Reflection
Self-worth is often shaped in relationship.
Difficulties with self-worth may show up as harsh self-judgment, shame, achievement pressure, difficulty receiving care, or the persistent feeling of not being enough. These experiences are rarely abstract. They are often formed through relationship.
A person may know, intellectually, that they are competent or valued while still feeling internally inadequate. Psychoanalytic therapy can help examine the standards, early experiences, identifications, and relational patterns that shape how a person comes to regard the self.
Work on self-worth may include the meaning of criticism, success, dependency, desire, limitation, and the fear of being seen too clearly. Treatment does not offer a quick replacement of one thought with another. It creates conditions for more durable understanding.
Nicole Glass, MA, LCPC offers self-esteem and self-worth therapy for adults in Chicago, with attention to anxiety, depression, relationship patterns, and identity.