Imposter Syndrome

WHAT IS IT?

“A psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a fraud”

Have you ever been plagued by insidious feelings of not being good enough while everyone else seemed to think otherwise? Do you downplay your success believing it's just luck? Fretted over how they'd treat you if they gleaned knowledge of your incompetence? If so, then, welcome to the club, majority of humanity has memberships here.

OUR CONCERN:

Despite the omnipresence of this phenomenon, with an estimated 70% of the population having fallen prey to it at some point in their lives, imposter syndrome isn’t recognized as an official diagnosis by the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) yet.

CAUSES:

•While anyone can be affected by it, certain factors may enable the sowing of the seeds of this affliction.

•A simplistic yet profound fact that plays a role here is that we know ourselves from the inside but only have access to the carefully curated, polished exteriors of others. So, while we are privy to every flaw of our own, we find it incomprehensible that the people we witness are much like us.

• Studies also show that certain childhood environments can predispose one to the phenomenon.

• Undeserved Praise:

When families provide the children with adulation the child knows to be false, when they are aware that their counterparts are more distinguished than them in that field, they’re instilled with the sense of being shams and feel the pressure to keep up appearances for the family.

• No Praise/Conditional Praise:

When there is no nurturing of self-esteem and self-worth it breeds deep insecurity. Intermittent conditional praise or dismissal of achievements also makes children believe that they’re inadequate.

• Lack of entitlement:

If children are told that they are going to have something taken away/not given to them because they didn’t meet expectations, it ties the idea of deserving directly to punishment and curdles the understanding of what it means to truly deserve something.

• Family Labels:

When a child is put into a box, such as ‘the smart one’, ‘the sensitive one’, or stuck with a gendered upbringing, they struggle with changing the narrative, their familial identity warring with their individual identity

• Highly Critical:

Expecting nothing less than perfectionism and berating children for not meeting impossible standards, leads to them picking up only easy tasks that can be perfectly carried out, with minimum risk of failure.

• Individuals in the upper echelons of social, academic and professional domains are faced with significant susceptibility, and are unable to own their own prowess. Luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Michelle Obama and Emma Watson have confessed that they feel like phonies. The more skilled a person is, the more likely they are to feel fraudulent.

• People from minority or oppressed communities also exhibit a propensity for impostorism, with some speculating that women are more inclined towards it than men. The limited research in the area has shed light upon the fact that African Americans and Asian Americans have a higher number of people battling the imposter syndrome.