"This involves noting your unhelpful thinking patterns and replacing them with more balanced, evidence-based, and realistic thoughts. Are you " Mind-reading", "fortune-telling", using "black-and-white thinking", "ignoring the positives" of what you've done, or " catastrophizing" your mistakes? These thinking traps and negative thoughts aren't necessarily reflections of reality, but are instead unconscious mental habits formed over time. By understanding that thoughts aren't facts, we can see how they cause inaccurate assumptions to be made about who we truly are, and our self-worth."
"You can come up with a more balanced alternative thoughts like: "People do like me; my friends say I'm a really good listener", or "I'm good enough to apply for this job; look at my CV!" This allows us to reduce the intensity and negativity of the thought, which makes us feel better emotionally. While our environment may be a key factor in our emotions, our interpretation is key."
Low self-esteem often stems from childhood trauma, abuse, bullying, exclusion, or later-life stressors such as financial strain, illness, and injury. Cognitive restructuring in CBT targets unhelpful thinking patterns like mind-reading, fortune-telling, black-or-white thinking, ignoring positives, and catastrophizing by replacing them with balanced, evidence-based thoughts. Keeping a positive qualities log records strengths, achievements, and abilities to counter self-criticism and foster self-acceptance. Practicing self-compassion encourages kindness toward imperfection and reduces harsh self-judgment. Behavioural experiments and taking small actions test negative beliefs and build evidence of competence and worth through experience.
Read at Psychology Today
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