Why Do I Have Low Self-Esteem, and What Can I Do About It?

Man suffering from low self-esteem

Do you feel good about yourself? Would you say that you’re a good person, worth knowing, loving, employing, or befriending? It’s important for your mental health and well-being to have sufficient self-esteem. Poor self-esteem, when you answer “no” to some or most of the above questions, can make it difficult for you to live a full life and stand up for your own worth.

What causes someone to have low self-esteem? It’s not a lack of positive qualities, as many strong, interesting, successful people still struggle with feelings of poor self-esteem. Your low self-esteem may be rooted in past traumas or unconscious beliefs, causing problems that can be difficult to understand.

At Nugent Family Counseling Center, our team of mental health and psychiatry experts, under the leadership of Dr. Geoff Nugent, work with new and existing patients to break the negative cycle of low self-esteem.

When you pair with one of our providers from our San Jose and Sunnyvale, California offices, you explore the underlying causes of your low self-esteem, and start the process of healing and reclaiming your sense of inner worth and confidence.

Unlearning low self-esteem

Self-esteem issues are often rooted deep in your past. There may have been a time in your childhood or early life when you felt insecure in your caregivers’ love and presence.

This insecurity can cause you to turn inward on yourself, believing yourself to be insufficient or undeserving of love. If this happened to you, you might still struggle to see yourself as worthy or deserving, even as a highly accomplished adult.

Other traumas that occur later in your life can also negatively impact your self-esteem, even if you had positive self-esteem in childhood. For example, many people struggle to reclaim self-esteem after job loss, divorce, or bankruptcy. Your weight can also negatively affect your self-esteem at various points in your life.

However, you should know that you don’t have to live with difficult emotions of low self-esteem forever. Healing is a real possibility for you, no matter when your self-esteem problems began.

Healing your self-esteem

Your provider at Nugent Family Counseling Center supports you with unconditional positive regard as you recover from low self-esteem. We use a variety of therapeutic approaches, including counseling and neurofeedback, to help you fully heal from the traumas and damaging impacts of past events, rebuilding your sense of your strong, in-control, deeply worthy self.

For the compassionate care and understanding you need to recover from the low self-esteem that keeps you from reaching for everything you deserve in your personal, professional, and private life, get in touch with Dr. Nugent and the team at Nugent Family Counseling Center today.

Schedule your appointment with a member of our team with our online tool, or call now to book.