A Way Out Addiction Treatment Center Newsletter #3 03/2013 | Page 7

LOW SELF ESTEEM AND ADDICTION
“Those who do not have the power over their lives, the
power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it … and change
it at times, truly are powerless because they cannot think
new thoughts.”
Alcoholism and drug addiction affects the whole family –

Everyone that comes into contact with the addict is in one
One
Way of the main factors that is encountered amongst addicts,
is their inherent feeling of low self-esteem. These feelings are
very often an integral part of the root cause of the addicts‘
addiction.
It is very seldom that the disease can be effectively and
efficiently arrested, if these feelings are not dealt with in early
recovery.
In this article we will explore the emotional consequences and
symptoms of low self-esteem, in an attempt to better
understand what may commonly be viewed as a co-morbid
disease.
Depression
Most cases of depression are the result of low self-esteem,
not the other way around, as our diagnostic manual would
have us believe.
This is not the only cause of depression, as some people
have chronic depression not related to self-esteem and
which may require medication; overcoming depression due
to low self-esteem seldom requires medication and then
only for a short period.
Most individuals who suffer from low self-esteem have
differing degrees of situational depression at different times
in their lives--some have consistent depression for years
and until they go through the recovery process.
Discouragement
Discouragement is a common emotion of those with low
self-esteem who have unusually high expectations of
others, and who have either unreasonably high or
nonexistent goals for themselves.
Striving for unreachable goals is a recipe for feeling like
one is failing. Others with LSE are too discouraged and
fearful to try anything new, to initiate relationships, or even
to attempt to develop new skills. They remain complacent
willing to accept what life brings rather than trying to better
themselves.

Fear and Anxiety
Fear and anxiety are the cornerstone of low selfesteem.
Based on early life experiences, people
develop a perspective of how they fit in the
world: whether they are adequate, lovable,
worthy, and/or competent.
If their view of themselves is negative, they go
through life fearful and anxious, on guard,
disappointed, anticipating the worst, and unable
to relax until they recover from this devastating
issue of low self-esteem.
This anxiety is extreme and permeates
everything in the person‘s life including the
ability to make sound decisions, the ability to
maintain ambition, the ability to bounce back
after disappointments, the person‘s basic
emotional stability, the person‘s sustainability,
the person‘s energy, the person‘s ability to learn
from his mistakes, the person‘s openness to
developing new skills, the person‘s ability to be
introspective.