Armah A Quick Guide
Ever felt like others give you more credit than you deserve? People wrongly think of you as someone highly talented and accomplished whereas you are just an average person. Do you fear people will find out the real you and think you were a fraud? If your answer is yes, chances are you are suffering from imposter syndrome.
Up to 70% of people experience this at some point in their life. Imposter syndrome is not a disorder and nor is it recognized by the DSM-V or ICD-10. Rather it is a condition or a state experienced in response to certain situations. It brings with it symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression among its victims.
What is imposter syndrome?
Impostor syndrome (IS) is the belief that you are not as competent as others think you are. The person with this belief considers him or herself an imposter, especially with respect to personal accomplishments, skills, and talents. Hence, he/she fears being caught red-handed or exposed to others as a fraud.
Despite the evidence of personal ability, the person feels undeserving of the recognition and praise from others. Any incidents of personal success are usually attributed to luck or chance. In some cases, the person may label their achievements as an act of deception which tricked others into thinking they are special.
Signs of imposter syndrome
If you think you are experiencing impostor syndrome, look out for the following signs:
- Experiencing excessive self-doubt.
- Feeling guilty about personal success.
- Feeling like a misfit or that you don’t really belong.
- Discounting any positive signs of success by attributing them to luck or external factors.
- Attributing failure to self or personal shortcomings.
- Being highly sensitive to criticism.
- Having fear of not meeting the expectations of others.
- Feeling like a failure.
- Setting challenging goals or having high standards which usually follows up with the disappointment of not meeting them.
- Not being able to assess personal skills and accomplishments from a balanced perspective.
- Being extra sensitive to details and flaws in work.
- Fear of making mistakes.
- Fear of being exposed as a fraud.
- Downplaying personal expertise despite the presence of skills.
- Having the need to be the best.
Who suffers from Imposter syndrome?
Anyone can suffer from imposter syndrome. However, some people have high vulnerability. For example,
- High achieving people
(* In fact, Dr. Pauline R. Clance and Dr. Suzanne A. Imes first discovered the imposter syndrome in 1978 among high achieving women) - People with low self-esteem.
- People with social anxiety
- Students that are accepted into the top education programs. Since they often doubt the grounds of their acceptance, feel like they do not belong, and frequently compare themselves to their classmates.
The impostor syndrome cycle
The imposter syndrome is experienced in the form of a vicious cycle. Depending on the type of response, it may occur in the form of procrastination or over-preparation cycles.
The Procrastination cycle
The Over-preparation cycle
Potential Causes
The exact reasons behind the occurrence of imposter syndrome are not clear. However, some factors play a contributory role. They are stated as follows:
- High Family expectations: When your family has high expectations or when parents are over-protective, they may end up creating that ‘need to be the best’ in you. Accordingly, they may refer to you as ‘The smart one’ or The talented one’ or ‘Our favorite’. Consequently, this brings high pressure to please them.
- Being the recipient of the best resources: You may have gotten the best education or the most money spent on you which may create feelings of guilt. You may think you don’t deserve it and it’s unfair to others.
- Early Childhood: Early childhood characterized by an emphasis on academic achievement is significant in shaping beliefs of competence and fear of failure in such a person. Comparison with high achieving siblings by the parents is also integral in this.
- Significant Memories: Certain memories associated with academic failure or achievement may have an influence.
- Being assigned high-level tasks: Students doing graduate-level coursework may experience the said syndrome due to the workload along with symptoms of stress, anxiety, or depression. Similarly, the assignment of tasks of high importance at the workplace may also play a role.
- Personality: Personal traits of low self-esteem, perfectionism, attribution style, and excessive self-monitoring may add to the experience of imposter syndrome.
Triggers of imposter syndrome
The following are a few triggers of imposter syndrome:
- A new environment
- Academic settings
- Workplace
- Social interactions
- Relationships with friends or intimate partner
New environments whether it is academic, professional or some other create feelings of insecurity since their newness carries the factor of the unknown. So, the person starts to lose confidence and faith in personal abilities.
How it can affect you?
The manifestation of imposter syndrome may vary across individuals. While it can provide you with motivation to work hard or to do your best, what matters is the underlying cause of that motivation. If you feel like you don’t belong somewhere or that you don’t deserve to be where you are because you are a fraud and nobody knows. You try desperately twice as hard to maintain that persona and yet deep down you still suffer from feelings of inadequacy. All this happens because when you have impostor syndrome, you simply cannot internalize your experiences of success. This can quickly take a toll on your mental health and can lead to a lot of issues like anxiety and depression.
Some examples of impostor syndrome
Following are a few examples of imposter syndrome so that you can better comprehend what it is:
- You’ve gotten nominated for some award, yet you feel fake at the celebration since you don’t think your accomplishments are deserving of the nomination.
- Even though you’ve been in a particular position for a few months, you still feel unqualified when people address you by your official title because you haven’t yet perfected it.
- You’ve established your own company, but you don’t want to market it since you feel like a fake because you might not have the same amount of expertise or skill as everyone in your industry.
Watch: [What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it? – Elizabeth Cox]
We hope you found this article helpful in learning more about impostor syndrome. Read more about its different types and how to cope here.
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