Human beings have consciousness of ourselves, but we also have a complex mental representation of us, which stores data relativism to our physical characteristics, psychological and social, the degree to which these are acceptable and desirable for our neighbors or how effective they are to solve problems and environmental demands. It is this complex Tenema mental representation of ourselves, to what psychology has become known as self-concept. A priori one might think that this information is stored in our brain, in an aseptic manner, but what actually happens, that people also express a favorable or unfavorable opinion, positive or negative information about us that we have. It is this emotional evaluative dimension which has been termed as self-esteem. It is not entirely clear what their genesis and development and that it contribuyena factors, but we know are closely related to the experience early parent-child, relationships with peers and entorno.a The autoestimaa not a stable and static dimension of the person, as with certain personality factors, but dynamic, changing and changeable, a result of the interaction of the person their environment. Are known to put away a close relationship with other variables that psychology drives, such as the locus of control (perception of the subject lies the control of the events that mark his life) and perceived self-efficacy (feelings of adequacy and effectiveness tienea competitive person in relation to coping with potential challenges and threats).

It is clear that positive self-esteem and a proper and fair assessment of ourselves is a key element in our mental health as individuals, but for now it is not clear whether changes in self-esteem of the subject are cause or effect of their condition mental health. Self-esteem can be affected primary so completely healthy individuals without a psychiatric disorder underlying what Dr. Aquilino Polaino called minor disorders of self-esteem. This can happen to Pora development-related factors, personality, aging process, or socio-cultural upbringing. But tambiena should be noted that self-esteem is one of the first psychological aspects are altered in some psychiatric disorders. There are alterations of self-esteem in many disorders psiquiatricosa And in this sense the changes in self-esteem (whether positive or negative) should be considered as a prodromal symptom brought to us that something is evil and that is consecuenciaa an accurate diagnosis necessary to clarify to the origin of such alteration. We can not forget that many psychiatric disorders such as mood disorders, anxiety, personality or psychotic disorder present with this and are part of the constellation of symptoms that accompany these processes. The self-esteem changes observed in these disorders is what Dr.

Aquilino Polaino called major disorders of self-esteem. In the case of mood disorders, authors such as Beck noted as important features what it calls the cognitive triad: negative view of self, future and the world. This negative view of self identified by Beck are closely related to self-esteem deficits observed in depression. But while there is a tendency to consider changes in self-esteem in terms of reduced or negative, there are several diseases psiquiatricasa where the alteration of the positive sentidoa occurs in excess. Such is the case as manic depressive disorder characterized by mood swings between the poles of depressive and manic or hypo manic, which can be observed in these phases and a sense of self perception and expansive oversized overrated and below, such an important diagnostic feature. We can also observe changes in self-esteem in the positive sense, in substance disorder such as alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines and other psychostimulants. Bachelor Psicologia.Administrador Page