by Christian Cacibauda
Find Online Colleges Columnist

For the past thirty years, psychotherapist Nathaniel Branden has emphasized the importance of self-esteem in human psychology. According to Branden, self-esteem is the experience of oneself as being worthy of happiness and competent to cope with basic life challenges. When this sense of self-worth breaks down, however, the results can be deadly.

Underlining Branden’s emphasis is a new study published in the August Annals of Plastic Surgery. Led by Loren Lipworth ScD, of the International Epidemiology Institute in Rockville, MD and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center of Nashville, TN, the extended follow-up study tracked 3,527 Swedish women who had breast implant surgery between 1965 and 1993.

Using death certificate data, Lipworth analyzed the causes of death among women with breast implants compared to the general female population. At an average follow-up of nearly nineteen years, the suicide rate was three times higher for women with breast implants. The study also found a similar increase in deaths from alcohol and drug dependence.

Eating Disorders

Of course, cosmetic surgery isn’t the only symptom of low self-esteem (nor is it always a symptom). According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), low self-esteem and the distorted body image it can produce are among the main causes psychologists and physicians must treat when working with recovering anorexic and bulimic patients. An estimated 0.5 to 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia nervosa in their lifetime, while bulimia affects between 1.1 and 4.2 percent.

Apart from eating disorders, NIMH has also linked low self-esteem and poor self-image to depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

Dr. Branden’s “Six Pillars”

At the heart of Dr. Branden’s research are six behaviors which, he claims, are crucial to a healthy self-concept. The so-called “six pillars of self esteem” are:

• Living Consciously—According to Branden: respect for and acknowledgement of reality, however threatening or uncomfortable.
• Self-Acceptance—The willingness to experience whatever one truly thinks, feels, or does, however unpleasant.
• Self-Responsibility—Gaining a sense of control over life by accepting responsibility for one’s own choices and actions.
• Self-Assertiveness—Appropriately expressing one’s own thoughts, values, and feelings.
• Integrity: Aligning one’s behavior, ideals, convictions, standards, and beliefs.

If you’d like helping people to adapt these and other behaviors crucial to self-esteem, a career in psychology may be the right path for you. Psychology degrees from accredited colleges and universities are available at the associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.

You can earn an online degree, thanks to the internet revolution. Study psychology from home, whenever it’s convenient for you. Upon graduation, you can help guide people to a healthy self-concept in a private psychology practice, hospital, or clinic. After that, your contribution to the self-esteem of others can only increase your own. After all, in the words of Dr. Branden, “of all the judgments we pass in life, none is more important than the judgment we pass on ourselves.”

About the Author

Christian Cacibauda is a writer and editor based in northern Nevada. His articles have appeared on Find-Online-Degrees, Program-Online-Degree, and Yahoo!

Source(s)

“Healthy Self-Esteem,” NathanielBranden.com
“Depression,” National Institute of Mental Health
“Breast Implants Linked to Higher Long-Term Suicide Risk,” Newswise