Psychology of imposter syndrome in high-achieving individuals

causes of imposter syndrome

Personality

This is how someone chooses to behave and present themselves to the outside world. Traits that predispose one to imposter syndrome include perfectionism, high self-criticism, low self-esteem, and fear of failure.

Early life experience

These are circumstances that surround a child’s life, sometimes into teenagerhood and early adulthood. It is mainly shaped by family through things like favoritism, high expectations, praising results and not effort, abandonment, and constant comparison to others. Being bullied by family members or peers is also a factor.

Environment

This is simply a new beginning. It could be a job, neighborhood, or institution. A new environment often creates the pressure of fitting in or doing things the right way.

Socio-cultural pressure

These are forces that come in the form of spoken and unspoken cultural norms, traditions, and rules. They can be enforced by relatives, peers, friends, and colleagues.  Examples include social media comparison through parading achievements and stereotyping individuals.

Signs and symptoms of imposter syndrome

• Persistent self-doubt

• Fear of exposure

• Anxiety about performance

• Overworking to avoid failure

• Guilt instead of joy over success

• Avoiding new opportunities

• Downplaying and refusing to acknowledge achievements

• Fear-driven procrastination

• Difficulty in accepting praise

Coping with imposter syndrome

Recognize, identify and acknowledge

Realize that you have a problem by observing your patterns. Once you accept that you have imposter syndrome, map out what could be causing it. Distinguish the behaviors indicative of the syndrome from what is a normal act. Feeling tired after a long day of work warrants rest; that is normal. On the other hand, refusing to rest, thinking you should be doing more, is not.

Identifying how long those behaviors have been existing is also key. They help understand the circumstances where those feelings are triggered, root causes, and responses. You can then begin to work on how to mitigate that through acts like accepting compliments, attending therapy, and celebrating wins.

Challenge negative thoughts

When you acknowledge your syndrome, you get to analyze your thought patterns alongside noted behaviors. Thoughts can be triggered from within and externally through interactions. This allows you to change and improve negative thought patterns through:

• Catching negative thoughts and reframing them. For instance, you find yourself thinking, ‘I just got lucky.’ Reframe along the lines of ‘I put in the effort and managed this work and these are the visible results.’ This rewires the way you perceive things.

• Welcoming failures. Recognize that failure is part of life. Accept with grace and start working on how to be better. Self-pity and loathing take you nowhere. If you find yourself thinking, ‘I am a failure; that did not go as planned.’ Think instead, ‘despite efforts, desired outcomes were not achieved. what can I do better so there won’t be a repeat of what transpired?’

• Practice mindfulness. Practices like meditation, positive affirmations, and intentional walking declutter the mind and induce positive feelings. They keep negative thoughts at bay.

Keep a track record

This can act as a motivational tool. Keep journals and sheets where you get to evaluate through reflections if you are improving. This serves as proof of willingness, progress tracking, and checkpoints where to stop or try new resolutions. 

For example, you can be able to keep track of responses you give when complimented and check if the reception is more than the rejection. 

Share your burdens

A problem shared is a problem half solved. Reach out and connect with friends, like-minded colleagues, and people. These interactions provide a boost in feel-good hormones, keep the mind positively distracted, and can act as a source of encouragement and uplift each other where you need it.

For serious cases, always consult a counselor or a therapist to help you work out deep-rooted issues like parental abandonment.