Self-Esteem Research, Theory, and Practice Toward a Positive ...

102 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICElarge (Bednar, Wells & Peterson, 1989; Pope, McHale & Craighead,1988; Sappington, 1989). Above all, coping well means that a person isable to influence the situations of life or to deal with its problems with areasonable degree of competence. One way to help increase self-esteem,then, is to teach people how to solve problems more effectively and efficiently(Bednar et al., 1989; Pope et al., 1988). This type of work may bedone as a structured activity in the therapeutic setting. For instance, it ispossible to break up learning this skill into more manageable steps, eachof which can be practiced and evaluated until learning occurs (D’Zurilla& Goldfried, 1971; D’Zurilla & Nezu, 2001). These steps typicallyinclude learning how to recognize that a problem exists, being able toidentify possible responses and their likely outcomes, knowing how toselect the best alternative given a particular situation, and having theability to develop a realistic plan to reach that goal. The process of learningthese skills is facilitated by a good teacher, a non-threatening environment,appropriate reinforcement, and supervised practice, all ofwhich are fairly standard practices in problem solving work.Several positive things can happen for self-esteem once this skill hasbeen acquired. First, knowing how to better solve problems increases anindividual’s chances of being successful and we saw that certain types ofsuccess are a source of self-esteem. Second, the technique is flexibleenough to allow us to target a particular area that is especially troublesometo an individual client and to then help the person develop a realisticproblem-solving strategy that is based on maximizing the individual’sstrengths while minimizing their weaknesses. Indeed, “individualizing”(Fischer, 1986) training in problem solving skills may be the ideal way toaddress specific individuals with particular self-esteem themes. Thus,increasing competence through better problem-solving skills can be donein ways that are sensitive to age, gender, culture, and so on.Two Types of Formats May Be Used to Enhance Self-EsteemThere is some consensus about what we might call “format factors” thatare helpful in enhancing self-esteem. The first concerns a program’s operationalformat and it allows us to have some design flexibility. Oneapproach is to build a program around the traditional one-to-one relationshipbetween client and clinician (Bednar, Wells & Peterson, 1989;Harter, 1999; Mruk, 1995, 1999). A key advantage of this intense selfesteemencounter is that it focuses on identifying and understanding aparticular individual’s self-esteem themes and problems in considerabledetail both behaviorally and developmentally. The therapist and clientmay then target these issues as central therapeutic projects. Another advantageis that the process can go on for longer periods of time, meaning that