Feelings of Guilt and Low Self-Esteem in Today’s Society: A Contextual Approach
In modern society, mental health problems, such as anxiety, sadness, and feelings of failure and guilt, are not simply isolated or purely individual intrapsychic disorders. To understand the emotional distress many people experience today, it is essential to consider how individual biological and psychological factors are closely linked to the sociohistorical context in which they arise.
We live in an era characterized by the promotion of individualism, social fragmentation, and the crisis of values and traditions. These factors contribute to a widespread sense of insecurity and disorientation, where each person feels compelled to define their own path, their own values, and, ultimately, their own success. However, this perceived freedom comes with a heavy burden: full responsibility for failures and difficulties. When we fail to achieve the ideals of success and happiness imposed on us by society, feelings of guilt and low self-esteem commonly arise.
The mandate for self-actualization and happiness, combined with demands for constant performance, fuels a cycle in which people constantly feel inadequate. The feeling of never living up to expectations, whether their own or those of others, becomes a breeding ground for self-reproach and personal devaluation. This dynamic is particularly insidious because today’s society, with its focus on the “autonomous individual,” tends to ignore or minimize the social and community ideals that also play a crucial role in shaping our lives.
The result is an increase in diagnoses of anxiety-related disorders and depression, where overthinking, insecurity, feelings of guilt, and low self-esteem are prominent symptoms. The constant pressure to conform and perform, without a secure and stable place in the world, drives many people into a state of emotional exhaustion. Promises of success and happiness, which change and renew rapidly, create an unattainable expectation, further intensifying the feeling of failure.
Given this situation, it is essential that any therapeutic approach not address problems in individual terms, but rather consider their interrelationship with the context in which these problems develop. Psychotherapy must help people recognize how family, social, and cultural mandates take shape in their own lives, shaping emotions and behaviors and generating discomfort. This involves, among other things, questioning the unrealistic expectations imposed on us and seeking alternative ways to position ourselves and respond to the demands of our lives.
Marcos Böcker
