Low Sense of Self-Worth Treatment
What is low self-worth?
Do you feel “less than” or inadequate? Do you struggle with making decisions? Are you often comparing yourself to others and worried about how people perceive you? If so, you may be struggling with having low self-worth. Self-worth is defined as “the sense of one’s own value or worth as a person.” Low self-worth is when we do not hold ourselves in high regard and tend to put others needs before our own.
What causes low self-worth?
There are many reasons for low self-worth. Poor self-worth can occur when we compare ourselves to others and feel jealous or inadequate as a result. It can also be the result of emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuse from others. Commonly, low self-worth is the product of harsh and critical self-talk. For example, when we make a mistake, we say to ourselves “I’m such an idiot.” Sound familiar? This type of self-talk is near ubiquitous and can be quite damaging to your mental health.
Treatment for low self-worth
My practice is based on increasing self-compassion using a Compassion Focused Treatment approach. Learning to talk to yourself like a friend or loved one is powerful and liberating. I help patients identify their automatic self-talk, which is most commonly judgmental of self, and replace it with more compassionate and understanding self-talk. I also help patient's alter their self-perceptions. To illustrate, how many times have you chastised yourself for failing or making a mistake? I’m going to guess it’s too many to count. How many people do you know who are perfect and never make any mistakes? No one, right? Striving for perfection will inevitably lead to feeling like a failure. Being able to accept ourselves, flaws and all, is when we start to experience the freedom of self-love.
If you can relate to this, please contact me for a free consultation to see if I can help.