[A] person with high self-esteem believes they are a good person; they can recognize their good qualities and will generally strive for a happy and successful life. Someone with low self-esteem has negative feelings about themselves, believing that they are not worthy of love, happiness or success.
National Alliance on Mental Illness
Actions For Now
Steps (& Apps) to Reduce Symptoms
- National Association for Self-Esteem (NASE): Rate your self-esteem, read the latest research, and engage in activities to boost it
- Life With Confidence: Find games, quotes, articles, and more to cultivate confidence
- “5 Yoga Poses For Confidence and Inner Strength”: Engage the mind-body connection with these empowering yoga poses
- CBT Worksheets: These PDF worksheets were designed to improve self-esteem
- “5 Mantras for Daily Self-Love”: This infographic lists 5 mantras for you to hold in mind when your self-esteem feels threatened
- “5 Easy Steps That Help You Build Self-Esteem with Meditation”: A brief, written meditation for building confidence
- The Kanye West Self-Confidence Generator: Get inspired by the singer who “love[s] you like Kanye loves Kanye”
- “The 15 Day Confidence Challenge”: New activities for each day designed to push your boundaries and improve your self-esteem
- Self Esteem Worksheets: 18 exercises for kids, teens, and adults
- “5 Everyday Practices to Boost Your Confidence”: These techniques from Bossed Up will help you gain the self-assuredness you need, particularly in the workplace
- More Self-Esteem Worksheets: These worksheets target adults, and cover topics like challenging negative thoughts, creating gratitude journals, listing positive traits, and more
- “A Guided Meditation to Quiet Self-Doubt and Boost Confidence: This video will guide you through a roughly 11 minute long meditation for boosting self-esteem
- “6 Steps Towards More Confidence At Work”: Tips for building your professional self-image and morale
- “10 Ways to Appear Confident (When You’re Really Not)”: Physical tips for coming across as confident
- “6 Personal Commitments to Overcome Low Self-Esteem”: 6 changes you can make in how you act and think as you move towards a greater sense of self-worth
- “10 Minute Guided Meditation for Confidence and Self-Esteem”: This audio meditation (presented in video format) is designed to uplift and inspire
- “How to Make Confident Eye-Contact With Anyone”: Practice looking others directly in the eye with these helpful tips
Apps
- Build Self-Esteem Hypnosis: Offers guided meditations on eliminating negative self-talk
Healthy Relationship with Body Image and Food
- Health At Every Size (HAES): Find podcasts, books, blogs, and community resources on HAES’s website
- Eating Disorder Screening Tool: Are you struggling with body image and eating healthily? This help can help you determine whether it’s a good idea to seek professional help.
- “7 Steps to Instant Body Confidence”: There’s no miracle trick to gaining unshakeable self-esteem, but these tips will help guide you on your journey towards body positivity
- My Name is Jessamyn: Practice yoga with body-positive yogi Jessamyn Stanley
- “How to Boost Your Body Confidence This Summer”: This blog looks at how and why our body image dips in the summer (hint—swimsuits are involved), and ways you can fight that trend
- “3 Tips For Coping With Triggers in Eating Disorder Recovery”: How to handle situations where you’re tempted to engage in unhealthy eating patterns.
For Allies
Give the Best Support Possible
- “How to Boost the Confidence of Others”: Simple strategies for letting others know how great they are
- “10 Tips On How to Build Confidence In Kids”: Encourage the young people in your life to love and feel proud of themselves
- “How to Help A Partner With Low Self-Esteem in 6 Creative Ways”: Support your partner and/or spouse with these tricks
- “What Not To Say To Someone With Low Self-Esteem”: Steer away from these common phrases when speaking with a friend whose self-esteem has suffered due to a breakup, a bad layoff, etc.
- “Teaching Strategies to Build Student Confidence”: Advice for teachers on how to create an atmosphere that promotes student self-esteem
Body Image & Healthy Eating
- “How to Help a Friend With Eating and Body Image Issues”: Ideas from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
- “Kids Who Won’t Eat: How to Help Children With Eating Disorders”: A piece from Parents on recognizing dangerous eating patterns and how to combat them
- “How to Help Someone With An Eating Disorder”: Advice for supporting friends and family members and identifying the best type of treatment
- “The Impact of Body Image on Patient Care”: A case vignette and analysis from the Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
You’re Not Alone
Connect with Others, Hear their Stories & Access Playlists
Stories
- “How to Talk Yourself Down From A Self-Esteem Spiral”: Haley Nahman shares the skills she uses to recover from feelings of self-doubt and low confidence
- “Brand New Kind of My: How I Overcame Low Self-Esteem and Negativity To Be a Better Me (and You Can Too)”: Writer Jazmine Denise shares her tips on boosting confidence. Note that one of her tips has a religious leaning, but the others are applicable to people of all belief systems,
- “To Dye or Not to Dye? Dr. Julie Lopez on the Difficulties and Joys of Going Gray”: The pressures of maintaining a youthful appearance are discussed in this blog post. Dr. Lopez shares why she decided to ultimately embrace her changing appearance.
Healthy Relationship with Body Image and Food
- Food Psych Podcast: Leaders in the Body Positive and Health at All Sizes movements discuss intuitive eating, eating disorder recovery, nutrition, and more.
- “My Story on Low Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem”: A teen shares her struggles with her appearance, and how she learned that she deserves happiness
- BodyPosiPanda: Check out Megan Crabbe’s blog on recovery, diet culture, self-love, exercise, “and all things Bopo.” Subjects include “Body Image Beyond Size,” “5 Ways to Beat Food Guilt,” and “Standing Up For Self-Love in a Self-Loathing World”
- “17 Stories of Eating Disorder Survival”: Get inspired by these tales of healing
- “My Horrible Body Image Sabotaged Every Relationship Until I Did This”: How poor body confidence interfered with one woman’s relationships, and how she made a change
- “How I Began to Love My Body”: A four part blog series about one person’s struggle with body image, featuring advice for improving your own body confidence
- “The Experiences of Disordered Eating in Men”: Two men share their experiences with gratuitous exercising and purging, respectively
- Nourish & Eat: Blogger Gina reflects on her struggles with anorexia, orthorexia, excessive exercising, and anxiety, and how body positivity and self-acceptance changed her life.
- “9 Stories of Women’s Complicated Relationships With Their Bodies”: You might relate to one of these stories, shared via Buzzfeed
- “Eating Disorder Stories of Hope”: Readers sent in their stories of eating disorder recovery
Tune In
Check out our Spotify playlist for Confidence & Body Image here!
- “Confident,” Demi Lovato
- “Respect,” Aretha Franklin
- “I Won’t Back Down,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
- “Because I’m Me,” The Avalanches
- “Roar,” Katy Perry
- “My Way,” Frank Sinatra
- “***Flawless,” Beyoncé
- “Suddenly I See,” KT Tunstall
- “I Have Confidence,” Julie Andrews
- “Q.U.E.E.N.” Janelle Monae & Erykah Badhu
- “F*ckin’ Perfect,” P!nk
- “Radioactive,” Imagine Dragons
- “Good As Hell,” Lizzo
- “I’m Still Standing,” Elton John
- “Born This Way,” Lady Gaga
- “Grown Woman,” Beyoncé
- “I Am Light,” India.Arie
- “Who Says,” Selena Gomez
- “Started From the Bottom,” Drake
- “Love Myself,” Hailee Steinfeld
- “Girl On Fire,” Alicia Keys
- “Brave,” Sara Bareilles
- “Run the World (Girls),” Beyoncé
- “Doubt,” Mary J. Blige
- “Fight Song,” Rachel Platten
- “Don’t Stop Me Now,” Queen
- “Scars to Your Beautiful,” Alessia Cara
- “Video,” India.Arie
- “Estoy Aqui,” Shakira
- “That’s My Girl,” Fifth Harmony
- “Thursday,” Jess Glynne
- “7 Rings,” Ariana Grande
Master The Subject
Learn How it Works & The Science Behind It
- “This is Where Self-Esteem Lives in the Brain”: See which part of the brain controls our self-esteem and learn why some people have “stronger” self-esteem centers than others
- “9 Powerful TED Talks to Boost Your Self Confidence”: These TED talks discuss subjects like self-image, body language, everyday phobias, and more
- “Body Image, Self-Esteem, and Mental Health”: This page examines the complex relationship between these body confidence, self-image, and mental wellness
- “Training the Brain to Boost Self-Esteem”: A look into the neuroscience of self-esteem, and how working with brainwaves can transform it
- The Dove Self-Esteem Project: Resources for teachers, parents, youth, and more on subjects including bullying, body image, gender stereotypes, etc.
- “Building Self-Confidence”: Mindtools offers both video and text resources explaining what self-confidence is and the steps you can take to boost yours
- “Your Job Affects Your Self-Esteem: Make it a Positive Effect”: How to ensure that the effect your career has on your life is positive
- “The Problem of Perfection”: The Confidence Code reflects on how the drive for perfection can be harmful. This resource is targeted towards women, but is applicable to people of all gender identities.
- “Confidence with Lea Sloan”: Tools to alter our neuropsychological experience and boost our confidence
- “Low Self-Esteem” from Simply Psychology: Learn the research behind why self-esteem is important, especially in teens and children
- “The Importance of Self-Esteem for Kids with Learning and Attention Issues”: Learn more about the relationship between learning and confidence, and get advice for supporting the children around you
- “EMDR and Confidence, with Dr. Julie Lopez “: How EMDR therapy is used to treat issues of confidence
Healthy Relationship with Body Image and Food
- “What is Body Image?”: An overview of why it’s so important to have a positive relationship with one’s body
- “Self-Esteem and Body Image”: A webpage on the relationship between self-esteem and body image. While this information comes from the Center for Young Women’s Health, it applies to people of all ages and gender identities.
- “How Social Media is a Toxic Mirror”: This article from Time examines the relationship between social media and poor body image
- The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating: A nutrition therapist and a dietician specializing in eating disorder counseling came together to create this list.
- The Body is Not an Apology (TBINAA): Check out articles on dismantling weight stigma, the position of disabled women within the feminist movement, growing up mixed race, and more on TBINAA, a movement designed to foster radical self-love
- Overview of Eating Disorders from the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH): Learn the signs and methods of treatment for anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating
- Men’s Stories: Living With an Eating Disorder: This 30 minute documentary discusses eating disorders from a male perspective
- “Body Image: Is It Influenced By Your Family?”: What is the relationship between our parents and the way we view our bodies?
Advocate
Connect to the Larger Movement
- The Dove Self-Esteem Project: Resources for teachers, parents, youth, and more on subjects including bullying, body image, gender stereotypes, etc.
- National Association for Self-Esteem: This group serves to fully integrate self-esteem into the fabric of US society
Healthy Relationship with Body Image and Food
- National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA): This organization supports individuals and families affected by eating disorders
- The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Disorders (ANAD): A nonprofit working to improve education, prevention efforts, treatment, and advocacy for eating disorders