Why Unconditional Self-Worth Matters for Your Mental Health

Welcome to Healing the Hungry Ghost! 🪷 I’m Summer, a trauma therapist exploring the roots of stress, disconnection, and emotional suffering — and what it truly means to heal.

(Quick note: this video was created when the channel was called School for Relationships, but the channel is now Healing the Hungry Ghost to reflect my focus on trauma, healing, and mindfulness).

This might be the most important video I’ve ever shared. Here, we dive deep into unconditional self-worth—what it really is, how it looks and feels, and why it matters so much.

Discover how cultivating an unshakable sense of your own self-worth can transform your daily life, influence how others perceive you, and reshape your relationships with those around you.

We also explore how leading evidence-based therapies approach self-worth, offering practical insights on how to connect with your self-worth on a deeper, more lasting level.

⏱️Timestamps⏱️
00:00 Welcome
01:23 What Is Conditional Self-Worth
02:21 Inherent Human Dignity
03:19 Why Self-Worth Matters
05:16 Self-Worth & Confirmation Bias
07:50 How Self-Worth Changes Our Relationships
10:20 Fears around Embodying Unconditional Self-Worth
16:12 Seeing Ourselves More Clearly
24:26 What's Next

Sources consulted in this video:
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Linehan, M. (2015). DBT® skills training manual (2nd ed.). Guilford Press.

Luoma, J. (2020, July 3). Contacting self as context. Learning ACT. https://learningact.com/blog/2008/03/...

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

Porges, S. W. (2017). The pocket guide to the polyvagal theory: The transformative power of feeling safe. W W Norton & Co.
Schwartz, R.C. & Sweezy, M. (2021). Internal Family Systems Therapy (2nd ed.). New York NY: Guilford Press.
Scott, H. K., Jain, A., & Cogburn, M. (2023). Behavior Modification. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.

Shapiro, F. (2018). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy: Basic principles, protocols, and procedures (3rd ed.). The Guilford Press.
 
van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.