ABSTRACT
Objective For teenagers with low self-esteem, life can all too easily lose its magic, its fascination, its excitement. Each day can be met with dread of yet more failure, feelings of inadequacy, fears of feeling shamed, and feelings of being unacceptable or that there is something fundamentally wrong with you. Also, when a teenager feels that they are worthless it can have a marked wearingdown effect, a draining on their natural resources of energy and enthusiasm. They can believe that anything they do will be worthless – schoolwork, homework, anything they make, say, invent, dream of. As a result they often give up easily or don’t even start something new at all. This is in contrast to a child with good self-esteem who will persevere and often triumph in the face of adversity.
