Self-esteem plays a central role in our relationships with ourselves and those around us. When we feel good about ourselves, we are more accepting of love, affection, and positive emotion—but feelings of inadequacy or low self-worth can take a major toll.
Poor self-esteem can translate into difficult relationships and various mental health struggles without us even realizing it. Some of the most common challenges that come with it include the following:
Low self-esteem may lead to depression
Depression is one of the most common yet difficult conditions to live with. It can be triggered by different things, including worry or dissatisfaction about your appearance, and thus, poor self-esteem. It impacts the way you see yourself and those around you, makes you isolate and distance yourself too. It is a very real mental health concern, and like any other illness, requires care, possible treatment, and attention for you to recover fully. It’s important that you seek out help if you feel hopeless, isolated, or experience other symptoms as a result of your depression.
Anxiety is another common issue
Anxiety and low self-esteem tend to go hand in hand, especially because of the way it affects social and personal interactions. Many anxiety disorders, including GAD, body dysmorphia, ad social anxiety disorder, can co-exist with or be both the cause and/or result of low self-esteem. This is because anxiety affects your core beliefs and self-perception, as well as imagined perception from those around us. It can be difficult to move past mistakes or what you see as flaws when you have anxiety, which is why something like hair loss can be difficult to cope with.
Developing harmful coping mechanisms
Another difficult and often tabooed side effect of low self-esteem is the reliance on unhealthy coping mechanisms like drinking, smoking, gambling, reckless sexual decisions, and more. This is primarily because these reckless behaviors trigger both temporary highs and can offer a false sense of control, and like you’re making conscious decisions. You’ll often find that you resort to making rash decisions and poor life choices or relying on drugs and alcohol to numb the negative feelings and emotions you’re experiencing.
Poor interpersonal relationships
As a result of all of this, it’s also likely that you have unstable interpersonal relationships too. This is largely because it can be difficult to be vulnerable about how we feel with those we love and are closest to. It can also be the other way round, with that poor self-belief and esteem causing you to choose people who are bad for you, bring you down, and criticize you, be it your achievements or your appearance.
But self-esteem can be built up and repaired. You’re not alone in your struggles and your challenges and, in fact, deserve to be appreciated and have healthy, fulfilling relationships with yourself and those around you. If you’re struggling with hair thinning or loss, seek hair loss treatment in DE with Delaware Scalp Micropigmentation. Contact them to know more about their SMP hair treatment and other details about the procedure to help restore your confidence!
