What is it?
The term Imposter Syndrome or Imposter Phenomenon was first described by Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes in a paper published in 1978. Their experience was based on working with high achieving women who were in psychotherapy or university staff or students[1]. These women felt they were frauds, that their achievements were a fluke and appeared unable to believe that their successes were attributable to their own intelligence and efforts.
These beliefs appear to be very common in women and contrary to popular belief, also in men[2].
Why do we get it?
From an evolutionary biology point of view our ancestors had to be on the lookout for anything dangerous. The better we were at detecting and responding to life threatening situations the more likely we were to remain in the gene pool. We could argue our ancestors who were more anxious, more fearful and cautious were the ones that survived! Even today our brains are hard-wired to notice threat. Fortunately, the great majority of threats we face at work are not life-threatening. However, at the subcortical or limbic system level, our brains still respond to threats to our sense of self, our identity and if our values are ‘trampled’ all over. When this happens a whole cascade of events follow (within 10 milliseconds!) and our adrenaline and cortisol prime us to respond with fight, flight or freeze. Our Imposter is most likely to invoke a freeze response. We become quiet in meetings, don’t speak up for ourselves and retreat inwards. Our Imposter is there to keep us safe and alert us to any risks, so we wouldn’t want to get rid of it. However, if we let it continue unchecked, it can limit our behaviour and hold us back.
Individually, there might have been early experiences in our development where keeping quiet when we thought there was a risk was the right thing to do. We may have been repeatedly told we weren’t intelligent and wouldn’t come to much, which may have resulted in over preparing and perfectionism. This becomes learned behaviour, and we get stuck on repeat.
The good news is we have our prefrontal cortex where the areas responsible for creative thinking and reasoning reside, and however old we are, our brains also have neuroplasticity. This is the ability to create new neural pathways, so we can learn new skills. We just need to be motivated, know how and be committed to practising, in the same way we might build muscles in the gym.
What to do about it?
The first step in bringing about a change in our behaviour is to notice what is currently happening. Most of the time we run on autopilot. Get to know your Imposter. Maybe even give them a name. Acknowledge that your Imposter serves a purpose and thank your brain for trying to keep you safe.
Your Imposter will be associated with a variety of physiological signs. The chances are that when your Imposter is active you will close down and retreat inside yourself. So, you might make yourself smaller physically. You may experience some very specific body sensations, for example, butterflies or a lurching feeling in your tummy. Being aware of these bodily sensations can help increase our awareness of when our Imposter is triggered.
The next step is something most people struggle with. You need to be kind to yourself. This takes practice! Sometimes putting a hand on the part of your body where you feel the sensations can help. For example, I find laying a hand of my chest is a form of self-soothing.
Most people who have Imposter Syndrome also tend to have a very critical inner voice. This is the voice that can point out how incapable you are and how you always freeze in these situations. Whilst from an evolutionary basis this is understandable (if I imagine the wild animal is bigger, faster, and hungrier than I had imagined, this will prime me even more for my response to keep me safe) unfortunately it only serves to leave us being less resourced. I call this critical voice the ‘barrister for the prosecution’. If you imagine the prosecution barrister in the court room dramas you’ve watched on TV, this is the person that points the finger at the accused and tells them all the reasons they are guilty. We need to create a ‘barrister for the defence’, another part of ourselves that will come at the situation from a completely different perspective.
To create this barrister for the defence we can ask ourselves a series of questions. These are, in a way, the same question; it’s just that most people find that one of the questions works slightly better for them than the others.
Question 1:
If you had a really good friend or member of your family who was having challenges with their Imposter and they were giving themselves a hard time about it, what would you say to them? (Chances are you wouldn’t give them an even harder time!)
Question 2:
When you are experiencing these challenges, if you imagine a good friend or mentor, someone who you really trust, what would they say to you in that moment?
Question 3:
This isn’t a question, it’s a task! Create what one of my clients called, ‘The PowerPoint of Me’. This is somewhere, either on a PowerPoint slide or a Word document where you note down all the evidence that contradicts why you might believe you are a fraud. List all your qualifications, exams you have passed, promotions you’ve achieved and great feedback you have received. Have it to hand when you have those moments of self-doubt to demonstrate there is a stack of evidence that you can do everything that people believe you can do.
Question 4:
We all have different parts to ourselves that relate to different experiences and periods from our past. I still have a teenage part of me! We also have a future self. Our future self is consequently not only older, but wiser and more experienced. When we have these moments of self-doubt and are being self-critical, what would your future self say? Yourself in a month’s time, next year, when you retire?
When you have found the question or approach that works best for you, create some statements. Choose one statement that resonates with you the most, one that you can believe. Write this statement on a series of post it notes and stick these in places you will see, like your computer, your fridge, your bathroom mirror.
It takes time and effort to develop our defence barrister and yet, due to our ability to learn we can notice the impact on our behaviour when we are running different thoughts in our head. Sports people do this. They train their mindset as much as their bodies to ensure they will perform at their optimum.
So, embrace your Imposter and create your defence barrister to ensure the Imposter doesn’t dictate how the real you wants to behave.
[1] Clance, R.P. and Imes, S. The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic intervention, Psychotherapy Theory, Research and Practice 1978. Volume 15 (3)
[2] Bravata, Dena M.; Watts, Sharon A.; Keefer, Autumn L.; Madhusudhan, Divya K.; Taylor, Katie T.; Clark, Dani M.; Nelson, Ross S.; Cokley, Kevin O.; Hagg, Heather K. April 2020 Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: a Systematic Review” Journal of General Internal Medicine. 35 (4): 1252–1275
