Self-esteem and mental health: How the two are interrelated?

It cannot be said that a person having low self-esteem would be more prone to mental health issues, but it can certainly be said that people with mental health issues also suffer from low self-esteem. Low self-esteem is related to issues like Anxiety and Depression too. Self-esteem is the value we place on ourselves; how we see each other and respect our self. One needs to treat him/herself with respect and care about their feelings and well-being.

This is a deeper issue than what we can discuss in one article. If you are one of those who has not been able to escape the weight of low self-esteem, it can lead up to mental health problems like Anxiety and Depression. That is because of the similarities in those states of mental health and low self-esteem.

According to Dr. Monica Baker from ThanksForTheHelp, "People with low self-esteem tend to have persistent problems like blaming and criticizing themselves constantly, thinking other people are better, hating one’s personality, and feeling hopelessness." Psychologists talk about how important is self-esteem to one’s mental health; it is more about giving value to yourself so you do not feel belittle with situations that do not matter.

"Psychiatrists tell us of exercises that will help us identify if we have self-esteem issues and how to overcome those. They ask multiple questions on a range of self-respect factors so to identify if you have a low self-esteem. There are multiple exercises to boost your self-esteem and keep it high. " – says Alex from TopAssignmentExperts

First of all, you need to stop blaming yourself for all the problems that exist in your life; there are some problems you do not have control over, so there is no point in mulling over that. Secondly, you have to stop criticizing yourself over every other situation that happens or has occurred in the past. You are not what causes the negativity in your life; but your thoughts are to be blamed for this. Thirdly, you need to keep those negative thoughts out of your head; that can only be done by focusing on the positives of your life and thinking on your achievements, not on the failures. The crux of it is to replace negativity with positivity.

People who think less of themselves also have a greater tendency to help others in the hope of acceptance and liking. They go out of their way to do things that they think will get people to like them. Many a times, this feeling doesn’t go reciprocated and gets even more harmful for the self-esteem of a person.

Body-image is another big factor that comes in self-esteem issues. Michael from PaperDoers says -  "Body image doesn’t mean having a chiseled body or a body devoid of any gimp and bump that we dislike. Accepting your body means feeling good about how you look and feel at ease about your physical self." If you do not feel good about your physical self, you can go ahead and join a gym; people actually do that to look good and it helps boosting their self-esteem. You can also go ahead and do exercises; this will make you feel refreshed and healthy. You see frequent discussions about body-shaming and how many people with a larger than ‘socially accepted’ size came out and flaunted their body; this was their move to show that they are happy with the body size and they do not have to lose weight or gain it to be at ease with their body and liking themselves.