What are the causes and consequences for people with low self-esteem?
- Colleen Norman
- Nov 2, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 1
“I avoid looking in the mirror because I feel ugly, unacceptable, and unlovable. I don’t like who I am, and I want to change everything about my appearance.”
What is low self-esteem? A person with low self-esteem has a negative sense of self (Fennell & Jenkins, 2004). People may feel useless and like a failure, impacting their lives. There is not a single cause for low self-esteem, but it is the result of various underlying issues. According to the DSM-IV-TR (APA 2000), low self-esteem is NOT an emotional or personality disorder.
The relationship between self-esteem and presenting problems varies from person to person. For example, low self-esteem may result from depression, anxiety, or trauma. Once the issue has been identified, treating it often restores self-esteem. “Finally, it may act as a vulnerability factor for other problems, such as depression, eating disorders, and social anxiety” (Fennell and Jenkins, 2004).
A cognitive model of low self-esteem indicates that experience leads to negative beliefs about the self. To illustrate, if a parent constantly calls his child “stupid” the child could develop negative beliefs about himself. If there are siblings in the family, they often follow the parent’s example and begin to call the child “stupid.”Low self-esteem may impact the child’s grades which reinforces the negative core belief that he is “stupid.” Based on these beliefs, the child develops guidelines for living (conditional dysfunctional assumptions).
The child may adopt different coping strategies. First, he may try to hide his self-perception and criticism by working hard but may avoid challenges when he feels he cannot achieve his goals. His strategy becomes “If I work hard, I’ll avoid criticism’ and it is better not to try than to fail.”
According to Fennel and Jenkins (2004), dysfunctional assumptions allow people to maintain their self-esteem if their terms are met within their parameters. Should the same child encounter a problem, it will activate a ‘negative trigger prediction’. For example, ‘I’m going to fail this test.’ The negative trigger prediction leads to further anxiety which in turn may create further negative triggers, avoidance, and safety behaviors. Anxious preoccupation may impact performance (the mind goes blank). When the bottom line is confirmed, self-critical thinking and hopelessness follow, affecting one’s mood. This may in turn lead to mood disorder or clinical depression.
If people encounter a situation where their assumptions are not met and there is no uncertainty, they may head directly to self-critical thinking and depression without experiencing anxiety.
Harris, S. (1993). Causes and consequences of Low Self-Esteem in Children and Adolescents. In: Baumeister R.F. (eds) Self-Esteem. The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology.
Springer, Boston, M.A. https://doi/org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8956-9_5
Fennel, M, Jenkins, H. (2004) Oxford Guide to Behavioural Experiment in Cognitive Therapy, Oxford Press.
What are the solutions for low self-esteem?
Comments