Do you feel that you are not up to the task of what you do even though you have preparation for it? Do you live with some fear that people will discover that you are a fraud? Do you believe yourself unworthy of your achievements and do you believe that they have been the result of chance or good luck? Then you belong to the very large club of those who feel ‘impostor syndrome’, which affects 70% of people at some point in their lives, according to the study The impostor phonomenon, published in the International Journal of Behavioral Science.
Suffering from it is uncomfortable and leads you to have doubts and insecurity about what you do despite having knowledge or experience in it and makes you live in fear that others will realize that you are not competent in a certain area, that you are a fraud. It affects women much more, as journalist Emma Vallespinós recalled in a recent Live interview. “Imposter syndrome in women is learned from a very young age,” said Vallespinós.
However, this well-managed fear can motivate people to continuous improvement, self-improvement and excellence, while if it is not managed properly, it ends in anxiety or more serious problems such as a very powerful lack of confidence or inability to face challenges. .
“It is a type of psychological discomfort of different intensity in which the person does not feel worthy of their own achievements and fears that others will at some point discover them as a fraud,” as Marta Cabezas, co-psychologist, explains to La Vanguardia. -director at Intro Psicoluciones Madrid. “It is the fear of not being up to par,” Julia Pascual, a psychologist specializing in Brief Strategic Therapy, summarizes for this newspaper.
“Mostly it happens in the area of ??academics and work, but it can happen in any area of ??life in which you demand too much of yourself or have an expectation of success or excellence to achieve,” explains Pascual, so it can also happen. in the field of home, motherhood or the couple.
Many people will identify with getting a job or a promotion and seriously doubt whether they will be able to do it well despite having plenty of training or experience, or feel great anxiety when the company proposes a new project that involves a promotion because, although If you feel like doing it, you think you are not worthy of the position and they will discover that you do not know how to do the job well. And the impostor syndrome “is more easily detectable in the workplace,” according to Cabezas.
When it occurs in the love sphere, “the scheme is very similar to that of people who feel very loved by their partner or friends and do not believe that they deserve this love, because they are not that big of a deal. “They make a lot of effort and sacrifice in the relationship for fear of being discovered and, therefore, abandoned,” says Cabezas.
‘Imposter syndrome’ is a double-edged sword; Poorly managed causes anxiety, fear, lack of self-esteem and can even lead people to not want to take on tasks and life or work improvements for fear of not being able to do so.
However, for other people who are “lovers of continuous improvement and excellence,” feeling that they are not going to be at the level they seek “is fantastic, because well managed it helps us be better.” “The fear of not being up to par helps us feel those butterflies and that functional anxiety to improve ourselves and take our performance one step higher in any field, whether it’s making cakes, being a psychologist, etc.,” says Pascual.
Another positive aspect of ‘imposter syndrome’ is that “it protects us from our vanity and from believing we are kings of the world”, furthermore, “it prevents us from giving up, it encourages us to try new things, learn from everyone and understand that we can always do something.” improve, assume the mistake and think that the next day they are not going to make it and assume the risk even knowing that there will be another mistake,” adds Pascual, a member of the College of Psychology of Catalonia.
What if it’s not great for us? What if we are not managing it well? “In addition to the discomfort it generates, related to anxiety, looping thoughts, alertness, maximum attention to performing well to avoid being discovered, etc. It seems almost more interesting to me to think about all the people who anticipate this discomfort and avoid assuming positions of power, sometimes almost unconsciously,” reflects Marta Cabezas.
In this sense, Pascual adds that “If this fear of not being up to par is not managed well, it can become an anxiety problem and if it is not solved it can lead to an even more important problem such as a lack of trust.” of oneself so powerful that psychiatric labels call it ‘paranoia about oneself.'”
Both psychologists consulted by La Vanguardia agree in highlighting the problem of fleeing from challenges. “I see in my patients that they avoid doing things again and facing them, and if they do, they are in close company and ask for too much reassurance from others.” In addition, they often feel the need to “do a lot of training or every now and then they are doing a master’s degree”, that is, “they avoid doing certain things by overloading themselves with studies and feel that it is never enough to face whatever challenge it may be,” he says. Pascual.
He says that some feel a kind of internal voice that is like “an evil inner judge” that turns the doubt of whether they can do something into a certainty for them. “Internal voices come to them that tell them that you won’t be able to do it, you’re going to block yourself, everyone is going to notice that you’re a cheap copy,” etc. so the fears are accentuated and makes you run away.
If the ‘imposter syndrome’ that torments those who suffer from it can be “fantastic” as Pascual points out, how can we manage it well so that it becomes an ally instead of a burden? “The main solution is to embrace that fear of not measuring up and know that this fear must be faced,” recommends Julia Pascual.
On the other hand, it is important to “accept error as part of nature and as motivation to learn and improve, knowing that the next day you will also make a mistake.”
As with many fears that do not have a realistic basis for suffering them, a good tool is to rationalize, think about the preparation you have, your work experience, the times you have been congratulated for your job or promoted, etc., because It is quite unlikely that a prepared person who is achieving achievements and climbing the ladder has achieved everything by chance or has been gifted with the successes achieved. “According to my experience, these people feel an internal discomfort that goes against the messages of approval and congratulations they receive from the outside. The key would be to give more weight to these views from the outside,” advises Marta Cabezas.
And to avoid looping thoughts that feed on each other and, far from helping, they cloud, Pascual believes that “thinking too much does too much damage, you have to think just enough and necessary for a better action and do it, because you have to risk.”
And one last piece of advice from the Brief Strategic Therapy psychologist: “work hard as well as rest hard”, that is, you have to know that “whether you slow down too much or if you go too far, the impostor syndrome grows”, for Therefore, a balance must be found. We must “keep in mind that it is irresponsible not to work and not improve yourself on a personal level, at work or in some areas, but it is also irresponsible not to stop and not know how to rest,” she insists.
Firstly, a characteristic of those who suffer from it is that they are really objectively prepared to do the tasks, they have training and/or experience in the area that causes them insecurity and fear and in fact, it happens to them in part because they are demanding people with themselves. and seek excellence.
“If you have managed to do your job well and are being congratulated for it, you are simply qualified. Discomfort is what will have to be worked on at a psychological level since it is not consistent with reality,” explains the co-director of Intro Psiccologías.
On the opposite side, Pascual says that young people come to her consultation, “born in the late 90s and especially in the 2000s, believing that they suffer from impostor syndrome” with no experience or hardly any training in a certain area, to which she responds “You don’t suffer from impostor syndrome, it’s just that you are an impostor” because “they have started the house from the roof without foundations or solvency.” This psychologist gives the example of people who have started a business through Instagram and have become influencers on a topic in which they really have no training or knowledge. In these cases, it is normal and logical to feel that you are not legitimate for the work you do and that at any moment this lack of competence could be revealed, says the psychologist.