Doing well doesn’t always feel good, which can be a reflection of an invisible internal battle. Impostor syndrome is an insidious intruder on many people’s psyches.

A new job, a promotion, an exciting and fulfilling volunteer opportunity. It’s a step up. You’ve earned it; now you’re going to kill it!

Except you feel like anything but a world-beater. Instead, you feel like someone is going to march into your new office, point a long finger and loudly call you out for the fake you are.

What’s going on? Psychologists call this phenomenon “impostor syndrome,” a pattern of behaviour where, even with evidence to the contrary, sufferers doubt their abilities and have a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud. Psychology Today described it simply as a “phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments.”

The concept — it’s not a disorder in the diagnostic sense — was coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes to describe people who, despite ample external evidence and reinforcement, can’t believe they deserve the success they have. Luck and connections, they think, got them where they are, not their own accomplishments, talents and skills. Their research found that the feeling appeared to be particularly prevalent and intense among a select sample of high-achieving women. At the time, the researchers blamed early family dynamics and the later interjection of societal gender-role stereotyping for contributing to the phenomenon.

According to an abstract of their initial findings, “numerous achievements, which one might expect to provide ample objective evidence of superior intellectual functioning, do not appear to affect the impostor belief.” Not surprisingly, impostor syndrome is no stranger to the Mount Royal community.

BOILING IT DOWN

There are degrees of these feelings, says Mirjam Knapik, PhD, chair of Student Counselling within Mount Royal’s Wellness Services. Knapik tries to avoid labels, instead looking to unpack an individual’s experience and explore both the positives and negatives.

“There is a difference between feeling like there is something specific we need to learn, which is doable, and feeling like we are a fraud, which is hard to fix. However, there may be aspects of what people are calling an impostor syndrome that is, from a more positive reading, an invitation for reflection about both ourselves and the context in which we are having this experience.”

For example, “we might reflect on, and acknowledge that we are newbies at something and look for opportunities to step out of our comfort zone and get more experience.”

Universities tend to be a hotbed for this condition for a variety of reasons, says John Streukens, PhD, an instructor in the Department of Psychology at Mount Royal, although impostor syndrome “extends out across all professions and can be found in any population dynamic.

“It generally presents when one is in a transitional period within either their education or career,” Streukens says. “Once initial features are surpassed or attained, individuals settle until the next major shift, which can contribute to this issue being cyclical or recurrent.”

Streukens believes cognitive behavioural therapy can help address the messaging systems associated with the impostor syndrome. He stresses, however, that a positive client-therapist relationship is critical for success.

IT’S NORMAL, MAYBE

Kevin Alderson, PhD, a practising counsellor and contract faculty at Mount Royal, stresses that in the workplace some feelings of inadequacy are natural as we adjust to a new role, especially if it involves the professions. Some of that simply comes down to mentoring, or a lack of it.

In the trades, he points out, apprentices are watched closely and get immediate feedback if they mess up on the job. In the professions, however, employees can be left to flounder and figure it out for themselves.

Alderson, who says current research points to the impostor phenomenon as a symptom of larger issues like depression and anxiety, admits he experienced it himself for five years after he started teaching.

“I think we need to distinguish between a natural feeling of not being up-to-speed, and the impostor syndrome. The key word for me is ‘pervasive,’ and also ‘perceived inadequacy.’ If you are actually inadequate, then that’s something different. I think young people should expect to experience impostor syndrome, especially the higher they go in their education because the expectations increase.”

While it can be difficult to work up the courage, finding a colleague to model yourself after can help, as can reading and researching about how others have done the job that you do.

“We shouldn’t be afraid to approach someone to say, ‘I really don’t know how to do this.’ Most of us are honoured when someone new to the profession calls and says, ‘Do you have an idea how I should deal with this problem?’ I’m honoured when they ask.”

Alderson sees being challenged in life and on the job as a good thing. “Too many people go through life feeling they aren’t contributing.”

But at the same time, he warns that perfectionists are most likely to develop impostor syndrome because their standards are impossible to meet. Striving for competence, not perfection, is much healthier. Competent surgeons, for example, still lose patients due to factors beyond their control.

“There are a lot of perfectionists out there and they drive themselves mad. They end up doing worse than if they weren’t perfectionists because their anxiety level is off the Richter scale.”

In the end, the workplace itself can help or hinder as employees deal with these feelings.

“There are work environments that are nasty, that are horrible. You have a boss who is looking over your shoulder and everything has to go through them. Everything is highly scrutinized. It’s going to be harder to thrive in that environment than if you’re treated with respect, than if you’re treated as if you’re someone who does actually know something and you’re given guidance, not commands, constantly. Work environment will either contribute to our impostor syndrome or it will help diminish it.”

Knapik agrees and says that when feeling like an impostor leaves us chronically anxious, it is clearly a problem.

“When perfection is demanded in order to feel okay, feeling like a fraud is sure to follow,” she says. “But if discomfort about our competence drives us to learn and practise, then growth is possible. If we then find ourselves in a place where we do not need to hide our uncertainty, where opportunities for growth are supported and valued, then feeling incompetent is no longer a syndrome.”