Self esteem is technically defined as how a person views his or her own worth. There are many things which a person may face which directly impact the self esteem of a person. When these levels are low it can cause serious problems in many areas of a person’s life.

When a person has a low self esteem it generally means that they do not think very highly of themselves. For example if a person has been told repeatedly that they are fat or ugly or maybe even stupid then over time they will begin to believe it. Once this happens these individuals will often have a very low opinion of themselves and think that they are what others have told them they are.

Once a person has sunk to a level of low self esteem it can often be very difficult to change. For some people it may even take years of therapy or counseling for them to finally be able to say something good about themselves.

There are many things which can occur in a person’s life to cause them to suffer from low self esteem. Some of the most common problems which may lead to this includes:

Obesity

Disfiguring scars

Disability

Abuse

Obesity is one of the biggest causes of low self esteem. When a person suffers from obesity they often feel as though there is nothing they can do to stop people from looking down on them. The truth of the matter is that while obesity is a leading cause of low self esteem it is also one of the few causes that a person can actually change without too much difficulty. This is not to say it is easy because it is far from it but with hard work and determination it can be done.

Disfiguring scars or birth defects are another thing which is high on the list of causes when it comes to low self esteem. Many of these individuals feel as if everyone is staring at them wherever they go. While some of these scars may be able to be corrected others cannot forcing a person to live with the problem throughout their lives. Counseling and therapy may be a good start in these individuals learning that they are just as good as anyone else they simply look different.

When a person is disabled in one way or another it can have a dramatic impact on their self esteem. This is often because they feel if they are not as good as other people because they cannot do some things. It is important for these people to realize that just because they may take longer to do some things they are no less important than the next person.

Abuse is something that deeply impacts a person’s self esteem in a major way. Just the fact that a person is the subject of abuse often makes them feel that something is wrong with them. The truth of the matter is that there is something wrong with the person committing the abuse not the person being abused.