Treating Self-Esteem in Virginia and Washington DC

Most people face some sort of struggle with their self-esteem at some point in their life. These struggles are a natural part of the human experience. Long-term feelings of inadequacy, ongoing self-criticism, and constant feelings of “not good enough” can be helped by therapy. Chronic self-esteem issues can effect every aspect of a person’s life, including friendships, romantic connections, professional goals and overall contentment. People who struggle with low self-esteem often have an ongoing, negative, internal dialogue that they are powerless to shut down. They tell me they wish they could ‘stop thinking’ and have difficulty being alone simply because they do not want to experience the negative thoughts that come along with this. Although they may be very successful in many areas of their life, people with chronic low self-worth still struggle with feeling ‘good enough’ or feel they don’t deserve what they have.

Therapy can help you learn ways to manage the issues that may be affecting your self-esteem. Therapy can help a person with low self-esteem by:

Becoming more aware of the negative, critical, thinking spiral that many with low self-esteem struggle with.

Learning to turn down the volume on your internal critic.

More fully accept yourself, as you are.

Developing ways to see yourself in a more (realistic) positive light.

Developing ways to be less hard on yourself and more tolerant.

Finding peace with your perceived flaws.

When people become at peace within themselves they no longer engage in repetitive self-criticism and find they have more room to be present in their pursuits and relationships. Most importantly, they tend to enjoy life more.