Imposter syndrome: when you don't value your successes

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), Imposter syndrome is specified as the psychic and emotional disgust that has been directly related to the individual emotion of not being worthy of the place (and / or recognitions) that the patient is occupying or enjoying (as a result of his personal abilities) at the work, academic and Social.

Imposter syndrome: a yet unrecognized disorder

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

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 it at some point in their lives.

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

A pathological modesty

Another important factor for its appearance is usually the contemptuous or critical attitude on the part of people who share the environment of the upset subject who envy its achievements.

The person who is suffering from this condition feels that he is never up to everything that he enjoys as a result of his success and capabilities. The individual has the persistent feeling of not being good enough at what he does, in addition to classifying himself as useless or incapable; furthermore, he accuses himself of being an impostor, a complete fraud in everything he does.

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

Symptoms

Some of its most frequent symptoms are the following:

• The constant belief that achievements and successes are not deserved; the individual considers that these successes are due to luck, chance, or because other people within the circle in which they are they develop and that they consider more powerful than they have helped them achieve them, thus devaluing their capabilities individual.
• Recurring lack of confidence in their own competencies.
• Permanent fear that other people who may be being "deceived" by the individual discover the "fraud" of him.
• Constant insecurity and lack of confidence in the academic, labor and social fields.
• Persistent expectations of failure insurance against similar situations which have been successfully overcome by the individual himself in previous events.
• Low self-esteem.
• For no apparent reason, negative symptoms appear such as: anxiety, sadness, hopelessness, etc.

How to overcome it?

Interestingly, this feeling of not being prepared enough disappears as time passes and the individual gains more experience in the field in which he operates.

To overcome the condition, it is important that the individual does not reject or ignore compliments or congratulations, he must accept them, they are the result of his effort!

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