Low self-esteem can affect how you see yourself, your relationships and the choices you make. You may be highly self-critical, compare yourself with others, struggle to recognise your strengths or feel that you are somehow not good enough. Difficulties with body image can become closely connected with these feelings.

Therapy can help you understand how these beliefs about yourself developed and what continues to reinforce them. Rather than simply trying to replace negative thoughts with positive ones, we can explore the experiences, relationships and patterns that have shaped the way you see yourself.

I work with adults and young people experiencing low self-esteem, self-criticism, perfectionism and body image concerns. We can also explore related difficulties such as anxiety, depression, people-pleasing, fear of rejection or difficulties asserting your own needs.

As an integrative psychotherapist, I adapt the way we work to you. This may include exploring earlier experiences and relationships, identifying patterns of thinking and behaviour, developing greater self-compassion and finding ways to relate to yourself with more acceptance and less judgement.

The aim is not to persuade yourself that you are perfect or to feel confident all the time. Instead, therapy can help you develop a more balanced and secure sense of yourself, so that your self-worth is less dependent on achievement, appearance or other people’s approval.

I offer therapy for low self-esteem and body image concerns in East Grinstead, Hove and London, as well as online.