Self-esteem plays a huge role in our mental health and can have a significant impact on an individual’s thinking and behaviour. In this guide, we’re going to be explaining exactly what self-esteem is, how it affects those struggling with addiction and steps you can take to improve it.
What is Self-Esteem?
Self-esteem refers to the way in which someone values themselves. Those who value themselves highly have a high self-esteem, while those that have little confidence in their own worth have low self-esteem.
Why is Self-Esteem Important?
An individual’s self-esteem can have a significant impact on the way in which they think and how they behave. Someone with a healthy self-esteem values themselves highly and will therefore dedicate their lives to doing things they deem worthy of their time, leading to an overall more enjoyable life.
Someone with low self-esteem won’t expect much from life, often settling for an unfulfilling lifestyle and preventing themselves from striving for success through self-sabotage.
Is There a Connection Between Self-Esteem and Addiction?
The psychological cause and effect of addiction varies for each individual but can often include pain, stress, depression, anxiety and low self-esteem.
Obsessive negative thinking commonly results in compulsive behaviours, despite the harmful consequences. These repetitive and often destructive cycles can have a profound negative effect upon an individual’s emotional state and other areas of their well being.
Individuals with low self-esteem are at greater risk of developing an addiction as they are more likely to engage in high risk behaviours and seek out short term highs through drugs, alcohol or gambling to replace the negative feelings they have about themselves.
Even when the individual tries to quit of their own accord, it can be incredibly difficult as these negative feelings of low self worth often trigger a relapse, creating a cycle.
It’s also possible for individuals with a generally high sense of self esteem to experience feelings of low self worth if they begin using alcohol and drugs regularly. This is due to the stigma surrounding addiction, which frequently leads to feelings of shame, especially if it has impacted areas such as relationships and jobs.
How Low Self-Esteem Keeps People Trapped in Addiction
Overall low self-esteem, with the added feelings of shame are the reason why many people struggling with addictions don’t seek the help and support that they so desperately require.
They may feel as though they don’t deserve help, or that they will never be granted forgiveness if their loved ones find out about their addiction.
The reality is that these types of thoughts only feed into the addiction, keeping people trapped in the cycle.
How to Improve Self Esteem
Get Plenty of Sleep
Getting too little sleep negatively impacts how you feel. Make sure to get the recommended 7 hours minimum of sleep each night in order to promote optimal mental and physical health.
Eat Well
What we eat doesn’t only affect our physical health but our mental health too. Maintaining a well balanced diet will make you feel much better in yourself and help to keep your energy levels up throughout the day.
Practise Mindfulness and Meditation
Deep breathing is a great way to calm the body when we start to feel tense and negative. This is because deep breathing boosts the supply of oxygen to the brain, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system that controls bodily functions during moments of stress.
There are also many meditation for self-esteem courses available for free online that you could try.
Be Kind To Yourself
Learning to treat yourself as you would a friend helps you to develop self-compassion, something which makes us less likely to be depressed, anxious, insecure and stressed. Have regular self check-ins to ask yourself how you’re feeling and whether you can do anything to improve your current mental health.
Low Self-Esteem and Addiction Recovery
Addiction recovery helps to identify these negative feelings of low-self esteem, explore the root cause and provide the necessary tools and skills to cope when these feelings arise in the future to prevent a relapse.
The Acquiesce Recovery Programme
At Acquiesce, our programme addresses both the physical and psychological aspects of addiction and recovery, which is absolutely paramount to a successful recovery journey.
Our psychological therapy explores the individual’s mind relating to their mental and emotional state, including their self-esteem.
The Acquiesce rehab programme allows individuals to recognise and understand the psychological aspect of their addiction and provides them with solutions to cope.
This is achieved through a combination of evidenced based therapies, approaches and activities which are delivered by our highly trained and experienced team in both group and one-to-one settings. These therapies include:
- Cognitive behavioural therapy approaches
- Motivational interviewing
- Psychosocial interventions
- One to one counselling
- 12 Step approaches
- ITEP
- Behavioural activation
- Mindfulness
- Art therapy approaches
- Music therapy approaches
The rehab programme of therapies is tailored to suit each individual and their specific needs.
It is designed to provide all the tools and techniques necessary to change negative psychological patterns.
The Acquiesce urban recovery rehab model allows individuals to implement and practise these tools in a real world setting, while still being in a safe and supported environment. This results in aiding a healthy, on-going and sustainable recovery journey.
For more information about how we can help you get on the road to recovery, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a free, confidential consultation with one of our expert recovery practitioners.
