Self-Esteem/Body Image

Self-esteem

If you experience low self-esteem, you may often feel anxious, overthink things, or frequently doubt yourself around others. You may find you seek outside validation or poll others when making decisions. You may struggle with imposter syndrome and believe you need to work much harder than others in order to appear intelligent, competent, and capable. Low self-esteem leads you to minimize your strengths and positive attributes and negatively compare yourself to others. When low self-esteem is left untreated, it can profoundly impact your life and hold you back from following your dreams.

 

Self-confidence or self-esteem refers to how a person deep down feels about herself. Specifically, self-confidence relates to the worth and sense of value you place upon yourself. Low self-esteem occurs when a person experiences an overall negative opinion of oneself along with negatively evaluating and/or judging oneself. Low self-confidence is generally accompanied by negative statements about yourself, harsh self-criticism, and overall negative self-talk.  Low self-esteem in women often involves self-criticism and a general lack of self-compassion. Women with low self-confidence frequently experience feelings of sadness, anxiety, depression, frustration, guilt, and shame.

 

Low self-esteem may look like:

• Negatively viewing yourself
• Avoiding risks or trying new things out of fear of failing or not doing well
• Feeling self-conscious
• Striving to be perfect
• Over apologizing and difficult asserting yourself
• Agreeing with others or people pleasing
• Self-criticism
• Blaming yourself and being particularly hard on yourself
• Magnifying an y of your own weaknesses and minimizing your positives
• Feeling underserving of good things

 

Through a targeted approach to psychotherapy, you can identify any negative core beliefs you have about yourself and learn to develop more balanced ones. During this time, we will explore and examine your earliest life experiences and identify how they impact your present-day self. Through an interpersonal and targeted approach, therapy will deepen your awareness of any patterns in your thoughts, feelings, temperament, and subsequent behaviors that are maintaining low self-esteem. You deserve to love yourself, believe in yourself, and recognize your innate and unique value.

 

Body Image

The relationship you have with yourself and your own body is the longest and most intimate one of your life. Your body is your home, and you deserve to live in a home that you accept and love. No one is born hating her body. Negative body image is learned and therefore it’s possible to learn to become more accepting of your body, kinder to yourself, and ultimately more comfortable in your own skin.

Negative body-image is often rooted in feeling not good enough about yourself or that you are somehow flawed. If you struggle with body dissatisfaction you may find you are frequently preoccupied with your appearance, weight, and overall image. A negative body-image profoundly impacts one’s overall confidence and experience when interacting with the world.  Negative body-image or body dysmorphic disorder shapes the way you view yourself and your overall emotional well-being. Unrealistic perceptions of one’s body too often lead to a harsh inner dialogue accompanied by feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and frustration.

Below are some common signs of body image concerns or body dysmorphic disorder:

• Spending copious amounts of time and energy focused on your appearance
• Viewing your body as flawed or defective
• Going to great lengths to conceal or improve your perceived body flaw
• Finding that your efforts to improve your perceived flaw are negatively impacting your life

Common behaviors associated with body image concerns:

• Spending significant periods of time worrying about and evaluating a particular area of concern on your body
• Difficulty getting dressed, never feeling good in what you’re wearing
• Purposefully dressing in baggy clothing to disguise parts of your body
• Frequently looking at yourself in the mirror or avoiding mirrors completely
• Comparing your body to others

Through individual psychotherapy you can shift your thoughts and behaviors and embrace your body, develop self-acceptance, and cultivate body appreciation. With the right support and focus, you can grow to become more accepting of the body you have and honor all the ways it shows up for you each day. Psychotherapy provides you with the chance to discover the roots of your body-image concerns and ultimately become less critical of your appearance and more at peace in your own skin. You deserve to feel at home in your body and more confident each day.