IMPOSTER SYNDROME

Imposter syndrome is not a recognised psychological disorder requiring psychiatric care, but a pattern of behaviours where sufferers, generally in their professional lives, have high levels of anxiety and doubt their achievements. Typically, they hold thoughts such as “I feel like a fake” and “I don’t deserve this job”.

Such feelings of severe inadequacy and self-doubt often leave sufferers fearing that they will be exposed as a “fraud”.

IS was first identified by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, two clinical psychologists at Georgia State University, who examined a group of female post-graduate students back in 1978.

Clance and Imes initial research indicated that high achieving women were more affected than males and the conclusion was made that IS was primarily a female issue.

Subsequent studies, however, have showed that men are equally affected.

“Under pressure, Imposter Syndrome hits men harder than women, triggering more anxiety and worse performance” British Psychological Society June 2018

Research reported in Frontiers in Psychology, identifies imposter syndrome as “an inner barrier to moving up to higher occupational levels and leadership positions”.

Some estimates suggest that 70% of high achievers are affected by Imposter Syndrome at some stage during their careers. A report in the UK’s Independent newspaper referred to research claiming, “a third of millennials suffering from Imposter Syndrome in the workplace” Independent 18 Feb 2017

But as often as not, Imposter Syndrome sufferers aren’t even aware of the real nature of their stress-related feelings. Since they may only experience it under certain circumstances, high performers often consider that because stress goes with the territory of the job, they just have to ‘push through’!

There are however are number of indicators that can suggest IS. Here are 5 of the more common:

• Perfectionism: sometimes visual - being impeccably turned out according to their style; sometimes about their performance, or about being right, or being knowledgeable, or about their fitness programme. Often justified as ‘high standards’, but in reality, it’s about a need to be flawless.
• Deflecting: feeling uncomfortable with praise and so deflecting it – partly because they believe they don’t deserve it, partly due to perceived pressure to reproduce the success in the future. This can come across as modesty and so is often not recognised as an imposter behaviour, but the sufferers themselves will know what the true feeling is about.
  
• Comparing: there are two aspects to this:
  

1. How the sufferer is feeling internally , as compared to what the other person looks externally . Typically, the sufferer imagines that what another person expresses, conforms to what they are feeling; if they look fine then obviously, they must be fine! The sufferer can’t imagine that colleagues could ever have the same doubts or anxieties as themselves, so therefore as a sufferer, they must be unique with these feelings of fraud.
   
2. Sufferers also perceive a discrepancy between how they are regarded and how they really are. They feel as if others repeatedly overestimate their ability, Sufferers don’t allow themselves to envision being held in high regard.
   

• Over-preparing: closely related to perfectionism, is driven by anxiety rather than thoroughness. It might be argued that it is a desirable trait in the work environment, but it is not sustainable and can lead to burnout.
  
• Procrastination: for the IS sufferer, this can mean putting off a task until the last minute, then working through the night to finish. If the task is well received, it reinforces their feeling of being a fraud and having been lucky, again. If it is poorly received, their excuse to themselves is that it was a rushed job and therefore not a valid criticism.
  

Tara Halliday, in her book “Unmasking” , argues that Imposter Syndrome is linked to a concept of conditional worth , something which we all feel because this is a consequence of how we are socialised as children and adolescents – we do something that is approved of and consequently we are rewarded (praised), so we learn that our worth is conditional on certain behaviours. She suggests that imposter syndrome may only strike in certain activities (imposter activity) , that the sufferer has associated with their personal worth. Examples could include, ‘knowledge’, ‘qualifications’, ‘being right’, ‘intelligence’, ‘creativity’ etc.

When people don’t tie their worth to something, then they can enjoy the experience for itself, regardless whether they succeed or fail.

Whilst Imposter syndrome is more talked about than before – which is good, it is often linked to lack of confidence, or competence, or low self-esteem.

Research indicates that it is none of these, as sufferers are often high achieving people who have already demonstrated great success in their careers.

More likely, a certain situation or trigger occurs, in an ‘imposter activity’ which leads the sufferer to fearing that they are not good enough .

Typical triggers are change or challenge – moving to a new role or responsibility, and critical or toxic working environment – where blame, scapegoating, bullying or sarcasm are evident.

The sufferer already has a worry that they do not perform well in a certain activity and then the trigger event reinforces that feeling.

Typically, sufferers don’t speak about their feelings to family or friends, but they will in confidence, with a neutral, third party, like a coach.

Just talking with someone can have a huge benefit, helping the sufferer move on from their state of secrecy or denial.

But even more valuable, is if that third party or coach, has a real understanding of how to manage an imposter conversation – the coach should be careful to avoid coming across in a teacher/parent role. Praising the sufferer’s actions or holding them accountable for their commitments is not appropriate as the sufferer will continue the behaviour, seeking approval or hiding failures from the coach.

Ensuring an environment of ‘no judgement’, the coach can stimulate a sense of ‘unconditional worth’, supporting the sufferer to free themselves from their own self-doubt and fear of other people’s opinions.