6 Signs You Might Have Impostor Syndrome

Impostor syndrome, or “impostor phenomenon,” is a term that was first used in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe why many high-achieving women felt like impostors in their respective fields. But impostor syndrome doesn’t just affect professional women. An estimated 70% of people will experience impostor syndrome at least once in their lifetime (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). Learning about impostor syndrome can help put a name to feelings of phoniness and give people struggling with it reassurance that they are not the only ones experiencing these feelings. Here are 6 signs you might have impostor syndrome:

1: You Don’t Think You Deserve Your Success

One sign of impostor syndrome is attributing your success to external factors instead acknowledging yourself and your skills. The women Clance and Imes interviewed in their 1978 study were either successful businesswomen or at the top of their academic fields. But they still felt like their success was based on luck or mistakes rather than their own hard work. For example, several women believed they were admitted to grad school because of errors in the admissions process, improperly graded exams, or faculty who were biased in their favor (Clance & Imes, 1978). People with impostor syndrome might also refuse to believe people who try to validate their success (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). If you keep attributing your success to other people’s misjudgment of you, you might have impostor syndrome.

2: You’re a Perfectionist or Procrastinator

People with impostor syndrome might turn to perfectionism and procrastination as coping mechanisms for their feelings of inadequacy. Micromanaging and putting more time into a project than is necessary are examples of perfectionism. Procrastination can also be a sign of perfectionism because if a person waits to the last minute, their work doesn’t have to be perfect, just complete. When people with impostor syndrome procrastinate on a project, they will often attribute their success to luck. If they overwork themselves on a project, they will likely attribute their success to hard work and not personal accomplishment or talent, which might lead to unhealthy patterns of work in an attempt to maintain their level of success (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011).

3: You’re Afraid of Being Exposed as a Fake

People suffering from impostor syndrome usually feel anxious and scared that their peers will realize they are fake (Clance & Imes, 1978). Even famous American poet and author Maya Angelou feared being found out as fake whenever she published a new book (Richards, 2015). Impostor syndrome is linked to low self-confidence, so people with impostor syndrome may truly believe they are stupid and need to work even harder to hide this deficit from others in their field (Clance & Imes, 1978).

4: You Fear Failure

People with impostor syndrome also tend to feel high levels of anxiety surrounding failure. When they do fail, people with an impostor mindset will feel shame and humiliation (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). They may replay their failures in their mind, feeding their fear and letting it overwhelm them. A fear of failure can parallel a need to be the best.

5: You Need to be the Best

Impostor syndrome sometimes appears in people when they go from being the best to competing with their peers. For example, when a high school student who was at the top of their class attends a university full of students who were the best in their high schools, it may be overwhelming (McAllum, 2016). To cope with this situation, the student experiencing impostor syndrome might put themselves down and resort to calling themselves stupid to reconcile their under performance with their peers’ success (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). 

6: You Constantly Compare Your Success to Others’

Another sign of impostor syndrome is comparing yourself to people who are more or less successful than you. People with impostor syndrome may feel guilty for not starting their career earlier and react by comparing themselves to people with more experience. For example, if they recently started publishing or selling their hobby art, they might compare themselves to professional artists instead of feeling proud of their art sales (Richards, 2015). 

If those dealing with impostor syndrome are more successful than their family, they may feel out of place or not know how to talk about their success (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). This is especially true when a child grows up in an environment where they don’t feel loved and supported by their family, because they may work extremely hard in an attempt to prove themselves (Langford & Clance, 1993). But even when the child attains that success, they will probably feel like it isn’t enough if their family still doesn’t accept them. 

Impostor syndrome exists on a spectrum. In severe cases, it is linked to clinical anxiety and depression (Sakulku & Alexander, 2011). While it is quite common, it can feel very isolating. Do you struggle with impostor syndrome?  Seeking the advice of a counselor or other licensed mental health professional is one option to help process the signs of impostor syndrome. Talking about these signs with your friends, family, and loved ones is another option. Finally, you can choose to learn more about impostor syndrome so you can recognize and monitor the signs when they occur.

References

• Clance, P. R., Imes, S. A. (Fall 1978). The impostor phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. 15 (3): 241–247. http://mpowir.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Download-IP-in-High-Achieving-Women.pdf.
• Langford, J., Clance, P. R. (Fall 1993). The impostor phenomenon: recent research findings regarding dynamics, personality and family patterns and their implications for treatment. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 30(3): 495–501. doi:10.1037/0033-3204.30.3.495.
• McAllum, K. (2016). Managing imposter syndrome among the “Trophy Kids”: creating teaching practices that develop independence in millennial students. Communication Education, 65(3), 363–365. Doi: 10.1080/03634523.2016.1177848.
• Richards, C. (October 26, 2015). Learning to deal with the impostor syndrome. The New York Times. Retrieved 9 May 2020 from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/26/your-money/learning-to-deal-with-the-impostor-syndrome.html.
• Sakulku, J., Alexander, J. (2011). The impostor phenomenon. International Journal of Behavioral Science. 6: 73–92. doi:10.14456/ijbs.2011.6.