What Is Impostor Syndrome And How Do You Start To Work On It?

What is impostor syndrome?

Impostor syndrome originally termed ‘Imposter Phenomenon’ was first described by Pauline Clance, PhD, and Suzanne Imes, PhD, in their research article “Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Interventions” 1978. It is defined by the feelings of intellectual inferiority, or in simple terms the feeling of being a fraud, especially in working life. People who suffer with imposter Syndrome struggle to attribute their successes or achievements to their own ability, and will often put them down to luck, good timing, a fluke, or just play them down entirely.

Who can suffer with impostor syndrome?

Anyone and everyone. Impostor Syndrome doesn’t discriminate, it can affect all genders, races and nationalities, socioeconomic backgrounds, education levels and people at all stages of life and careers. However, it does manifest differently in men and women and tends to be more prevalent in high achieving individuals.

Where does it come from?

Like most mental health syndromes there is no one clear cause of Imposter Syndrome, but there are many contributing factors.

· Pre-existing mental health problems — anyone with anxiety or depression will probably recognise the symptoms of Imposter Syndrome intimately, and this can be a cyclical issue, anxiety can cause Imposter Syndrome and Imposter Syndrome can cause anxiety. Also, many forms of Psychosis and or Paranoia can have similar cycles. However, cycles can always be broken, finding the right treatment is key, it can take time, but it is possible, no matter how many times you’ve already tried.

· Parental factors can range from parents who were always pushing you to achieve more and more, leaving you feeling like you could never do enough, to neglectful parents who left you feeling like you didn’t matter. Trauma and/or abuse can also lead to many adult mental health issues and Impostor Syndrome is common in people who had traumatic childhoods. You may find yourself thinking things like ‘who am I to do this’ or ‘people from families like mine don’t achieve XYZ’

· Natural personality traits can also increase your tendency for Imposter Syndrome, these include perfectionist tendencies, neuroticism, lack of conscientiousness and low self-efficiency. However, I personally don’t think personality is a constant so if you have any of these traits, they can be worked on.

· Success -The more success you achieve the worse your impostor syndrome may become, to the point you will start to believe you are some next level con artist, and not be able to believe how no one can see how really inadequate you are (as you collect your Nobel prize)

What does it feel like?

Imposter syndrome feels like you are living a lie, and that you are always one step away from being found out.

If you get into a good school, you will be constantly worried that you don’t belong there, or they must have been short of applicants this year.

If you get a good job, you will convince yourself you are one wrong move away from being fired (even if all evidence is to the contrary).

If you win an award, you will think it’s a mistake.

If you get good feedback, you will think it’s because people are trying to be nice, or because they feel sorry for you.

You will never internalise your achievements no matter how high they stack.

It is a recipe for anxiety, stress, and depression as you will constantly be grafting to make up for whatever it is you think you are lacking; you will chase achievement to keep ‘covering up’ you ‘short-comings’ even when they don’t exist.

Can I stop Imposter Syndrome?

The short answer to this is Yes!

But like all intrusive thoughts, and Imposter Syndrome is most definitely a form of intrusive thoughts, this will take time. Now I know everyone is all hot on affirmations right now and standing in front of the mirror every morning telling yourself you are awesome might help, but in my experience, you will just feel silly and add that to the list of reasons you suck ‘oh my god I can’t even do affirmations right’.

However, to get rid of imposter syndrome, or at least make it a little quieter, you do need to change your thoughts.

Step 1. Identify the thought

You will probably come up with a string of thoughts, but you need to work on one at a time, for example, if you come up with:

“I am really stupid, it’s only a matter of time before everyone realises and I get fired”

You need to split that up into:

· I am really stupid

· It’s only a matter of time before everyone finds out

· I am going to get fired

And work on each one in turn.

Step 2. Aim for neutral

The affirmation pathway would have you change ‘I am really stupid’ to ‘I am really smart’ now if there was any chance of you believing that you wouldn’t be reading this so my process is to aim for neutral, neutral may even be too far to start for some people, but at least try for now.

So ‘I am really stupid’ could be ‘I have average intelligence’ or ‘I sometimes do things that aren’t stupid’ or ‘I am smart in some areas’ . It doesn’t really matter how you word it, what matters is that you come up with something slightly less negative than the original thought, and that you are able to believe it.

Step 3. Replace the old thought

Every time you think the old thought ‘I am really stupid’ immediately correct yourself with the new thought, keep doing this over and over until the new thought becomes the habitual thought and the old thought is dead. This could take a few days or a few months, you can write the new thought on post-it notes around the house to remind you (or a code for the new thought), or even set time in your calendar to think the new thought over and over. The more you think it the stronger it will get.

Step 4. Repeat

Once you have replaced the original thought with the new thought, you need to start the whole process again with a slightly less negative / more positive thought. So this time you may be able to go with ‘it could be possible that I am smart’ or ‘there is evidence that I am smart’ or ‘ I have a decent level of intelligence’ whatever you feel ready for. Just keep repeating the first three steps until you have eradicated the old thoughts.

Now this doesn’t mean you will never have these thoughts again, you will probably have to revisit this technique many times over, mostly whenever you take on a new challenge or responsibility, but if you clear out the years of thoughts that have been building up over time, it will be a lot easier to tackle any new ones that creep in.

I hope this article has been helpful and provided a way for you to start tackling your imposter syndrome, this of course is not meant to be an alternative to mental health treatment and if you are suffering from anxiety, depression or psychosis please make sure you seek appropriate medical treatment. This method can be used alongside any medical or talking treatments and compliments CBT.