Book Review: The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem

If you’ve been following my blog for awhile, you know that I LOVE listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Between work, family, and kids, it’s hard for me to find time to sit and read. Instead, I listen to books and shows while driving and running.

I recently finished listening to a book recommended by the guys over at Internet Business Mastery. In The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, author Nathaniel Branden outlines six characteristics that serve as a guide for building better self-esteem. This higher self-esteem, in turn, leads to better living.

I read this book not as much for my personal self, but more for my “therapist” self. It’s common for therapists, music and otherwise, to have a goal of “increasing self-esteem” for our clients. I thought it’d be interesting to see how this information may inform–and hopefully improve–my clinical practice.

It’s clear from the get-go that Dr. Nathaniel Branden has done his homework. He has spent years studying self-esteem and working with hundreds, if not thousands, of clients. He has fleshed out his ideas and is able to explain them clearly, with depth and detail. I can’t say that any of his major ideas were profoundly earth-shattering for me, but Dr. Branden’s explanations gave me a different and deeper appreciation for the concept of “self-esteem.”

It seems this book is intended for the layperson. It’s a cross between a psychology text and a self-help book. Dr. Branden includes “exercises” designed to help the reader improve in each of the areas. Although the exercises are variations on one basic exercise, it may spark intervention ideas for working with clients.

One of my favorite characteristics of this book is that Dr. Branden weaves his own story into the text. His ideas are based not only on his work with clients, but on his own self-reflection on his life, his successes, his mistakes. It makes his theory much more relatable.

I recommend this book for any therapist–and non-therapist–who is interested in working on self-esteem, either personally or with clients. And even though the book gives you a very comprehensive, in-depth description of self-esteem, which may on the outside seem more appropriate for clients we’d call “higher functioning,” it will still help inform your clinical work with clients we’d consider “lower functioning.”

Interested in checking it out? Click here to purchase it now!

Tagged as: audiobooks, book review, self-esteem