The Links Between Depression and Self-Esteem
Depression is a complex experience that affects millions of people worldwide, often persisting for long periods or recurring throughout a person's life. Depression, especially the ongoing experience that can feel embedded in life itself, is very complex. It is not merely the result of a “chemical imbalance,” but emerges from the interaction of biological, psychological, and social factors.
Importantly, depression is like a fever, a symptom that tells us that something else is going on underneath. Some of these underlying processes involve the interactions between depression and self-esteem, the evaluation we make of ourselves and our worth. This relationship is often rooted in unconscious conflicts, unresolved grief, early life experiences, and the internalization of negative feelings towards the self. In this post, I will discuss some of the ways in which depression and self-esteem are linked, even outside of our awareness.
In the early 20th century, Sigmund Freud conceptualized depression (known at the time as “melancholia”) as a form of "mourning gone awry." He suggested that depression can occur when a person has lost an important “object” (this can be a person, relationship, or even an ideal) and instead of properly grieving the loss,........
© Psychology Today
