Imposter syndrome

I got this promotion, got this contract, received these compliments, and yet, a little inner voice whispers to me that I don't really deserve it, that it's a mistake, that if others really knew what I was worth, they would be disappointed. This feeling, that my successes are due to luck, circumstance or an error in the judgment of others, never to my actual skills, is called imposter syndrome. Identified for the first time in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, it is today one of the most documented psychological phenomena in the professional environment. According to a review published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, 70% of people experience this feeling at least once in their life. The good news: he recognizes himself, understands himself, and surpasses himself.

1. How does imposter syndrome work?

Imposter syndrome (IS) is not a psychiatric disorder in the clinical sense: it is a psychological pattern characterized by a persistent inability to integrate one's own successes and skills, despite objective evidence of success.

It works in a well-documented self-reinforcing cycle:

• ●Step 1: I receive a responsibility or challenge. I immediately feel anxiety and a feeling that I'm not good enough.

• ●Step 2: I react either with compulsive overwork (to “prove” my worth and compensate for supposed incompetence), or with paralyzing procrastination (to avoid confirming my fears).

• ●Step 3: I succeed. But I attribute this success to luck, to the efforts made (not to my skills), or to an error in the appreciation of others.

• ●Step 4: the fear of being “unmasked” remains intact, and even increases with the level of responsibility. The cycle starts again.

This cycle explains why IS is particularly frequent and intense among the most competent and accomplished people: the more their responsibilities increase, the higher the risk of “unmasking” seems to them.

2. The profiles most concerned

Initially identified among highly successful women, imposter syndrome actually affects all genders, sectors and hierarchical levels. The profiles most often concerned:

• ●High potentials and perfectionists, whose personal standards often exceed actual requirements.

• ●People taking on new roles or in career transition, novelty fuels the feeling of illegitimacy.

• ●People from minority backgrounds in their sector (first in their family to exercise a certain profession, gender or cultural minority in a field), the dissonance between their profile and the “dominant model” fuels the IS.

• ●Professions with high stakes and exposure: doctors, teachers, managers, artists, researchers.

3. The consequences on my health and my performance

Imposter syndrome is not trivial. Its effects on mental health and professional performance are significant:

• ●Professional burnout: chronic compensatory overwork is one of the most direct paths to burnout among “imposter” profiles.

• ●Chronic anxiety: the permanent fear of being unmasked generates an exhausting state of mental alert, particularly during evaluations, presentations and moments of professional exposure.

• ●Barriers to progression: refusal of promotions, speaking engagements, new responsibilities for fear of confirming the “deception”.

• ●Difficulties in feeding on positive feedback: compliments are systematically put into perspective or denied, depriving the person of essential motivational fuel.

4. 6 concrete strategies to overcome imposter syndromeName and recognize the phenomenon. Knowing that what I'm experiencing is called imposter syndrome, that it's very widespread and well documented, and that it doesn't reflect the reality of my skills, is already a significant shift in perspective.

Keep a journal of my successes. Regularly recording my accomplishments, the positive feedback received, the skills mobilized, creates an archive of objective evidence that I can consult when the voice of the impostor is heard.

Reframing the attribution of my successes. When I succeed, I train myself to attribute part of that success to my skills: “I succeeded because I am prepared, competent and committed,” not just to luck or circumstances.

Talk about it with trusted peers. Discovering that competent and respected colleagues experience the same doubts is often a liberating revelation. The IS thrives in silence and secrecy. Talking about it deflates him.

Distinguish between humility and self-deprecation. Humility honestly recognizes its strengths and limitations. Self-deprecation systematically denies one's strengths. I can be both humble and recognize my real skills, the two are not contradictory.

Act despite doubt. Accept new responsibilities, speak up, propose ideas, even when I don’t feel “ready”. Experience accumulates evidence that my inner voice can no longer deny. The IS retreats when we stop giving in to it.

5. When to seek support?

When imposter syndrome is severe, generates disabling anxiety, leads to chronic overwork, or significantly slows down my professional progress and my well-being, psychotherapeutic support (CBT, schema therapy) can produce profound and lasting changes.

Supervised professional coaching can also be useful to work specifically on self-image at work and IS-related behaviors. My general practitioner can direct you to appropriate resources.