Boosting Self-Esteem Essay

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Running head: BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM Building Self-Esteem Michelle Burkhart Grand Canyon University: PSY-460 Fundamentals of Counseling and Guidance October 21, 2012 Building Self-Esteem What is self-esteem and how does it affect someone with a psychological disorder? What steps can be taken to build self-esteem? This essay will hopefully answer some of those questions. Self-Esteem Self-esteem is somewhat a confusing concept to define and has many misconceptions, some people believe self-esteem is merely just feeling good or having positive feelings about themselves. Some have also attribute traits such as egotism, arrogance, conceit, and narcissism with self-esteem. Self-esteem is actually characterized by tolerance and respect for others, responsibility for their own actions, have integrity, have pride in their accomplishments, are self-motivated, able to handle criticism, being able to love and is loved, seek challenges and stimulation of worthwhile, and take command and control of their lives. These are people that have healthy self-esteem. Low Self-Esteem Typically people with low self-esteem focus on trying to prove themselves, they try to impress others. They may use others for their own gain. Some act with arrogance and show strong contempt to others. They lack confidence in themselves and often have doubts of their self-worth and cannot accept themselves. They view themselves as failures and frequently blame others for their shortcomings and do not take responsibility for their actions. There is a close relationship to such problems as violence, alcoholism, eating disorders, drug abuse, teen pregnancy, school dropout, suicide and low academic achievement. So for anyone with a psychological disorder, self-esteem is a critical component for the individual’s recovery. Building Self-Esteem Building self-esteem can help to
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