Do you have an Inferiority Complex?

It is common that everybody feels down about themselves from time to time, especially when they feel like they are not able to measure up to others. It is normal to feel that way. But if this continues to happen as a constant feeling inside you and you are acting out in ways that are harmful to you or others, you might have an Inferiority Complex. It’s a sign of low self-esteem.

First, we must know why and how we can develop an inferiority complex within ourselves. Experts say that a person may develop it by growing up in an “invalidating environment,” in which parents, siblings, teachers and others around them condemn cruelty to children or say things that make a child feel inferior or inconsequential. As you can see, these acts in childhood life can affect negatively on your thoughts and behavior as an adult. So, you need to know what kinds of traits can lead to inferiority complex and fix them in advance.

Here are some signs you may have an inferiority complex, according to experts.

1. Sensitivity to Criticism and Insecurity

The general thought behind anyone with an inferiority complex is “I am not good enough.” If you are overwhelmed by Inferiority complex, you are easy to feel inadequate about yourselves and have heightened sensitivity to other people’s opinions. Mostly, people with an inferiority complex are highly sensitive to what other people think and often take offense when even no offense is intended. And, the worst part is that any part of critique or criticism will stay with you for a long time, which will even keep you awake on sleepless nights, torturing you with all your insecurities. Also, you take into account very seriously to teasing or jokes made at your expense.

2.Tendency of Fault Finding

You possess a trained eagle-eye in picking up other people’s faults and imperfections. Maybe because you do not already feel good about yourselves so you tend to cause others, in the same way, to feel trivial or poor too. No one in your mind can be superior to you and thus, you try to make others feel small so that you can see yourself better and bigger in your eyes.

3.Social Withdrawal

You prefer to be alone than being manifest in a crowd because you are afraid of feeling worthless and cannot overcome sneaking suspicion that you are not as good as others. You also tend to avoid any forms of comparison, which could be inevitable if you belong to some kind of group. So, you prefer to be left alone on your own.

4.Unbelief on Compliments

Compliments normally make people glow with pride. But if you have an inferiority complex, you won’t be comforted by positive feedback or even if you are, it won’t stick for long. You think that you are too intelligent to fall for people’s flatteries and compliments and thus, you often jump into wrong conclusions that people don’t like you or think you are valuable no matter what they say to the contrary.

5.Performance Anxiety and Procrastination

You just hate competition as you fear to lose. Facing failures makes you feel like a loser. You always find it hard to get over being second place and as a result, you can no longer seem to get motivated in doing things. The reason why you are not able to get off the couch is the belief that you lost trust in yourself and that no matter how hard you try, you are never going to be good enough. So, you become less motivated to get going.

Certain mental techniques can be therapies for inferiority complex if you seek out to heal. However, at the end of the day, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and, nobody deserves to feel like they are less than anyone else.