Social Media and Self-Esteem: How Therapy Helps With Comparison and Body Image
Scrolling through social media can feel like flipping through a highlight reel of everyone else’s life; perfect vacations, flawless skin, career wins, happy couples. And when you’re already feeling low, it’s easy to fall into comparison. Social media can be fun and connecting, but it also has a real impact on self-esteem and body image. Therapy can help you step back from the comparison trap and build a healthier relationship with yourself.
How Social Media Affects Self-Esteem
Social media isn’t all bad; but it’s designed to keep us hooked. That often means we’re exposed to unrealistic standards every day. It can show up as:
◦ Comparing your body to edited or filtered photos.
◦ Feeling “behind” when you see friends hitting milestones faster than you.
◦ Linking your worth to likes, comments, or followers.
◦ Spending hours scrolling, only to feel worse about yourself.
The more you compare, the harder it becomes to see your own strengths clearly.
The Link Between Social Media and Body Image
Apps make it easy to forget that most photos are staged, filtered, or edited. Still, your brain reacts as if what you’re seeing is real. Over time, this can:
◦ Lower self-confidence and increase shame.
◦ Create anxiety about your appearance in everyday life.
◦ Fuel unhealthy cycles of dieting, overexercising, or hiding.
◦ Reinforce cultural pressures around beauty, success, or belonging.
These patterns aren’t your fault; they’re built into the way social media works.
How Therapy Helps With Comparison and Body Image
Therapy provides a space to untangle the way social media impacts your self-esteem. With support, you can:
◦ Learn to notice and challenge comparison thoughts.
◦ Build self-compassion when you catch yourself spiraling.
◦ Reconnect with values outside of appearance or achievement.
◦ Develop boundaries for how, when, and why you use social media.
◦ Strengthen your sense of identity so online trends don’t define you.
Therapy helps you shift from scrolling to self-acceptance, one step at a time.
Gentle Reminder
If social media has left you feeling “not enough,” it doesn’t mean you’re broken. It means you’re human in a world designed to profit off your insecurities. Therapy can help you reclaim your voice and your confidence.
