Feel like a phony? Let’s talk about Imposter Syndrome
Have you ever felt like a faker who have come this far just because of luck and chance and not due to the hardwork you have done?
Have you ever felt like you have got all this success just because you torture yourself to the point where you develop anxiety and depression or some of their symptoms?
If yes, then you might be suffering from imposter syndrome- a phenomenon in which a person is in self-doubt, questioning their self-worth regarding their achievements and believes it is just due to their luck and not due to their own ability and efforts.
Imposter phenomenon is first proposed by psychologists, Suzanne Imes, PhD and Pauline Rose Clance, PhD, in 1970s.
Is Imposter Syndrome some kind of disorder?
Although imposter phenomenon is not officially listed in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of psychological disorders) as a diagnosis of some disorder, many have reported this kind of experience.
Despite being a good student throughout his academic career, William Somerville, a clinical psychology student, when started PhD, began to doubt himself. He started to question himself not only about his skills but he started to wonder whether he belonged to this field at all. “There’s a sense of being thrown into the deep end of pool and needing to learn to swim”, He narrated. “But I wasn’t just questioning whether I could survive. In a fundamental way, I was asking, Am I a swimmer?”
Retrospectively speaking, Somerville was feeling typical symptoms of what is called imposter syndrome. It is usually occurred among high achievers who do not accept their success as a result of their hardwork.
Imes says, “most people do not talk about it. Part of the experience is that they are afraid to be found out.”. They go silent about it fearing they will get caught and exposed themselves as a faker or fraud.
Pressure to Accomplish
It was thought that this imposter phenomenon is unique to women, but when further researched, it was found out that men too have experienced the fear of embarrassment if found out as a fraud. This research was published in the International Journal of Behavioral Science in 2011.
Imposter syndrome is common in people who are venturing on a new endeavor. For example, students taking on new course (grad students, people who start their new business or anyone who has started a new project). People with imposter syndrome suffer from anxiety, constant fear of failure and are not satisfied with their achievements.
Also, minorities are prone to these kinds of feelings, having beliefs like they have to work twice as hard to achieve as it is actually required normally. A research conducted in 2013 at the University of Texas, Austin, having ethnic-minority college students as participants of the study. The study demonstrated that Asian-American students are more likely to experience Imposter phenomenon as compared to African-American and Latino-American students. Also, it was found out that Imposter phenomenon did more harm in terms of mental health of those as compared to stress.
People who grew up with parents who are overly critical or overly-praising, are most likely to suffer from this phenomenon later in their life. In addition, pressure of society and peers also plays a significant role in fueling Imposter syndrome.
How to overcome Imposter Syndrome?
There are some ways you can overcome these Imposter feelings:
1. Talk to your mentors- A kind and encouraging mentors by your side make a lot of difference in order to make one feel accomplished and satisfied with what they do.
2. Remember you are good at- Always set realistic goals for yourself. Otherwise you will find yourself procrastinating rather accomplishing even the half of your objective.
3. Recognize your expertise- Look for those who are young to your field and you will realize you were once at their place and how far you have come.
4. No one is perfect- Take time out and enjoy the fruit of your success. No one is perfect and no one can be. Perfection is a veil for procrastination.
5. Reframing- Change the way you think and the things you look at, will change. Admire yourself and do not overburden yourself. If you spend 8 hours on a task, cut some time and rather spend 6 hours on it.
6. Talk therapy- Talk to some therapist if you want to get rid of this tiring feeling of not accomplishing enough. Individual therapy has proved to be quite helpful.
