Impostor syndrome: when we don’t value our successes

Some people are unable to accept their own achievements and abilities.

What is imposter syndrome? The term was coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes.

Although it is not a clinical disorder per se (as it is not classified nosologically in any medical or clinical diagnostic treatise) impostor syndrome is defined as the psychological and emotional displeasure that has been directly related to the individual emotion of not being worthy of the place (and/or recognition) that the patient finds himself occupying or enjoying (as a result of his personal abilities) at the occupational, academic and social levels.

Impostor syndrome: an as yet unrecognized disorder

So, if this condition is not classified in the different clinical diagnostic manuals, how is it possible to talk about it? This is due to the fact that under this term a series of clinical symptoms have been grouped that cause emotional discomfort which, due to its characteristics, differs from the known and classified disorders, but generates distress in the patient.

The epidemiology is indistinct between professionals and non-professionals, nor does it distinguish between men and women and, approximately, seven out of ten people have suffered from it at some point in their lives..

This syndrome usually appears in students with excellent grades and, to a greater extent, in successful professionals; it is known that its appearance has a high correlation with low self-esteem and poor self-concept of the individual.

Pathological modesty

Another important factor for its appearance is usually the derogatory or critical attitude on the part of people who share the environment of the disturbed subject who envy his or her achievements.

The person suffering from this condition feels that he or she never lives up to all that he or she enjoys as a result of his or her success and abilities. and capabilities. The individual has the persistent feeling of not being good enough at what he/she does, in addition to labeling him/herself as useless or incapable; furthermore, he/she accuses him/herself of being an impostor, a complete fraud in everything he/she does.

In this syndrome, the patient confidently assumes that his success is a matter of luck and chance, and never due to his own intelligence and abilities.

Symptoms

Some of its most frequent symptoms are the following:

• The constant belief that achievements and successes are undeserved; the individual considers that these successes are not deserved.The individual considers that these successes are due to luck, chance, or that other people within the circle in which they operate and who they consider more powerful than themselves have helped them to achieve them, thus devaluing their individual abilities.
• Recurrent lack of confidence in one's own competences.
• Permanent fear that others who may be being "deceived" by the individual will discover his or her "fraud". discover their "fraud".
• Constant insecurity and lack of confidence in the academic, work and social environments.
• Persistent expectations of certain failure in similar situations which have been successfully overcome by the individual in previous events.
• Low self-esteem.
• For no apparent reason, negative symptoms such as anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, etc., appear.

How to overcome it?

Curiously, this feeling of not being sufficiently prepared disappears as time goes by. disappears as time goes by and the individual gains more experience in the field in which he/she works..

To overcome the condition, it is important that the individual does not reject or ignore compliments or congratulations, he/she must accept them, they are the fruit of his/her efforts!

It is important that the person helps others, thus, by obtaining a joint result, he/she will be shaping his/her thoughts when realizing that the other person has achieved his/her objective due to the intervention of the one who suffers from the syndrome, thus, the false idea that success is due to chance will be gradually uprooted..