Therapy for low self-esteem and bullying
When a young person starts to believe the worst version of themselves, it shows up everywhere. Therapy helps rebuild a steadier sense of who they actually are.
Signs of low self-esteem and bullying at each stage
Self-worth rarely collapses all at once. It usually thins out quietly, and the first thing families notice is not sadness but a change in what a young person is willing to try.
Children
It often sounds like a running commentary. I am bad at this, nobody wants to sit with me, I always mess it up. Some quietly stop trying things they once enjoyed. Watch for stomach aches on school mornings, tears over a small correction, and going quiet about the day.
Adolescents
Teens tend to hide it better. They may drop an activity, spend more time alone, compare themselves online, or laugh along with comments that sting. Bullying often goes unreported, since telling an adult can feel like it will only make tomorrow worse. A phone left face down is sometimes the first clue.
Young adults
Young adults describe a background hum. Not applying for the internship, staying quiet in a seminar, keeping relationships at arm's length, or working hard and still feeling like a fraud. Earlier experiences of being excluded or targeted are often part of the picture.
Self-esteem is built from evidence, not pep talks
Confidence rarely comes from being told to be confident. It grows from experiences a young person can point to: something they tried, something they handled, someone who stayed. When those are thin, or when bullying has supplied the opposite, self-worth takes the hit.
Dr. Wald works both sides. She helps a young person question the harsh conclusions they have drawn about themselves and collect the real experiences that make a kinder one believable. Bullying gets named plainly and calmly, without minimizing, which is often when a child starts telling the rest.
How therapy for self-esteem and bullying works
Low self-esteem and social anxiety often travel together. A young person who expects to be judged avoids the situations where judgment could happen, and the avoidance quietly confirms the fear. Where that loop is running, Dr. Wald treats both, using the same graded approach as her anxiety treatment for children and teens.
Hear the whole story first
What has actually been happening at school, online, at home, and inside friendships. Nothing is too small to matter, and nothing is framed as the young person's fault. Being believed is often the first thing that shifts.
Loosen the harsh inner voice
Using cognitive-behavioral work, Dr. Wald helps a child or adolescent catch the automatic judgments they make about themselves, hold them up against the evidence, and practice a fairer read on the same situation.
Rebuild ground to stand on
Skills for speaking up, setting a limit, choosing where to invest socially, and recovering after a bad day. Parents are brought in so the same language is used at home and a setback is met the same way in both places.
How Dr. Wald helps
Dr. Wald sees children, adolescents, and young adults at the Coral Gables office on South Dixie Highway, with families coming from Pinecrest, South Miami, and across the Miami area, plus telehealth throughout Florida, Maryland, and the PSYPACT states.
CBT for self-critical thinking
Cognitive-behavioral work to catch harsh self-judgments, test them, and practice a fairer read on the same day.
Building social confidence
Small, planned steps back into the situations that have been avoided, so confidence is earned rather than announced.
Mindfulness and self-kindness
Attention skills for the hour after something goes badly, so one rough day does not get to become the whole story.
Parent guidance
Parent training for responding to setbacks, school conflict, and bullying in a way that steadies a young person rather than escalates.
Support for young adults
Motivational interviewing and family systems work for emerging adults finding their footing in school, work, and relationships.
Self-esteem and bullying sit alongside Dr. Wald's other specialties, and her training in clinical child and pediatric psychology shapes how she works with each age. Young people also carrying a health condition can read about coping with medical conditions.
Care that helps confidence come back
Talk through what has been happening and hear how therapy could help, in Coral Gables or by telehealth.