Building your self-esteem is an essential task for mental, emotional, and social health. Self-evaluation is crucial for more than your mental health. It can also influence your goals and aspirations and interactions with others. This paper points out that self-esteem is a protective factor and a non-specific risk factor in mental and physical health.

The protective nature of self-esteem is evident in studies that examine stress and physical disease in which self-esteem helps safeguard the individual from fear. Chang and Mackenzie (Chang, A.M., and Mackenzie, A.E. 1998 State Self-Esteem following Stroke. 29, 2325-2328.) They found that self-esteem was a consistent factor in predicting how well a patient fared after a stroke. It encourages healthy functioning in life, reflected in achievements, success, satisfaction, and the ability to cope with diseases. The connections between self-esteem and academic achievement are often reported in many studies. A study by Marsh and Yeung, 1997 (Marsh, H.W. and Yeung, A.S. 1997 Casual effects of academic self-concept on academic achievement: structural equation models and longitudinal data. Journal of Educational Psychology, 89, 41-45.) is an example. Studies demonstrate that self-esteem is an essential psychological factor when determining health and quality of life (Evans, D.R. 1997 Health promotion, wellness programs, quality of life and the marketing of psychology. Canadian Psychology, 38,1-12.)

People with low self-esteem have a humble opinion of themselves, struggling to make decisions when they feel too criticized to handle. Low self-esteem is not a condition by itself. It’s considered along with the other symptoms that can point to conditions like anxiety and depression.

Concluding this article, self-esteem is associated with mental well-being and happiness, success, and satisfaction. It also increases recovery after a severe illness.