What is psychotherapy for self-esteem problems like?

These are the strategies and techniques most commonly used in psychotherapy for self-esteem problems.

A low self-esteem can have repercussions in many areas at a psychological level in a person, that is why it is essential to work on it.

There are different ways to address this problem in the psychologist's office. In this article we will review some of the most common proposals to try to improve the level of self-esteem of a person in psychotherapy and with it to obtain a higher level of well-being in all the facets of its life.

How is psychological therapy to overcome self-esteem problems?

To be able to know how is the psychotherapy for the problems of self-esteem, we must realize first an approach to the own concept of self-esteem. It is a complex element to define. An approximation could be the totality of thoughts, emotions and evaluations that a person makes about him/herself.

In this self-evaluation, all spheres of the person are taken into account, both the way of being and the physical form, capacities, etc. In short, self-esteem represents an individual's desire to be appreciated by others and by oneself.. This is a transcendental need in people, so much so that even in Maslow's pyramid it appears in the fourth level, only below self-actualization.

If we want to know what psychotherapy for self-esteem problems is like, it is necessary to delve a little deeper into this phenomenon. Another author who highlights the importance of self-esteem is the humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. For Rogers, the fact that many people do not give themselves the value they deserve is the beginning of many psychological disorders.

Given this statement, the school of humanistic psychology itself proposes a maxim to be followed at all times, which is that any individual, just for the reason of being a human being, is worthy of the utmost respect, not only from other people, but also from himself, or what is the same, he deserves to have the esteem of others and his own self-esteem.

We get an idea of the immense importance of self-esteem, and hence the interest that awakens the question of how psychotherapy for self-esteem problems, as this may be the way to alleviate and even prevent various psychopathologies that can affect people with a low level of self-esteem.

Psychological intervention strategies for learning to love oneself

After verifying the level of relevance that self-esteem can have in people's lives, it is now time to study the ways to repair or enhance it. Therefore, we will now delve into the different answers to what psychotherapy for self-esteem problems looks like.

To do this, we will explore some of the ways to address this situation from a psychology consultation, although it is necessary to remember that these are not the only ways to do so, as there are many more.

1. Exploring the origin

When we ask ourselves what psychotherapy for self-esteem problems is like, one of the first answers that comes up is to look for the reason for these problems, or in other words, to explore the origin. Generally, a low self-esteem does not come from a single fact, but from a set of experiences and characteristics of the person himself. that have progressively favored this situation.

The fact of being able to explore and find traumatic experiences that have helped to make self-esteem increasingly lower in the person, can allow the therapist to work on these events through repair therapies, such as EMDR, through bilateral stimulation, so that the patient can reprocess these traumatic situations with resources that at the time he/she did not have.

2. Working on limiting beliefs

In addition to acting on past events, another of the strategies that are appropriate to the question of how psychotherapy for self-esteem problems is related to working on the person's limiting beliefs. A limiting belief is any thought that can make it difficult for an individual to develop or achieve certain goals..

Therefore, this issue is directly related to self-esteem. The reasoning is as follows. If the person suffers from low self-esteem, it is precisely because he/she believes that he/she is not valid, that he/she does not have outstanding capabilities in anything, that he/she does not deserve the respect or appreciation of others. Therefore, it will be difficult to get out of this loop if these beliefs are not addressed.

To carry out this work, cognitive restructuring can be used. The final objective will be to replace these limiting beliefs or cognitive distortions with other beliefs that are positive about oneself and therefore they suppose an impulse towards a high self-esteem, which in the long run will have repercussions on the own well-being of the individual.

For this reason, when thinking about psychotherapy for self-esteem problems, working on one's own negative thoughts is key if we want to achieve a significant and sustained change in the patient's perception of him/herself.

3. Improving social skills

On many occasions, self-esteem problems can be reinforced by a deficit in the area of social skills. By not having the right tools, a person may have problems interacting normally with other individuals, which will generate anxiety and increase those negative beliefs we were talking about.

Not only that, but a vicious a vicious circle in which he does not want to relate with the others and therefore he will never have the opportunity to count on that appreciation of the other one that supposes an improvement of his self-esteem. For this reason, another answer to what psychotherapy for self-esteem problems looks like is nothing less than social skills training.

The fact of learning to relate to other people in an appropriate way can give the patient the confidence he or she needs to fight against this negative self-perception and will therefore be a useful way of working to get the patient's self-esteem back on track. and therefore it will be a useful way of working to achieve a higher and higher self-esteem.

We are verifying that, although we are proposing different ways of facing the question of how is psychotherapy for self-esteem problems, in reality in many occasions it is required a broad work that solves the different points that we are listing, because in that way the effect is amplified and the therapist is more efficient in his task.

4. Behavioral stimulation

It is not only a matter of working on beliefs, it is also necessary to work on behaviors.. That is why another alternative to psychotherapy for self-esteem problems is behavioral stimulation. What does it consist of? In proposing to the patient a series of activities that he/she finds pleasant and with which he/she gets involved.

The objective of this task is to give him/her the opportunity to get to know him/herself better, discovering abilities that he/she thought he/she did not have and even seeing how these are enhanced and how he/she manages to acquire a reasonably good skill in some hobby of interest to him/her.

This technique has a direct impact on self-esteem, as the person is more likely to have a more favorable self-image as he/she is aware of his/her abilities and progress, which will have an impact, as we have already seen, in other different areas and, together with the rest of the techniques used, will help the person to improve his/her state of mind.

5. Enhancing strengths

We have already seen that it is important to know the negative beliefs in order to be able to work on them. But it is equally important to to know the most positive points of the self-concept, precisely to be able to reinforce them and to use them as a means to obtain an improvement in the self-esteem..

If the person does not have a good self-image in general terms, but there are certain points in particular, either some special ability or traits that seem remarkable and positive, it will be essential that the therapist takes them into account to rely on them, to try to replicate that positive perception in other areas.

This, therefore, will be another of the strategies that we can use when we face the task of what psychotherapy for self-esteem problems looks like. As we said before, these are only some of the possibilities, being able to use different ones when the psychology professional deems it appropriate.

Bibliographical references:

• Fennell, M. J. V. (1998). Cognitive therapy in the treatment of low self-esteem. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment.
• Shapiro, F. (2010). EMDR: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. Pax Mexico.
• Taylor, T.L., Montgomery, P. (2007). Can cognitive-behavioral therapy increase self-esteem among depressed adolescents? A systematic review. Children and Youth Services Review. Elsevier.