What you think of yourself, be it positive or negative, is called self-esteem. The world around us is very cruel. No one bothers about the person next to them. To be an active participant of this rate race, even you keep comparing yourself to others.
If your close kin has achieved a milestone, either you tend to beat him with another such achievement or develop a sinking feeling about yourself. From a trivial matter, your focus shifts to your failures in life, your insecurities and it multiplies like a chain reaction.
Over time this starts affecting your self-esteem which eventually results in low self-esteem. But what you fail to understand is that this low self-esteem holds you back from doing anything worthwhile which only deters the graph of your success.
It is not a disease or disorder, just a mental state which can be overcome with time. Talking things out may help. The conversation should be able to motivate you highlighting your strengths and achievements.
But if you think you or your loved one has low self-esteem, counseling with a professional facilitator may help. This problem of developing a negative self-image has not been an overnight incident, so it would take time to peel off each layer of hurt, disappointments and disillusionments that were accumulated over years.
A pro facilitator should be able to imbibe the feeling that everyone on this earth is serving some purpose or the other, each one of them is indispensible in certain ways and that everyone has a value and worth.
It is the lack of this purpose in life or estranged worth that you tend to drift into low self-esteem and counseling starts with rejuvenating this feeling in you. Also, those assumptions are identified that contribute to this sense of negative self-worth.
Once these are done, you are helped to resolve the problems providing support and hope so that the negative thoughts are released from your psyche. When you are undergoing a low self-esteem, it is quite stressful both emotionally and psychologically.
Professional help is always a better option as the life coaches or counselors know the avenues and keys that will lead you to the right doors that you have closed to the world and unlock them to access those thoughts that need to be untangled in order to release them. Talking to some confidante may help to some extent but to address the root cause and uproot it totally, you will need them.