Counseling for Low Self-Esteem in Teenagers
Self-esteem can be described as a person's perception of their own worth. Developing healthy self-esteem is one of the big goals of adolescence. It is also the time when we are most vulnerable to experiencing low self-esteem. As children turn into teenagers their source of self-esteem shifts from their parents to their friends and their actual skills, talents and abilities in the real world. This can be a very rocky process for some teenagers especially if they are burdened by earlier childhood problems in developing self-esteem.
Part of the reason developing healthy self-esteem can be so difficult for teenagers is that they have to learn that they are able to absorb and survive the betrayals, hardships and disappointments that life throws at them. Because of their developmental stage and their inexperience this can be a very difficult lesson for teenagers to learn and sometimes the demands of the real world vastly out weigh their ability to deal with them.
Counseling therapy can help teenagers to explore and work through the obstacles to healthy self-esteem. As teenagers learn to verbalize and understand what is happening to them and how it affects their emotional state the more they are able to weather life's threats and maintain their self-esteem intact. The nonjudgmental and supportive environment of counseling gives teenagers the time and space they need to heal and grow in healthy, realistic ways.
By Miguel Brown