Highlights
February marks the beginning of National Boost Self-Esteem Month, a celebration of self-love, confidence, and strength. Self-esteem contributes to an individual’s overall well-being, helping establish positive relationships and boosting self-confidence.
Learn how to help your patients find ways to boost self-esteem this month and in the future through therapy and self-guided resources.
National Boost Self-Esteem Month is a time to promote self-awareness and self-confidence among all people. As a psychological concept, self-esteem can be traced to the 18th century, when enlightenment writers touched on the need to think well of oneself to explore their full potential.
It wasn’t until the latter half of the 20th century that the modern self-esteem movement began. In 1965, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) was created to measure self-worth. In 1986, California set up a task force to promote self-esteem and improve the collective self-image of society.
Today, self-esteem is recognized as a vital element of the human experience and is a core focus for most therapists who work with young and adult patients.
National Boost Self-Esteem Month aims to bring awareness to how self-esteem affects an individual’s physical and mental health and share resources to help people feel happier and more confident in how they perceive themselves.
A 2023 meta-analysis found that well-developed self-esteem helps maintain fulfilling friendships, academic and career success, and psychological well-being.
By devoting an entire month to boosting self-esteem, people can put their well-being at the forefront and learn ways to improve their feelings about themselves to lead happier, more fulfilled lives.
National Boost Self-Esteem Month is a time for people to recognize the importance of self-esteem and how it can affect their lives. It’s an opportunity for those struggling with low self-esteem to explore how they can improve their self-confidence and overall mental health.
Cultivating self-compassion might enhance self-belief to increase satisfaction with oneself. People with high levels of self-compassion tend to have higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of self-criticism and concern over mistakes. Athletes tend to have higher self-esteem, so even when receiving criticism, they have fewer critical thoughts and view it as a learning experience instead.
Self-compassion is also significant when thinking positively about physical health. A 2022 study reported that mothers with higher self-compassion had better-quality diets, intuitive eating capacities, and reduced incidence of emotional eating than those with lower self-compassion.
Adolescence is a critical period for developing self-esteem through early interventions. These years are a crucial time for neurodevelopment and preventing negative outcomes like mental disorders and socially unacceptable behaviors.
Interventions at this stage are critical because self-esteem among young teenagers may decrease due to stressful life transitions, such as moving to new schools, handling academic pressure, or dealing with social comparisons.
For instance, digital interventions, such as a smartphone-based app, may improve self-esteem because it comes with several tools to help people change their behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. These interventions are inexpensive, and young people might be more willing to accept and engage with them.
Several therapeutic approaches can help people address self-criticism, avoidance, underlying beliefs, and harmful attitudes. Two of the most effective, according to recent research, are cognitive behavioral therapy and compassion-focused therapy.
A 2021 study of young participants who took part in CBT found that self-compassionate thought records, behavior interventions, and self-monitoring for criticism helped address their fears.
Two groups of people treated with cognitive-behavioral group therapy for major depressive disorder showed significant increases in self-esteem and optimism immediately, three months, and six months later.
Compassion-focused therapy may help those who have not developed ways to regulate their negative emotions to understand how to soothe themselves and develop a compassion-based mindset. A 2021 meta-analysis of studies on compassion-focused therapy found that it effectively improved self-esteem.
You can use a variety of approaches to address your client’s self-esteem issues during Boost Self-Esteem Month and throughout the year. Here are a few of the most effective tools and resources you can use to help your clients boost their self-esteem.
For clients who like to read and explore on their own, you can recommend self-esteem focused books. Many works include exercises and reflections your client can use to boost their self-esteem in their own time and at their own pace.
Popular titles include:
For additional recommendations, see this reading list.
Many clients struggling with self-esteem may find it difficult to leave their homes to attend a therapy session. If they deal with social anxiety or low self-worth, offering self-esteem counseling through virtual tools can help them get the care they need without additional challenges.
Use therapy practice management software that offers virtual care options so you can walk your patients through self-esteem exercises to help boost their confidence. For example, you can provide all-encompassing treatment such as cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness-based therapy online. You can also incorporate self-esteem exercises like the following into virtual care:
Support your client’s self-esteem journey by suggesting an app they can use on their phone every day. Offer your clients a list of possible platforms to help them improve their self-esteem with a simple daily check-in they can access whenever needed. Top-rated self-esteem apps include:
As a https://thinkup.me/therapist, you work to help clients boost their self-esteem every day. Use Boost Self-Esteem Month to focus specifically on your client’s self-esteem and provide resources they can use to improve their confidence and belief in themselves.
To ensure you can devote your full attention to your clients, take care of behind-the-scenes tasks with an integrated therapy EHR. ClinicSource offers scheduling, documentation, and billing features that work together from an all-in-one dashboard. It also features customizable, mental health-specific templates for simplified documentation.
Schedule a demo to see how ClinicSource’s all-in-one therapy EHR software can streamline practice management so you can spend more time working with your patients.
