Print Low self-image refers to a negative view of yourself and a lack of belief in your own worth or abilities. If you struggle with low self-image you may view yourself negatively, struggle with feelings of incompetence, or experience a constant fear of rejection or failure. It can manifest in various ways, from persistent self-criticism, feelings of shyness, to difficulty in asserting your needs or avoiding challenges. Low self-image is a common yet impactful issue that affects many people across different stages of life.
Treatment approaches:
Fortunately, there are helpful and proven effective psychological treatments for improving your self-image. A psychologist can apply different forms of therapy during your treatment. You can find the most commonly used forms of therapy for low self image below:
CBT
In CBT, you will explore the connection between your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. The CBT model suggests that life experiences shape an individual’s beliefs about themselves, others and the world. These beliefs then influence how you perceive situations (thoughts and feelings) and how you react to them (behavior).
CBT suggests if you struggle with a low self-image, you might hold negative beliefs about yourself, such as “I am not good enough” or “I am not acceptable.” These beliefs lead to unhelpful thoughts, biases, and behaviors that maintain your low self image in the long term and keep you stuck in a vicious cycle. For example, you may avoid speaking up or trying new things to avoid rejection or failure and triggering your core belief. CBT helps you break this cycle by helping you to change these (unrealistic) negative beliefs, thoughts, and unhelpful behaviors.
In CBT treatment, you can expect to cover topics such as:
- Becoming aware of your automatic unhelpful thoughts.
- Recognizing your underlying beliefs.
- Analyzing the consequences of your behaviors.
- Replacing self-criticism with self-compassion.
- Developing healthier, more flexible thoughts and beliefs.
- Testing your negative expectations and confronting your fears through behavioral experiments.
COMET
COMET is a trans-diagnostic intervention that is usually applied as part of a treatment. The COMET approach to treating low self-image is based on the theory that when someone struggles with low self-image, negative and unhelpful beliefs about themselves are triggered too frequently and given too much attention. COMET aims to reduce the strength of these negative beliefs, allowing more positive and realistic beliefs to emerge and strengthen to readjust the balance. In particular they suggest that if you struggle with low self image you feel your negative sides much more than your positive sides.
COMET focuses on helping you to recognize this imbalanced view of yourself, which tends to overly emphasize negative qualities. It then works to enhance the emotional strength of positive characteristics and beliefs often using exercises involving imagery. Finally it encourages acknowledging both positive and negative qualities to achieve a more realistic, and balanced self-image.
The Barrel of Self-esteem
The barrel of self-esteem is a psychological model for behavioral change. Two metaphors are central in this model: the barrel and the switches. Imagine your self-esteem as a liquid that fills a barrel. The more self-esteem you have, the fuller your barrel. Self-esteem is the positive stuff—things you enjoy, are proud of, or that boost your mood. Emptiness is the negative stuff—bad memories, habits, or feelings of inadequacy. If your barrel is mostly full, you feel good and handle life’s challenges better.
Experiences act like switches that can fill or drain your barrel. Positive switches, like a nice cup of coffee, a compliment from your boss or a nice thought, add to your self-esteem. Negative switches, like criticism, an arguement or forgetting something important, drain it. Being able to observe both those experiences is a skill that helps fill the barrel. You positively reinforce your observations through complimenting yourself. Since a compliment is always positive, this creates an important third switch, the “recovering positive switch”. This way you can fill the barrel and gain self-esteem both through positive and negative experiences. Basically it means you practice becoming aware of what is both good and bad for you.
You can learn more about the barrel of self esteem here.
Sources:
- https://www.psychologytools.com/self-help/low-self-esteem/
- COMET voor negatief zelfbeeld Kees Korrelboom
- https://niceday.app/en/barrel-of-self-esteem/
