Self esteem is how a person feels about themselves. Most of the time we can be our own worst critics. Not feeling good about how you look or your personality can lead to anxiety when you are in a group. You may be shy and reserved even though you want to talk to other people. Having self esteem doesn't mean you are always confident or that you think you are better than others. It just means you have accepted who you are and you are willing to live with it.
Having self esteem doesn't just happen, it is a process. Many people go through an awkward stage during adolescence. It can be hard to like yourself when you are always comparing yourself to your peers. It can be difficult to be an individual when to be popular you have to be like everyone else. Yet life isn't always like high school and that will pass. Yet at the time this is a very important time in a child's life. Parents need to remember what that was like so they can offer support.
Parents need to realize how important self esteem is. Teaching children from an early age to find good qualities in themselves is important. It will allow them to be happier and healthier individuals. A poor self esteem can affect a person in many ways. They may decide to drop out of school or have a hard time keeping a job. They may withdraw from other people and turn to vices such as drugs or alcohol to feel comfortable around others.
There has been a great deal of information in recent years to link poor self esteem to those with depression. Counseling is often a very effective tool in order to help with this. Changing behaviors and seeing yourself as others do is the first step of developing your self esteem. Relationships can be detrimental at times to a person's self esteem as well.
For example they may have a partner that calls them names and tells them they are stupid. They may get the impression from them that no one else will ever want them. Over a period of time they come to believe this. The self esteem a person has is very important to their overall happiness and mental stability.
Many experts have the believe that a poor self esteem is directly connected to depression. This is due to the various assessments that are completed in mental health establishments. It is often the poor self esteem that leads a person to withdraw from various types of social situations.
It can also allow them to self destruct various types of relationships. They may not believe that someone so great would actually care about them so they end the relationship. They may continue to push that person away until they decide to leave them. That scenario though tends to just reinforce their belief that they aren't good enough for anyone.
There is a substantial amount of information out there to indicate that the reason so many adolescents in our society suffer from depression is due to their poor self esteem. This is why so many health classes in junior high and high school cover self esteem. They also do various types of activities in order to help students get a better image of themselves. Youths tend to classify themselves by how others see them or how they perceive that others see them.
Many adolescents simply aren't ready for the transitions that will occur. Even a jump from junior high to high school can affect them. In junior high they are an upper classman and have their friends around them. When they enter high school though they are the new kid on the block. Many of their old friends are now scattered and they have to struggle to assess their own identity.
Adults can also suffer from poor self esteem and depression. Yet the fact that most bouts with depression start out in adolescents make sense. Research on groups of adults with depression have found that when they are feel negative about themselves is when the depression is at its worst.
Due to the correlation between self esteem issues and depression, many doctors and mental health professionals now require therapy. They don't want to just give the individual some medication to take. The combination of medication and therapy really seems to help them to reduce the effects of depression and to improve their self esteem.
Author Resource:-
Ronen David is the chairman of "Malam" (an Israeli organization supporting and representing those dealing with mental disabilities). He is the author of the "How to Cope With Psychosis & Schizophrenia Self Help Handbook".
Visit his web site and learn How To Cope With Psychosis and Schizophrenia
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