A healthy level of self-confidence allows you to handle life’s setbacks and contributes to an overall positive outlook. However, low self-confidence can hold you back and even diminish the quality of your relationships. Thriving Center of Psychology in Midtown, New York, NY, SoHo, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Miami, FL, can help you improve your self-confidence so that you can live your best life. Go to the website or call the offices to book a session with a compassionate, experienced mental health provider.
Self-Confidence Q & A
Why is self-confidence important?
Sometimes called self-esteem, self-confidence describes someone who believes they are a worthwhile individual who has good qualities and deserves the best out of life. When you have a healthy dose of self-confidence, you feel good about yourself, and you generally enjoy the experiences that come with accomplishment and thrive in personal relationships.
On the contrary, if you suffer from low self-confidence, you might develop a poor self-image, experience low achievement, have interpersonal and relationship difficulties, and struggle with poor mental health.
People who experience low self-esteem for the long term have a greater possibility of exhibiting:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Substance abuse
- Excessive risk-taking
- Cutting or self-harm
What causes a lack of self-confidence?
Bullying, abuse, and other adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can lead to decreased self-confidence, even far into adulthood.
Negative “self-talk” is another contributor to low self-confidence. Repeatedly criticizing yourself can increasingly incapacitate you because you eventually start to believe the self-critical things you say or think.
Some examples of negative self-talk are:
- “I’m not smart enough to get that promotion.”
- “Nobody likes me.”
- “I don’t deserve to be happy.”
- “I fail at everything I try.”
- “Nothing ever goes my way.”
Unfortunately, negative self-talk and the corresponding beliefs often magnify into negative attitudes about other people and the world in general. This pattern can lead to depression and other mental health problems.
How can therapy help improve my self-confidence?
The caring and highly skilled practitioners at Thriving Center of Psychology draw on various psychological methods to help you arrest negative self-talk and restore self-confidence.
After your initial consultation, your provider works with you to build a treatment plan suited to your needs. Your personalized plan may include:
- Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)
- Group therapy
- Psychotherapy (talk therapy)
- Neurofeedback (electroencephalographic or EEG biofeedback)
What is neurofeedback?
If you want to improve your self-confidence, consider trying neurofeedback, or electroencephalograph (EEG) biofeedback. This form of training is a noninvasive treatment that works with your brain waves in real time.
With neurofeedback training, your provider teaches you what your brainwave activity reveals about your thoughts and actions, particularly your self-talk. You also get coaching on how to control your responses so that you can boost your self-image, halt negative self-talk, and enhance your emotional stability.
Heightened self-confidence will help you develop a more positive outlook and make life more rewarding. Take the first step and call the offices at Thriving Center of Psychology, or go online to schedule an in-person or online TeleTherapy consultation today.