Authors of “Personnalités difficiles” and of “La Force des émotions,” [English?], Christophe André and François Lelord are psychiatrists and psychotherapists. Through their best-selling works and their professional activities, they have both played a key role in the popularization of cognitive-behavioral therapies in France.
For a long time in the West, humility constituted an ideal. Then the individual became the primordial value in our societies, and with him, his ego. Today, everyone considers self-esteem to be a legitimate aspiration, almost a necessity to survive in an increasingly competitive society.

Self-esteem is a fundamental given of our personality. It enables us to assert ourselves, to accept our mistakes and our regrets, to love ourselves, and to have self-confidence. Bad self-esteem leads to difficulties in communication, a retreat into ourselves, excessive self-criticism.

How is it constructed and developed? What are the important problems? What can be done to remedy bad self-esteem?