The problem of self-esteem
Mathew McKay and Patrick Fanning, in their book Self Esteem, write: "One of the main factors differentiating humans from other animals is the awareness of self: the ability to form an identity and then attach a value to it." "In other words," they continue, “you have the capacity to define who you are and then decide if you like that identity or not. The problem of self-esteem is this human capacity for judgement. It's one thing to dislike certain colours, noises, shapes, or sensations. But when you reject parts of yourself, you greatly damage the psychological structures that literally keep you alive.
"Judging and rejecting yourself causes enormous pain. And in the same way that you would favour and protect a physical wound, you find yourself avoiding anything that might aggravate the pain of self-rejection in any way. You take fewer social, academic, or career risks. You make it more difficult for yourself to meet people, interview for a job, or push hard for something where you might not succeed. You limit your ability to open yourself with others, express your sexuality, be the centre of attention, hear criticism, ask for help, or solve problems. "To avoid more judgements and self-rejection, you erect barriers of defence. Perhaps you blame and get angry, or bury yourself in perfectionist work. Or you brag. Or you make excuses. Sometimes you turn to alcohol or drugs."
McKay and Fanning also point out that hundreds of researchers have been working on this problem, trying to discover the causes of self-esteem and ways of developing it. From what these two authors say, it is quite clear that modern psychologists have begun to see that the psychological problem is the lack of "self esteem," and therefore they have made “self esteem” their main focus of attention. They have begun to think that the solution to the problem is to find ways of developing self- esteem.
Bernie Zilbergeld, in his book, The Shrinking of America, points out that although psychotherapy in general has only limited effectiveness, his studies led him to believe that psychotherapy does positively affect self-esteem. Improved self-esteem "may be counselling’s most important outcome." In other words, what modern psychotherapy has been able to positively achieve so far is only the improvement of self-esteem. This might, in the future too, become the main goal of psychotherapy.