Imposter Syndrome: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
Sometimes you finally reach a goal you’ve always wanted. But rather than it being the positive event you had imagined, it feels like your biggest failure instead, like you don’t deserve to be there, and you’re “less than” what you should be.
You don’t think about the hours you spent on your project or the skills that you worked hard to develop through years of work.
You think it was all just timing, just knowing the right people, or sheer luck that helped you get where you are.
And you feel like a fraud, because you begin to believe you didn’t work as hard, which is certainly not the case. If you feel this way, you may be dealing with one type of imposter syndrome.
On this page, we’ll cover:
- What imposter syndrome is.
- Different types of imposter syndrome.
- The signs of imposter syndrome.
- The causes of imposter syndrome.
- Ways to manage and overcome imposter syndrome.
What Is Imposter Syndrome?
Imposter syndrome, sometimes written as impostor syndrome, is a phenomenon where you feel less than you really are when compared to others. It is not a diagnosable mental health condition, but rather a description of various symptoms and experiences.
Even if you’ve put in a lot of hard work, you may feel that you don’t deserve your current position. Instead, you believe it’s the result of:
- Luck.
- Who you know.
- Being in the right place at the right time.
This is often combined with negative thoughts and feelings, like symptoms of anxiety, depression, and negative self-talk. You may also fear that you’ll be “found out” because you have no idea what you’re doing.
Imposter syndrome mostly affects both men and women who are highly accomplished.[1]
Types of Imposter Syndrome
While there are no clinically diagnosed “types” of imposter syndrome, it can present in different ways. As described above, most people with imposter syndrome feel “less than” others, and attribute their accomplishments to external factors.
But that’s just one way imposter syndrome presents itself. Here are all five of the most common presentations:
1. Perfectionist
If you have this type of imposter syndrome, you’ll want everything to be “perfect,” whether you do something yourself or someone else does.
If you fall short of your own expectations, you may:
- Feel like a failure.
- Become depressed.
- Drop the project you were pursuing.
But if someone else, such as a team member, falls short of your expectations, you focus on what they could have done better. This can hurt team morale or your own health, since you may end up working overtime to fix things until they meet your expectations.
2. Natural Genius
If you’re someone who picks things up on the first try, you’re very likely to measure your value by how fast you can learn something new. You may see putting in work and consistency as something not for you.
When you aren’t able to pick something up or achieve success on your first try, for any reason, you may feel betrayed or duped by yourself.
You may feel that success should have come more easily. When it doesn’t, you may:
- Become depressed.
- Lose interest in the thing altogether.
- Avoid that pursuit because you fear failing again.
3. Expert
This is where your breadth of knowledge is part of your identity. When someone asks you something, you take pride in the fact that you can provide an accurate answer immediately.
But you also fear being asked questions that you don’t have an answer for. You fear that you won’t be able to answer and be humiliated for your lack of knowledge.
Some people become too attached to the idea that their knowledge is their only source of value. When that happens, they may start to actively avoid questions that touch on subjects they don’t know much about.
This can turn into a habit of avoiding people, questions, theories, or anything that doesn’t fit how they see the world.
4. Superperson
A superperson is someone who can do many things at once successfully. For instance, they may manage their business and home life without letting anything fall apart.
They view competence as being able to do several things at once perfectly. So when even one thing falls through, they may act out, become depressed, or start to question themselves.
This happens because they see failing at one thing as failing at everything.
5. Soloist
This is someone who’s a one-person team. They like doing things on their own, with varying degrees of success.
They feel they work best on their own and may believe that they can do a better job alone instead of in a team (which may be true).
They may also consider asking for help a failure. So when they aren’t able to complete or understand a task on their own, they may start to question if they even did their previous tasks or projects themselves.[2]
Signs of Imposter Syndrome
Now that we’ve looked at the different ways imposter syndrome can appear, let’s look at its most common signs:[3]
- Wanting everything to be perfect, where perfect is defined by you.
- Doubting your skills or competence.
- Feeling terrified at the thought of failure.
- Dreading being questioned about what you don’t know.
- Underestimating yourself and overestimating others.
- Comparing yourself with others and always feeling you come up short.
- Feeling guilty at your success compared to others.
- Anxiety about being discovered.
- Limiting yourself because you don’t want to be exposed to ridicule or because of perceived incompetence.
- Self-criticism and shaming yourself for where you fall short of your standards.
- Feeling uncomfortable with praise or recognition because you don’t feel you deserve it.
- Not being able to ask for help.
- Thinking overworking will solve every problem you run into.
- Avoiding all social interactions out of fear.
- Always feeling like you could’ve done better, even though you tried your best.
Causes of Imposter Syndrome
There is no one cause of imposter syndrome. Almost anything can cause it, such as success, failure, or any type of feedback.
Here are some of the most common causes:
1. Childhood Environment
How your family acted when you were a child is one of the biggest factors behind imposter syndrome.
For instance, if your family only praised you for good grades or big milestones, you’re more likely to tie your self-worth to how others see you.
This means if you run into a situation where you can’t achieve success, no matter how hard you try, you’ll start to doubt your ability and wonder if you’re a fraud.
Similarly, if you were praised for natural talent or intelligence as a child, while your hard work went unnoticed, you may grow up believing natural ability counts for more than effort.
In the future, if you can’t achieve something on your own, or feel stumped by a task your intellect should be able to solve, you may start to doubt yourself. That doubt can lead to mental health difficulties, including depression.[4]
2. Personality Traits
People who are prone to anxiety, perfectionism, and low self-esteem are likely to experience imposter syndrome. This is because all of these traits can give you unrealistic expectations that are hard to meet.
If you can’t meet these expectations, you feel like a failure and a fraud, like you don’t deserve to be where you are, because you can’t do anything right.
People who expect themselves to produce perfect results every time are hit the hardest. Even the smallest setback can cause them to spiral into avoidant tendencies or depression.[5]
3. Belonging to a Minority Group
If you belong to an underrepresented group, based on gender, race, or socio-economic background, you’re more likely to develop imposter syndrome.[6]
People in minority groups often feel pressure from two sides. Society expects them to show why they deserve certain opportunities, and their families or communities want them to succeed and show their worth.
If you grew up this way, you may end up learning to rely on yourself for everything. This can make you overly self-critical and always feeling like you could do better.
You might also feel pressure from society to prove why you, as a minority person, deserve an opportunity over others. That pressure can leave you feeling like you don’t belong once you’ve reached your goal.
For instance, if you achieve a major goal, such as landing a hard-won scholarship, job, research opportunity, or admission to an exclusive school, you may feel you have to constantly prove you belong by working harder than anybody else. In some cases, you might start to question how you achieved it in the first place.
4. Transitions
Transitions are major changes in your life. They can include:
- Going from high school to university.
- Getting into graduate school.
- Landing your first job.
- Switching careers.
- Getting married.
- Buying your first home.
All of these can cause imposter syndrome symptoms.
For instance, people starting a new job may feel terrified at the thought of being “found out” because of their lack of skills. They may feel they don’t measure up to their colleagues and criticize themselves for it.
Similarly, you might start your graduate program only to realize your research idea seems less exciting than others, which makes you start to question why your professor even chose you.
5. Hyper-Competitive Environments
If you’re in an environment where you’re constantly being compared, and you don’t get clear feedback on your performance, you may start to doubt yourself and wonder if you’re doing anything worthwhile at all.
You may become overly critical of yourself, start to think your current achievements aren’t enough, and become anxious about your every action.
If this pressure doesn’t let up, you can end up burned out. You might work longer hours to prove you belong. But the harder you push, the more exhausted and unsure of yourself you can feel.
Performance anxiety can creep in too, turning important meetings and presentations into things you dread.
Mission Connection is here to help you or your loved one take the next steps towards an improved mental well-being.
How to Manage and Overcome Imposter Syndrome
If you’ve been struggling with feelings of self-doubt and that you’ll be found out, here are five steps to feel better:
1. Focus on What You’ve Achieved, Not How You Feel
When you feel down and that you got where you are because of luck or timing, look at your wins and remind yourself how you got there.
For instance, if you doubt your competence in your graduate program, pull out your undergrad certificate, your trophies, awards, and old projects.
Remember how hard you worked for each win, how you spent hours on a project, how that trophy has days of work behind it.
Ground yourself in your achievements. You made it because you deserve it, not because of any external factor.
2. Understand That Failure Is Part of Success
If you fear being blindsided by a question you don’t know, or generally fear failing even before you even try, you need to understand that setbacks are a normal part of getting to a win. Sometimes you even have to lose to understand what’s missing before you can win.
For instance, dozens of failed experiments lead to one that works. If the researchers weren’t willing to fail, how would they ever learn what to correct to be successful?
The case is similar for you. While you might feel like a failure or that you don’t belong when you fail or don’t meet your expectations, this is absolutely normal.
You may fail once, but only you can let that failure put you down. Instead, use it to figure out what to try differently next time.
3. Take Ownership of What You Can Control, Not What You Can’t
Sometimes, you might take to heart things that were never in your control and internalize them as your faults. This is where you need to draw the line between what’s actually your responsibility and what isn’t.
If you work in a customer-facing role and your KPIs were affected because a customer couldn’t get back to you with the information you needed, that’s not a failure on your part.
If you sent reminders, noted the delay, and followed up, you did the best you could. Be kind to yourself.
You can’t control what someone else does, and you don’t need to internalize their mistake as your own.
4. Let Go of Perfectionism
The perfect slide deck, chart, sculpture, essay, or public presentation doesn’t exist. We all do the best we can in the moment.
If you chase perfection, you’ll miss the joy of reaching a goal you once thought was out of reach.
Instead of focusing only on what you could have done better, focus on what you’ve achieved first.
Once you’ve enjoyed your win for a while, then check for things that may have improved the outcome, but only ones in your control.
And do not nitpick. If something works as intended, you don’t need to think about five different ways to make it better immediately. There is a time and place for that.
5. Talk to Someone Who Has Been There Before
This ties back to the first point. If you’re feeling disillusioned with yourself or like you don’t deserve to be where you are, talk to a mentor, a teacher, or someone who has walked your path.
They’ll help you understand that what you’re feeling isn’t only your lived experience. They also felt the same uncertainty, the self-doubt, and the fear of failure you’re feeling now.
And when you hear the struggles they went through, you’ll be able to ground yourself and better walk the path you’ve chosen for yourself.
Get the Support You Need at Mission Connection
If your self-doubt or your feelings of being less than those around you aren’t improving, it might be time for professional help.
At Mission Connection, we provide flexible outpatient mental health treatment for those who need more than weekly therapy.
We offer in-person treatment at our locations in California, Virginia, and Washington, as well as telehealth services statewide in those locations. We also offer a hybrid program that combines in-person and virtual care. This means you can get care wherever you feel most comfortable.
Imposter syndrome can be a lonely experience, but you don’t have to walk that path alone.
If you want to feel at home in your own self, call us at 866-833-1822 or get started online. We are in-network with most major insurance providers. That whisper that tells you you’re “not enough” is not the final truth about who you are.
