred.
Most people experience moments of lacking in confidence at some point in life. This can be a perfectly normal response to external events. However, when low self-esteem becomes a long-term habit, it can harm your relationships with others, kill your confidence, stunt your ability to assert yourself, and feed a cycle of increasing frustration and unhappiness. Research has shown a correlation between low self-esteem and depression.
What Can Cause Low Self-Esteem?
The things that affect our self-esteem differ for everyone. Your self-esteem might change suddenly, or you might have had low self-esteem for a while — which might make it hard to recognise how you feel in order to make changes.
Being bullied or abused
Past experiences of bullying or abuse can deeply impact your sense of self-worth
Prejudice or discrimination
Experiencing discrimination can erode your confidence and sense of belonging
Job loss or unemployment
Losing your job or struggling to find work can significantly affect your self-esteem
Problems at work
Ongoing workplace difficulties can chip away at your confidence over time
Ongoing stress
Chronic stress can leave you feeling unable to cope, lowering your self-image
Physical health problems
Dealing with health issues can affect how you feel about yourself
Relationship problems
Separation, divorce or difficult relationships can damage your self-worth
Appearance and body image
Worries about how you look can contribute to negative self-perception
Money problems
Financial difficulties can create feelings of failure and inadequacy
How Counselling for Low Self-Esteem Can Help
Our therapists can help you discover the root cause of your low self-esteem. We can help you establish how certain behaviours, feelings, and thoughts are contributing towards your low opinion of yourself. It can help to learn how to create more balanced, mutually respectful and satisfying relationships and gain a deeper understanding of yourself and what makes you happiest.
Over time, many people notice they feel more confident, more self-aware and less defined by self-doubt. They begin to trust themselves more and approach life with greater ease. Therapy can help you improve your self-image, reduce self-doubt, and enable you to become more assertive, confident, and self-aware.
We will help you recognise the relationship between your thoughts, feelings and behaviours. This is based on the theory that it's not 'what' we experience but how we interpret that experience, which determines how we feel.
Further Reading & Support
If you would like to make an appointment to see one of our therapists for help with your self-esteem, contact us at CBT and Counselling Surrey today.
If you require urgent help, please contact Mind charity helpline or The Samaritans.
Other Problems We Help With
Explore other common challenges our therapists can help you with.
Your First Step Towards
Feeling Better
If you'd like professional support with low self-esteem, our experienced therapists are here to help. Book your session online in minutes.
Join hundreds of people who have improved their wellbeing with our support