Imposter Syndrome

Impostor Syndrome refers to an internal experience of believing that the person thinks the not as competent as others perceive them to be, which can affect their health.

Imposter syndrome is the experience of feeling like they are faking. They feel like they don't belong and that someone is going to find out that they are actually fake, despite them not being fake. Anyone no matter their social status, work background, skill level, or degree of expertise, can experience imposter syndrome.

Causes and Symptoms

Personality traits largely effect and cause imposter syndrome. Those who experience it struggle with self-efficacy, perfectionism, and neuroticism. Competitive environments can also help cause imposter syndrome. For example, many people who go on to develop feelings of impostorism faced intense pressure about academic achievement from their parents in childhood.

While impostor syndrome is not a recognized disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), it is not uncommon. It is estimated that 70% of people will experience at least one episode of this phenomenon in their lives.

Usually those who experience imposter syndrome will have characteristics such as:

• Self-doubt
• An inability to realistically assess their competence and skills
• Attributing their success to external factors
• Berating their performance
• Fear that they won't live up to expectations
• Overachieving
• Sabotaging their own success
• Setting very challenging goals and feeling disappointed when they fall short

Research suggests that around 25 to 30 percent of high achievers may suffer from imposter syndrome, and around 70 percent of adults may experience impostorism at least once in their lifetime.

Different Types

Perfectionist

Perfectionists are usually never satisfied with their work and always feel that they could have done better. Rather than focus on their strengths, they tend to fixate on any flaws or mistakes.

This often leads to a great deal of self-pressure and high amounts of anxiety. They focus primarily on how they do things, often to the point where they demand perfection of themselves in every aspect of life. Yet, since perfection isn’t always a realistic goal, they can’t meet these standards.

Instead of acknowledging the hard work they've put in after completing a task, they might criticize themselves for small mistakes and feel ashamed of their “failure.” They might even avoid trying new things if they believe they can’t do them perfectly the first time.

Superhero

Because these individuals feel inadequate, they feel compelled to push themselves to work as hard as possible. They link competence to their ability to succeed in every role they hold: student, friend, employee, or parent. Failing to successfully navigate the demands of these roles simply proves, in their opinion, their inadequacy.

To succeed, then, they push themselves to the limit, expending as much energy as possible in every role. Still, even this maximum effort may not resolve their imposter feelings. They might think, “I should be able to do more,” or “This should be easier.”

Expert

These individuals are always trying to learn more and are never satisfied with their level of understanding.

Even though they are often highly skilled, they underrate their own expertise. Before they can consider their work a success, they want to learn everything there is to know on the topic.

They might spend so much time pursuing their quest for more information that they end up having to devote more time to their main task. Since they believe they should have all the answers, they might consider themselves a fraud or failure when they can’t answer a question or come across knowledge they missed before.

Natural Genius

These individuals set excessively lofty goals for themselves, and then feel crushed when they don't succeed on their first try. They've spent their life picking up new skills with little effort and believe they should understand new material and processes right away.

Their belief that competent people can handle anything with little difficulty leads them to feel like a fraud when they have a hard time. If something doesn’t come to them easily, or they fail to succeed on their first try, they might feel ashamed and embarrassed.

Soloist

These people tend to be very individualistic and prefer to work alone. Self-worth and success often comes from their productivity, so they often reject help.

They tend to see asking for help as a sign of weakness or incompetence, and believe they should be able to handle everything solo. Asking someone for help, or accepting support when it’s offered, means more than failing their own high standards, it also means admitting their inadequacies and showing themselves as a failure.

Plurality

Imposter syndrome relates to plurality in that many systems experience imposter syndrome, thinking that they are faking being a system and having system members.

Its important to note that systems are usually not faking unless they themselves are aware that they are faking.

Fake-claiming systems can cause them to have imposter syndrome, and it is never okay to fake-claim a system, with or without evidence.

History

Imposter Syndrome was the term that was first used by psychologists Suzanna Imes and Pauline Rose Clance in the 1970s.

When the concept of imposter syndrome was introduced, it was originally thought to apply mostly to high-achieving women. Early research exploring this phenomenon primarily focused on these accomplished, successful women.

Since then, it has been recognized as more widely experienced. It became clear that imposter syndrome can affect anyone in any profession, from graduate students to top executives.