Impostor syndrome: Who do you think you are?

None of this is you. You didn’t do it. You’re not that good. You’re not good enough. How did you even get here? Eventually, everyone will see you for what you are: a fake.

Almost 45 years ago, psychologists Suzanna Imes and Pauline Rose Clance coined the term “impostor phenomenon” to describe “an internal experience of intellectual phoniness” they had observed in high-achieving women.

So, not just a fraud to others, but even unto thine inner self? That’s harsh. You “fake it until you make it” to the point that it seems like a requirement of the modern MBA curriculum.

But Imes and Clance were seeing successful women who had basically convinced themselves they were only making it because they were faking it. And they would only remain successful if they could keep the pretence going.

It has since become apparent to mental health professionals that this phenomenon – the baseless conviction that your achievements are largely unearned, at best fortunate and at worst fraudulent – is not gender-specific. Some researchers now estimate that as many as 70 per cent of us, regardless of gender, have had or will have a bout of impostor syndrome in our lives.

Impostor syndrome is a recognised mental health issue, but it is not considered a pathology. You won’t find it in diagnostic manuals, nor will anyone be offering you a pill to regain your sense of self-worth. Unchecked, however, living with the persistent belief that you’re a fraud can be exhausting – leading to conditions that can be diagnosed and treated, such as depression and anxiety.

For some, the experience of self-doubt will only ever be just that: a moment of uncertainty or second-guessing. For others, that experience is a spur to higher achievement: the motivation to work a little harder and keep standards high.

But the flipside of that is over-preparation. You steadily crank up unrealistic pressure on yourself to keep one step ahead of those who might see you for who you really are: a phony.

Impostor syndrome is not limited to doubts about yourself. Given time and opportunity, you may start to question the legitimacy of your entire profession. If you find yourself thinking that your job serves no great purpose, that no one would miss you and your peers if you suddenly vanished from the annals of human knowledge and experience – congratulations – you’ve got yourself a well-developed impostor syndrome.

At its core, it is suggested impostor syndrome stems from a person’s failure to internalise their success. This essentially means that they have not accepted such achievements as coming from their own ability and effort. This, in turn, leads to over-reliance on external factors, like luck or happenstance, as the key explanation for success.

This is palpably worrying on so many levels. It seems some of us are born with low self-esteem; some achieve it (think of our exam-driven education system and the choices it forces on people at a ridiculously young age), and some of us go on to develop impostor syndrome.

But how early does it start? And for whom? Is it possible that we can make a transition from garden-variety low self-esteem, worry about what others think, perhaps legitimate questions about how we got to where we got, and then somehow it starts to fester into this bigger, more all-encompassing ill?

I don’t know.

Can you, a parental-type person, inadvertently or advertently, rear your offspring into impostor syndrome?

Yes, you can. And you’re likely already doing it. Are you the parent who conveys the idea that it’s not doing your best that matters, only being the best counts? Or are you the one who constantly says everything the child does is wonderful, whether it’s a mediocre school grade or eating their peas instead of hiding them in the dining-room chair?

Both extremes are ungood. But it seems the solution is simplish: let the child know that regardless of efforts and outcomes they are loved. Also, try to help them be realistic about their expectations. Be real about what their strengths and not-strengths are.

As for the rest of us, most of us are prone to self-doubt on occasion, and that alone should not be taken as confirmation of impostor syndrome. Self-doubt, self-effacement, modesty: these are what should shield us from exposure to fatal levels of hubris.

But when the natural tendency to question oneself turns into obsession, when you can accept no praise or congratulation but allow yourself to marinate in every slight and criticism, when you can find no positive for yourself that is not outweighed by a negative – you have perhaps strayed into an unhealthy and self-destructive mindset.

Remember to talk to your doctor or therapist if you want to know more about what you read here. In many cases, there’s no single solution or diagnosis to a mental health concern. Many people suffer from more than one condition.