Researchers found that people with low self-esteem actually felt worse after repeating positive statements about themselves.
They said phrases such as "I am a lovable person" only helped people with high self-esteem.
The researchers asked people with high and low self-esteem to say "I am a lovable person. They then measured the participants' moods and their feelings about themselves. In the low self-esteem group, those who repeated the mantra felt worse afterwards. However, people with high self-esteem felt slightly better after repeating the positive self-statement.