Impostor syndrome: definition, signs, origins and how to break free

Impostor syndrome, also called the impostor phenomenon, refers to lastingly doubting one's legitimacy even though one's achievements are very real. The person puts them down to luck and fears that one day it will be discovered that they are not up to the task[1][2].

People with this syndrome tend to have constant, almost pathological doubts about their successes in their professional or personal life. Indeed, you believe that your success is due solely to external factors, such as luck, the people around you and/or fortunate coincidences.

That is why you constantly feel that you are cheating or deceiving the people around you. You see yourself as someone who spends their time duping others. You therefore believe that your colleagues or those close to you will unmask you and that you will lose your credibility.

This excessive self-devaluation of your abilities can be temporary or chronic. But it is not irreversible.

Is it an illness?

No. It does not appear among the diagnoses of psychiatric classifications, and the authors of the concept ended up preferring to speak of an experience rather than a syndrome[1][10]. That does not mean this experience is trivial: it can weigh heavily and deserves to be taken seriously.

Impostor, humility or simple doubt?

Not every doubt is impostor syndrome. Feeling somewhat out of place when starting a new job is common, and acknowledging what is left to learn is often a sign of clear-sightedness.

Three elements are generally looked for together: the feeling of deceiving those around you, the attribution of successes to external causes, and a strong fear of being found out[9]. It is their persistence despite objective achievements that is a warning sign. Only a professional can help sort it all out.

The term comes from two American psychologists, Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes. In a 1978 article, they describe women with brilliant careers who were convinced that they were not that capable and had fooled everyone, even though their degrees and results said otherwise[2].

Since then, the phenomenon has been observed well beyond that first group. Research has also evolved on its causes: some studies invite us not to look for the problem solely in the person, but also in their environment[3].

The signs vary from one person to another. Several come up often:

• Attributing one's successes to external factors: "I was lucky", "they were wrong about me".
• Waiting to be found out: a promotion or a compliment is more worrying than reassuring.
• Dismissing positive feedback: it is judged polite, exaggerated or undeserved.
• Over-preparing or procrastinating: working far more than necessary, or putting things off for fear of not measuring up.
• Constantly comparing oneself: noticing other people's strengths and one's own shortcomings.

The questionnaire most used in studies is the Clance scale, with 20 questions[1]. It gives an indication of how intense this feeling is, but cannot on its own establish a diagnosis.

Impostor syndrome comes from an unjustified feeling of insecurity.

Indeed, you feel that you do not deserve your place. It seems to you that other people's intellectual level is always higher. To make up for possible gaps or a possible intellectual lag, you get more involved in your work and put in a great deal of effort. You win the approval of your superiors or teachers, whom you therefore feel you have duped.

Then, because you downplay your own skills, you go along with other people's ideas. You come across as understanding, but you do not feel that you are truly yourself, rather that you are the person others expect you to be.

You use your charm, consciously or not, to gain certain favors, or at least to be liked by your superior. This unconscious strategy aims to reassure you about your own abilities so as to get rid of this feeling of deceiving others. Instead, however, you tighten the mask you wear, since once again it gives you the impression of having lied to your hierarchy and that this approval is due to your talent for lying or to luck.

This mechanism explains why successes do not reassure: each one can be put down to excessive effort or luck, and the doubt returns at the next step. Conversely, the Dunning-Kruger effect describes people with little skill who overestimate their level.

American author Valerie Young describes five profiles, often cited[10]. This is a useful framework for recognizing oneself, not a validated scientific classification, and you may see yourself in several of them.

• The perfectionist: one small mistake is enough to wipe out everything else.
• The expert: they believe they must know everything before getting started, and keep taking one training course after another.
• The natural genius: having to make an effort seems to them proof that they do not belong.
• The soloist: asking for help seems to them an admission of weakness.
• The superhuman: they want to excel at everything and always do more than everyone else.

Imposter syndrome is not only linked to professional life. It can also occur in our private sphere, particularly in education and in family life.

Indeed, a parent can underestimate their abilities to manage their family environment, their children, etc. Your partner may think too highly of you when it comes to this management, making you feel like you're fooling your family as well.

There is no single, clear explanation for impostor syndrome.

What we do see, however, is that it often appears when we compare ourselves to people we consider competent or even talented, particularly during academic or professional transitions. It is also common among children whose parents have brilliant careers.

Parental pressure related to upbringing may have played a part. Expectations that were too high regarding professional or social success on the part of your parents can be a cause of this syndrome. You may feel that you have always had to do better because you cannot manage to meet those expectations.

Conversely, expectations that were too low in your childhood, or a lack of attention, can give you the feeling that you do not belong in your workplace or your university group.

Finally, some populations that can be considered minorities are more prone to impostor syndrome, such as women, LGBT+ people, people who are foreign to the country, certain religious minorities, and so on. Minorities are indeed subject to strong social pressure and seek to prove their skills, yet they often feel a lack of self-confidence. Stereotypes and still-limited attitudes toward certain differences can lead to low self-esteem, or at the very least create doubt about our abilities.

What research adds

In the workplace, feeling like an impostor is mainly linked to a low sense of self-efficacy, to perfectionism that is hard to live with, and to strong sensitivity to negative emotions. Support at work can reduce its effects[4].

The environment matters too. Researchers point out that society, organizations and everyday interactions can feed this feeling, particularly among people belonging to underrepresented groups[3]. Feeling illegitimate is therefore not always a problem "in your head": the context can contribute to it.

Even though there is no typical profile of people who suffer from impostor syndrome, we do find certain frequent characteristics.

First, there is a lack of self-confidence and low self-esteem. You do not believe in your skills, your worth and your abilities, and you attribute them to outside luck that happened to work in your favor. It does not seem possible to you that you could really be capable, whether through your intellect or your physical skills.

These personalities therefore often include a perfectionist, or at least a strong fear of failure (or the fear of an unjustified and undeserved success). This is linked to heavy overinvestment. You do have the sense that your work is never good enough, even if you have completed the tasks or achieved a difficult challenge. This can eventually lead to significant psychological or physical fatigue.

You may also have a strong need for recognition, whether from those around you, your management or your teachers. Yet you try to avoid being the center of attention in order to avoid the risk of failure.

Finally, you may tend to ruminate, wondering how it was possible to get a given position or to get into a given school. You therefore tend to put yourself down and to belittle your skills.

This syndrome is not rare. While it does not always last a lifetime, it is often said that 70% of people feel this way at least once during their academic path or professional career.

This syndrome generally appears when we enter a new world linked to some of our skills, for example at our first job, at a promotion, in a new university program, and so on.

This syndrome affects women and men equally. Research has long focused mainly on women.

Is this figure reliable?

It should be taken as an order of magnitude. A review of 62 studies and 14,161 people finds rates ranging from 9 to 82%, mainly depending on the tool and the threshold used[1]. There is therefore no single figure.

A few benchmarks, for specific groups:

• Healthcare workers: 62% on average, across 30 studies and 11,483 people[5].
• Medical students: 54.2% on average across 26 studies. Studies with randomly selected samples give clearly lower figures, 36.5%, which calls for caution[6].
• Women and men: rates are close in that same analysis, 50.5% and 47.1%[6]. The 2020 review confirms this: the phenomenon is common in both, at any age[1].

By dint of working relentlessly to meet demands, by dint of trying to reach perfection so as not to show that you are an impostor, you are at greater risk of burnout.

As a result, the pursuit of perfectionism increases the feeling of incompetence, since the effort you put in is greater than what your colleagues may offer. You therefore underestimate yourself and spend a lot of time on each task, which sometimes forces you to procrastinate a great deal.

Depression, an anxiety disorder or even strong pessimism about one's skills and one's life are observed. Constant dissatisfaction and putting in a great deal of effort can lead to exhaustion and to negative thoughts.

The 2020 review confirms these links: impostor syndrome often goes hand in hand with depression and anxiety, and it is associated with professional burnout, poorer performance and lower job satisfaction[1]. These studies do not always make it possible to say what causes what.

If you are not doing well or have suicidal thoughts, call 988[12] in the US or Samaritans on 116 123[13] in the UK, 24 hours a day. If you are in immediate danger, call 911[14] in the US or 999[15] in the UK. If you are in another country, please contact your local services.

It is always better to see a professional (psychologist, therapist, sophrologist etc.) for help with this distress. A professional will support and guide you in building assertiveness, self-confidence and self-esteem. Work on guilt and on detaching from other people's opinions could also be part of the process. That said, you can still try a few simple tips to free yourself from this syndrome and make progress on your own. Since it is not a pathology, you can already move forward by yourself with these tools. If the distress sets in, or comes with exhaustion or signs of depression, talk to a professional.

Accept yourself as you are

Regularly, work on letting go: breathe, listen to relaxing music, let all the good vibes in and become aware of your body and your abilities. Be grateful for who you are.

Accept compliments

Be grateful for what others say to you, and learn not to see positive remarks as lies. Accept them by thanking the person or smiling. To do so, think about what you did to get these satisfying results, and see that they come from you.

Be at the center of attention

Even if it may seem difficult, offer to give presentations of your work, the steps you took, and the results expected and/or achieved. This way, you will be able to highlight what you have done, and also realize what you managed to accomplish thanks to your skills.

If the fear of speaking up blocks you to the point of avoiding these moments, a practitioner can help you approach them gradually, including with public speaking environments in virtual reality.

Create motivating slogans

Repeating simple, realistic phrases can help change the way you see yourself. Keep short, punchy phrases in mind, such as "I am capable", "I have the skills", "I am proud of myself", and repeat them regularly. If you are a visual person, feel free to write them down so you can read and reread them as often as you like.

Value others at their true worth

Your colleagues or classmates may be more gifted than you in certain areas, but do not overestimate them. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, our skills and our shortcomings, and we learn to grow with them. Accept that you can learn from them, but also accept that you can teach them some things.

Create a "success table"

Listing the different situations in which you succeeded helps you realize what you have been able to do. Make a table with 3 columns. In the first, give a factual description of the situation (for example: I won a call for projects). In the second, write your automatic thoughts about this success: what do you attribute it to (for example: luck). In the last, think about the real factors behind your success, such as the skills you showed, your knowledge of the subject, the number of hours spent, the effort you invested, etc.

Prove to yourself who you are

You are not an impostor, and yet you are convinced you are. Take a sheet of paper, draw a diagram with a photo of yourself or your first name in the middle, and write all around it all your qualities (professional or personal) that could lead you to success (for example: kindness, math classes, quick learning, etc.).

Put things in perspective

As you have read, this feeling is common. It is therefore time to dare to talk about it, and you will see that there is a good chance that others around you feel the same way. This way, you will feel understood by your colleagues or those around you, and they will try to adapt as best they can so that you can regain confidence in your skills.

Moreover, in the course of a conversation, you will be able to share your tips with other people who suffer from it, like you.

Keep a compliment journal

Write down a compliment you received, the thought that came to you right away, then another reading that seems credible to you. To "they only said that to be polite", you can reply: "this person noticed that specific point of my work". The exercise comes from the work of Kévin Chassangre and Stacey Callahan[9]. The goal is not to convince yourself that everything is perfect, only to step out of the automatic response.

Be less hard on yourself

In a study of 601 Czech students, doubting one's skills goes hand in hand with feeling alone in the face of one's difficulties and letting oneself be overwhelmed by them[7]. This does not prove a cause-and-effect link, but it is a reminder that a kinder view of one's mistakes is something worth working on.

Talk with your peers

Talking about this feeling helps you see that it is shared[11]. In a discussion workshop among 222 medical students, the share of those reporting frequent or intense experiences dropped from 53 to 43%, and they felt more comfortable talking about it. The score did, however, increase for some, and this study had no comparison group[8].

If you manage a team

You can also act on the context: give precise feedback, talk openly about doubt and make sure everyone finds their place. The impostor feeling is not played out only at the individual level[3].

Talk to a professional if this feeling lasts, makes you give up opportunities, or comes with exhaustion, anxiety or a very low mood.

What we know about support options

Research is still young on this point: in 2018, the leading journal found no published study evaluating a treatment for impostor syndrome[1]. The approaches suggested by clinicians therefore still need to be better evaluated, and the practitioner adapts them to each person.

• Cognitive behavioral therapy: it can help identify automatic thoughts and rethink how one explains one's successes and failures.
• Assertiveness: it is practiced notably through role-playing, to learn how to receive a compliment or express an opinion.
• The group: hearing other people go through the same thing can reduce the feeling of being alone[10].

Working on avoided situations in virtual reality

For practitioners, impostor syndrome often shows up as very concrete avoidance: not presenting one's work, staying silent in meetings, dreading an oral exam. When these situations become a therapy goal, C2Care offers public speaking and social interaction environments, which the practitioner integrates into their care and adjusts in real time.

This work targets these specific situations, at a pace suited to the patient. C2Care also collaborates with researchers at Aix-Marseille University, who use these tools for social skills training and role-playing.

Impostor syndrome is not an illness, but a common and sometimes heavy experience: the successes are there, and the doubt remains. The figure of 70% is often cited, whereas studies give very variable results depending on how it is measured. It affects women and men alike, and the environment can contribute to it as much as personal history. Noting your successes, reviewing your automatic thoughts and talking about it are good first steps. If it weighs on you, a professional can support you.