We need to take care of ourselves and our youth. Children and teens are some of the most vulnerable populations because they’re powerless to fully care for themselves. We all have to teach children and teens to love themselves, value themselves, and show them that they are loved and lovable.
Some reasons why teens have low self-esteem.
Negligent and absentee parents are one of the biggest reasons kids and teens have low self-esteem. Kids and teens don’t have a fully formed frontal lobe. The frontal lobe does not fully form until the age of around 25. One thing that the frontal lobe does is give you empathy for other people. So when parents are negligent or absent, the kids feel like it’s their fault. They’re not getting loved. So they don’t feel loved. They don’t feel worthy. They don’t feel like they deserve affection and attention because they’re not getting it; the child internalizes it.
Teens make negative choices.
When a teen makes a bad choice, it makes them feel like they are bad people because they’re doing bad things, but everybody makes bad choices. It’s not as huge of a deal as they think it is; however, since their frontal lobe is not developed, they feel like it’s the end of the world.
Another cause of low self-esteem in teens is trauma or abuse.
Trauma or abuse can be physical, emotional, psychological, or sexual. This abuse makes the child feel like they are not worthy of love or respect, and it makes them feel guilt, shame, and self-hatred. Since they do not have a developed frontal lobe, they may think it’s their fault or that they are somehow responsible.
Healing trauma in teens
Trauma therapy is almost a must for children who’ve been neglected, abandoned, and abused. I specialize in trauma therapy and find that for children and teens, Trauma therapy can get rid of the groove in their brains and give them a fresh start. Then they can learn how to love and value themselves and demand respect. I speak more about children, teens, and low self-esteem on my Youtube. Helping those who can not yet help themselves is very important to my practice. I’ve made a few videos on how mental health manifests in children and how to treat it, including the trauma therapy I focus on with my patients. Children and teens need to learn how to speak up for themselves, say when they don’t like something, and not accept things that are bad for them. We have a responsibility to help them with that.
