The natural law of low self worth

[ValdresRose]

It appears that all acquired mental illness stems from low self worth. Environmental forces that shape a person's mental processes result in low self worth in early childhood. If there is truth in this the Buddha would have shared it with us, but where in Theravada Buddhist tradition does he explain this concept?

 

[ValdresRose]

IMO:

Narcs have extreme low self worth, which they try to hide by boasting "how good they are"
People who have self worth feel no need to boast it
Narcs feel no love/compassion/empathy
So they are very lonely/empty
Money can't fill it

Narcs hurt others a lot, that does not reflect Self worth

This appears to be true. So it would bolster the Theory that there is a Natural Law of low self worth that is at the base of mental illness; unless someone can disagree with the claim 'stvdv' has stated here. Could we then say that additions are a result of low self worth? Additions are not a part of our environment during early childhood so we can't very well say that additions cause low self worth, but we could say that low self worth which starts in our early childhood experiences does cause additions in later life.

The Natural Law of Low Self Worth.
-- it's characterized by an addictive personality.
-- What else?

Is there any evidence that Siddhartha Gautama, The Buddha, addressed the issue of low self worth? It's possible that his culture did not deal with a large population of people who had low self worth. Perhaps Gautama experienced unworthiness until he became enlightened?

 

[Yazata]

It appears that all acquired mental illness stems from low self worth.

I prefer to reserve the term "mental illness" for the major psychoses and for things like OCD and major depression which I expect have neurophysiological origins.

Life dissatisfaction and unhappiness are something else. I'm not convinced that an "illness" analogy is entirely apt.

Environmental forces that shape a person's mental processes result in low self worth in early childhood.

Yes, I think that often happens and is very common.

If there is truth in this the Buddha would have shared it with us, but where in Theravada Buddhist tradition does he explain this concept?

He did, didn't he? Isn't that what his teaching about dukkha, the arising of dukkha, the subsiding of dukkha and the path to the subsiding of dukkha is all about?

It's just that his approach to the problem of dukkha (suffering, dissatisfaction) is very different than that of the contemporary world.

His solution for the problem that you call low self esteem isn't to artificially blow up one's sense of self like an overinflated balloon. It's to lose one's emotional dependence on a sense of self in the first place.

 

[Madmogwai]

Buddha did not focus on the many causes, he gave knowledge of the treatments for these ailments.
When your walking if you look back you will trip, focus on now, preparing your mind for what’s ahead.