Low
Self-Esteem
This is not about positive thinking. Self-esteem is not a stance you adopt — it is a relationship with yourself, and relationships are built from experiences, not slogans.
What it sounds like from inside
Low self-esteem is rarely presented as such. It shows up as a voice that comments continuously: "they will find out", "you didn't deserve that", "don't be a nuisance", "you could have done better". It is so old that it does not sound like a voice — it sounds like the truth.
In practice it translates into specific behaviours: overworking for recognition, difficulty saying no, procrastination out of fear of failure, needing everyone to be pleased, an inability to accept a compliment without cancelling it.
Where it comes from
Almost always from repeated experience rather than a single event: an environment where love was tied to performance, a comparison that never stopped, a criticism that became an inner voice. The mechanism was once useful — it protected against rejection. The problem is that it stayed switched on long after it was needed.
What we work on
- The self-critical voice: recognising it, naming it, and gradually letting it stop being identical with "me".
- The criteria for worth: what exactly has to be true before you consider yourself acceptable — and how inhuman those criteria look once written down.
- Boundaries: how a "no" is said without three paragraphs of justification and three days of guilt afterwards.
- Assertiveness: at work, in the relationship, in the family — with concrete practice, not encouragement.
- Impostor feelings: the sense that whatever you achieved was luck and that one day you will be found out.
Why positive thinking is not enough
Repeating that you are worthy while every experience says otherwise convinces nobody — least of all you. Change comes when new experiences accumulate: saying no and not being abandoned; making a mistake and the world not ending; asking for something and getting it. We design those experiences together, one at a time, and process them afterwards.
At a glance
- ForAdults
- Duration50 minutes per session
- SettingAt the practice in central Thessaloniki, or online
- ApproachCognitive behavioural (CBT) with EFT elements
- AppointmentsBy phone or through the contact form
Frequently asked questions
Personality explains tendencies, not traps. If something costs you daily — opportunities, relationships, sleep — it is not simply “how I am”; it is a pattern that was once necessary and no longer serves you. Patterns change.
As much as is needed to understand where your criteria for worth were learned — no more. The work here is mostly in the present: what the voice says today and what you do because of it. The past comes in when it illuminates the present.
It is the most common fear and almost always unfounded. People who worry about becoming selfish are not the ones who do. Boundaries are not an attack — they are information about where you stand, and they usually make relationships more honest, not colder.