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What is self-esteem, really? In this episode of Got Therapy?, Dr. Michael Baltimore and Dr. Dan Rose reconsider self-esteem through a psychodynamic lens — not as a high score you defend, but as the acceptance of a complex, often conflicted self.The conversation moves through not-me states (the parts of ourselves we'd rather not own, from Sullivan and Bromberg), self-compassion, and why a rigid, always-positive self becomes brittle. Dan walks through normative narcissism after Kohut — why everyone feels a flash of "I don't measure up" driving past the neighbor's new car — the spectrum from healthy-level to disordered narcissism, and how mirroring and validation open the door to real change. Along the way: microtrauma and social comparison, holding a relationship with someone whose views you can't stand, and Fromm's question of having vs. being — the thread they carry into next week's "Cultivate Life."Chapters and timestamps are in the pinned comment.Got Therapy? makes complex psychological concepts accessible and practically applicable. New episodes weekly.