How to Like Yourself: A Teen’s Guide to Quieting Your Inner Critic and Building Lasting Self-Esteem

In this addition to the Instant Help Solutions series, Bradshaw, a professional counselor, acknowledges that self-esteem doesn’t necessarily come naturally and often needs to be cultivated. Writing in an intimate and friendly tone, she discusses how negative self-images arise and how to break the thought patterns that lead to low self-esteem, without painting a too-rosy view of the world. When discussing the “Inner Critic Know-It-All” (ICK), Bradshaw acknowledges that part of the reason why the ICK is so powerful is that it uses “thought traps” like overgeneralization, “all-or-nothing thinking,” and catastrophizing to trick us into jumping to skewed conclusions. Exercises designed to help readers identify, disrupt, and restructure the ways they view themselves and others offer concrete tactics for those looking to make change in their lives. Ages 13–up. (Apr.)