The Elephant in the Room - Imposter Syndrome

If you tend to doubt your own skills and accomplishments, despite what others think, you may have imposter syndrome.

Impostor syndrome (IS) refers to an internal experience of believing that you are not as competent as others perceive you to be. While this definition is usually narrowly applied to intelligence and achievement, it has links to perfectionism and the social context. If you’ve ever said or thought the words, "I'm fooling everyone. I feel like a fraud," you already have some experience with it..

To put it simply, imposter syndrome is the experience of feeling like a phony—you feel as though at any moment you are going to be found out as a fraud—like you don't belong where you are, and you only got there through dumb luck.

Sign and symptoms as identified by WebMD are:

• Inability to realistically assess your competence and skills
• Believe that you’ve fooled others into thinking you’re more skilled than you are
• Credit your successes to luck, charm, networking, others' misjudgment, or other things besides your abilities
• Notice “The Imposter Cycle.” This happens when you start a task either with intense over-preparation or with procrastination followed by frantic planning. When you finish the task successfully, you feel accomplished and relieved. This cycle starts over when a new task comes along and again triggers feelings of anxiety and doubt.

Types of Imposter Syndrome according to Themuse.com are;

1. The Perfectionist – People whose work must be 100% perfect, 100% of the time
2. The Superwoman/man – People who push themselves to work harder and harder to measure up as a false cover-up for their insecurities. They are actually addicted to the validation that comes from working, not to the work itself.
3. The Natural Genius - They judge their competence based ease and speed as opposed to their efforts. If they take a long time to master something, they feel shame.
4. The Soloist – People who go to the extent of refusing assistance so that they can prove their worth.
5. The Expert – They measure their competence based on “what” and “how much” they know or can do.

No matter the specific profile, if you struggle with confidence, you’re far from alone. It’s estimated that 70% of people will experience at least one episode of imposter syndrome during their lifetime. Imposter syndrome is no respecter of race or gender, more recently, experts have found that it's common among both men and women in many lines of work. It can affect anyone no matter their social status, work background, skill level, or degree of expertise. Audrey Ervin, psychologist and academic director of the graduate program in counseling psychology at Delaware Valley University described imposter syndrome as a series of experiences. “Imposter syndrome is characterized by chronic feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and fraudulence despite objective success. It’s hard to internalize success and genuinely hold the belief that you’re competent and capable.”

While entering a new role might trigger an episode, imposter syndrome has been shown to affect everyone, from the most successful CEO to a college freshman. In fact, actual ability and achievements have no bearing. Driven personalities and those at the top of the ladder are just as vulnerable to imposter phenomenon–if not more.

Even Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, has struggled with imposter syndrome, writing, “Every time I was called on in class, I was sure that I was about to embarrass myself. Every time I took a test, I was sure that it had gone badly. And every time I didn’t embarrass myself—or even excelled—I believed that I had fooled everyone yet again. One day soon, the jig would be up.”

Imposter syndrome is likely the result of multiple factors, including personality traits (such as perfectionism), new work or school opportunities, social anxiety and family upbringing/ background. One theory is that imposter syndrome is rooted in families that value achievement above all else. Many people who have imposter syndrome grew up in families that stressed achievement and success. If your parents went back and forth between overpraise and criticism, you may be more likely to have feelings of being a fraud later in life. An article on paulineroseclance.com says that it begins when families are characterized by low support and high conflict. Society's pressures to achieve can also contribute.

Strategies to cope with imposter feelings include creating reminders about your previous achievements and review when you feel like a fraud, talking about what you are experiencing with friends, family or therapist, questioning your negative thoughts, and avoiding comparing yourself to others, accept that no one is perfect, do a thorough self-assessment of abilities, use social media moderately and refuse to let it hold you back.

Remember that if you are feeling like an impostor, it means you have some degree of success in your life that you are attributing to luck. Try instead to turn that feeling into one of gratitude. Look at what you have accomplished in your life and be grateful. Don't be held back by your fear of being found out. Instead, lean into that feeling and get at its roots. Let your guard down and let others see the real you. If you've done all these things and still feel like your feeling of being an impostor is holding you back, it is important to speak to a mental health professional.

Though the impostor phenomenon isn't an official diagnosis listed in the DSM, psychologists and others acknowledge that it is a very real and specific form of intellectual self-doubt. Impostor feelings are generally accompanied by anxiety and, often, depression.