Can A Self-esteem Test Help Build Confidence?

Many online screening tools claim to evaluate several types of mental health concerns. While accurate results are not guaranteed, and these screening tools are not appropriate for diagnosing a mental health condition, some can provide insight into how you think, feel, and interact with the world. Using a screening instrument to assess how you view yourself can be helpful when building confidence, which is typically much more difficult to obtain when you don't like who you are as a person. Keep reading to learn more about what it takes to build confidence and how a self-esteem test may support you in this quest

Why respect for yourself matters when building confidence

Self-esteem refers to the internal feelings and assumptions you hold about yourself. You likely have a positive self-image if you see yourself as someone of value, acknowledge your good qualities, and generally see yourself as deserving of love, kindness, and respect.

Confidence, on the other hand, refers to how you feel about your skills and abilities and can vary significantly from topic to topic. For example, you might be very confident about your ability to drive a car but not at all confident in your water skiing skills. Building confidence is typically much easier when you have a high view of yourself and a willingness to believe you deserve respect.

Often, building confidence requires developing a skill to high levels of competency, which usually involves failure and setbacks. If you consistently put yourself down, see yourself as inferior to others, or struggle to think of yourself in a positive light, the view you hold of yourself may negatively impact your personal growth. Learning to modify how you view yourself may be necessary to meet your confidence goals. A poor appraisal of your personal qualities is likely to hinder the process significantly; evidence suggests that believing in oneself is an essential part of developing competence.

What you can learn from a self-esteem test

A self-esteem test may allow you to get a true sense of how you view yourself. Most tests are short, multiple-choice, and simple to answer. However, they often don't provide clinically useful information or clues regarding a mental health condition. In clinical settings, in-depth analysis of how you view yourself is often accomplished as part of a personality assessment, a much more comprehensive process that can produce the most accurate results. 

Screening instruments that measure the general level of respect you have for yourself can still be helpful. For one, a screener can help you confirm how you conceptualize your worth. It can also help you see how your image of yourself compares to others. If a screener indicates that you have a poor view of your worth, it likely means you are rating yourself considerably lower than most people would.

Regardless of your lived circumstances, experts agree that feeling worthy of success is necessary to achieve your goals. Screening instruments can help you decide to start taking the required steps to improve the esteem in which you hold yourself.

A positive result – indicating that you likely have low self-esteem – could be a sign that how you conceptualize yourself is a barrier to success. Should you receive a positive result on a screener, it is strongly recommended that you begin evaluating directions you can take to address underlying concerns, including seeking professional help.

A quick web search reveals many different screening instruments which are freely available. Many screeners, such as this one, are based on a 10-item assessment developed by Morris Rosenberg, an American social psychologist. Rosenberg's assessment was first released in the mid-1960s and has become one of the most widely used tests to screen for poor self-worth.

More recently, Marilyn Sorensen, a contemporary psychologist and author, developed a more comprehensive 50-item assessment with higher-resolution results. You can download it here. 

The benefits of viewing yourself highly

Believing you are worthy of love, kindness, and respect is an integral part of maintaining personal happiness. A high view of yourself is also protective. Feelings of low worth or inadequacy significantly increase the chances of harmful and cyclical problems, like substance use disorders. Those combatting addiction often use substances as a form of escape from the negative feelings they hold about themselves. It's not usually effective, as substance use can substantially increase negative feelings about oneself, leading to greater use of substances, and forming a harmful cycle. 

A strong belief in yourself can also help protect against common mental health concerns like depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety are strongly correlated with feelings of unworthiness, and as with substance use disorders, the conditions themselves can further decrease a person's perception of themselves. People might also find their perception of themselves reduced further due to the stigma of managing a mental health condition.

Learning to view yourself in a more positive light

There are immediate steps you can take to start increasing your feelings of worthiness independently. However, a poor view of oneself is commonly associated with various mental health conditions, and it may be worthwhile for you to consider working with a professional. If your efforts to see yourself in a better light are not working, consider speaking with a therapist to help yourself get back on track. 

Learning to view yourself more positively can take time and patience, but there are a couple of things you can do to get started on the right foot:

Be compassionate to yourself

When you speak to someone else, how you communicate with them indicates the respect you hold for them. If you don't have a problem being mean, rude, or insulting, it's likely you don't respect them very much. The same is true regarding how you speak to yourself. If you frequently put yourself down, disregard your accomplishments, or think about yourself negatively, you aren't treating yourself respectfully.

Treating yourself with respect and compassion is strongly correlated with a better mood and outlook, as well as improved motivation and cognition. Becoming more compassionate toward yourself starts with effort and willpower but can eventually become easier as you normalize treating yourself kindly. Try to catch yourself saying negative things and contradict them and take time to compliment yourself when you reach a goal or other achievement. There is one basic rule to remember: treat yourself the same way you would treat someone you love, respect, and care about. We are often kinder to others than we are to ourselves.

Manage your cognitive distortions

Cognitive distortions are unhelpful thought processes not rooted in reality. They are based on emotion rather than fact and can influence how you view yourself. Here are some common cognitive distortions associated with a poor view of oneself:

• Labeling. Putting labels on yourself restricts who you can be. For example, consider a student who labels themselves "bad at math." Because of this, the student doesn't try as hard in math class, doesn't pursue math-related interests, and doesn't try to improve their math skills. Therefore, they don’t grow in this area because they’ve already decided they can’t. 
• Disqualifying The Positive. This is a straightforward cognitive distortion that can be common in people who don't view themselves highly. When someone disqualifies the positive, they push away anything that could go in their favor and tend to look on the negative side of things. This may make situations and emotions seem much more intense or problematic than they are. Instead of pushing positive feelings away, try to embrace them and take time to recognize your accomplishments.
• Should-ing. Try not to get caught up in what you "should" be doing. Instead, focus on setting reasonable goals for yourself and celebrate reaching them. Avoid comparing yourself to those who have more than you. Recognize your limits and remember that lofty goals take lots of time to achieve.
• Personalization. If you feel that most negative interactions and events in your life are your fault, consider challenging that thought. It can be easy to place too much responsibility on your shoulders, even if you're not the reason for the problem.

Managing your thought processes and being kind to yourself can be helpful steps toward building confidence. Don't worry about catching all your cognitive distortions immediately; just try to notice when they occur, and if you can, try following statements of negativity with more positive thoughts. Over time, you can learn how to change your thoughts and experience more positive feelings.

Online therapy for building confidence

If your journey to becoming more confident seems overwhelming, or you just need extra guidance, an online therapist can help. Therapists who practice online use the same evidence-based techniques as traditional therapists, creating an experience nearly identical to in-office therapy. With online therapy platforms like BetterHelp, you won’t have to worry about traveling to an office or being restricted to therapists near you. Instead, you can connect with a provider who understands your unique concerns and needs and who has training in the area you’re struggling with. All of this can be done from the comfort of your home and according to your availability, making online therapy a convenient option for many.

The efficacy of online therapy 

A therapist can support you while you build confidence, learn to feel good about who you are, and help you manage any other mental health concerns you may have. Evidence indicates that remote therapy can be just as effective as in-person therapy. In one study, researchers found that an online cognitive behavioral therapy intervention was effective in improving self-esteem, self-compassion, and quality of life and decreasing symptoms of depression and anxiety. CBT is a type of therapy that aims to change a person’s automatic and unhelpful thought patterns that could be contributing to mental health concerns. Over time, individuals can learn how to cultivate more helpful thoughts, thereby changing their behaviors and beliefs about themselves.