Feeling Good by Doing Good (PDF)

Recent years have seen a surprising shift concerning the concept of self-esteem, with some researchers attacking the notion of self-esteem as being of little value or too difficult to study. Educators emphasized self-esteem's importance in schools to the extent that sometimes it became more important than academic performance. And a parade of overly-simple and ineffective self-help books promote the importance of self-esteem but seldom deliver real change.

Coming to the defense of self-esteem as a valuable and measurable component of good mental health, Feeling Good by Doing Good offers a new evidence-based approach to defining, understanding, and increasing what is known as "authentic self-esteem." Translating decades of research in the fields of self-esteem, humanistic psychology, positive psychology, and psychotherapy into everyday terms, Christopher Mruk traces the definition of self-esteem back to when it was first used to describe the value of "doing that which is both just and right." Seen this way, self-esteem is not just feeling good about oneself - rather, it comes from facing life's challenges in ways that demonstrate one's competence and worth as a person.

This approach to self-esteem offers several new and powerful advantages, namely understanding different types of self-esteem, clarifying the connection between self-esteem and self-control, appreciating how self-esteem operates in various domains of life such as work or relationships, realizing that self-esteem acts as an internal compass to help steer us in healthier directions, and recognizing the connection between authentic self-esteem and basic human values. Featuring clinical and everyday vignettes, practical exercises aimed at enhancing personal as well as interpersonal well-being, and thought-provoking self-assessments for the reader, Feeling Good by Doing Good is a unique resource that will be of interest to mental health professionals, their clients, and laypersons alike interested in substance over platitudes and feel-good solutions.