I don’t really know how to look up something like this, so if any armchair shrinks want to take a shot at this or refer me to a good source, please do.
I’ve always been one to brush off praise rather than accepting it, but lately it’s gone to extremes; being complimented actually makes me extemely unhappy. Every time someone says my Chinese is good I feel like crap. A girl I teach has a major schoolgirl crush on me, and besides making me uncomfortable (because age and professionalism puts her way out of bounds) the idea of somebody being attracted to me in some way makes me really unhappy. I don’t know why, but I just hate anybody saying anything good to me these days. Why?
IANA-Clinical Psychologist. However, I am an environmental psychologist so I do know a bit about human behavior/thought processes
If you are used to having a poor outlook about yourself in general I would think taking a compliment would be quite difficult. I completely see where you are coming from and it sounds like esteem issues are a primary target for you to work on. I’m not talking about looking into the mirror and saying happy happy things to yourself is what you need. But a simple individual behavior therapy you can do on your own self is starting to accept every compliment you get. And trying to believe yourself when you say thank you. Don’t let your self not believe your own words. Over time it will get easier, but the work is all on you. You can do it.
