The 5 profiles of people with impostor syndrome

If you have ever felt in your life that some of your achievements are pure chance and you do not deserve them, and you have doubted your ability to achieve them, you are probably falling victim to imposter syndrome.

This alteration is an internal feeling whereby a person believes that they are not as competent and valid as others believe or as their own achievements demonstrate. This belief makes us have a very unrealistic view of what it really means to be good and what it feels like to be valid.

Along with that feeling of not deserving and not being valid in the face of the successes achieved, there is always a fear of being discovered as an impostor, as a fraud.

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Characteristics of imposter syndrome

The clearest features of this syndrome are:

• Feeling of not deserving of the success and recognition that is obtained.
• Conviction that success is due purely to chance or luck.
• Great internal doubt about one's own abilities.
• Real fear of being discovered as an impostor.

It is a syndrome that can affect us at any time in our lives., regardless of gender, social status, profession, etc. It can be circumstantial and temporary or, on the contrary, worsen over time and last longer.

It is not a disease as such, but it is a feeling that will negatively affect the general well-being of the person. People with this syndrome can experience anxiety and a lot of stress when they face tasks that require them to use their own skills and abilities because, despite having them, they continually feel that they are going to fail in the task.

All this problem entails that the subject who feels like this experiences very negative internal dialogues Regarding their own self-concept, fears of failure and, as we have already mentioned, of being discovered as an impostor in the event of success, they will be more obsessive with mistakes made always tending to be perfectionists and, lastly, they will greatly exaggerate the process of preparing each task, dilating it over time excessively.

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Profiles prone to impostor syndrome

There are 5 types of profiles that can be observed within people who experience this psychological phenomenon.

1. the perfectionist

It is experienced by those people who, by always demanding to reach their maximum, they think they could have done even better, even having achieved their goal and do not stop looking for improvements.

• You may be interested: "Perfectionist Personality: The Disadvantages of Perfectionism"

2. the superhuman

In search of achieving the set objective, they work more and more Trying to cover up your insecurities, causing damage to their own mental health and in the relationship with their environment and others.

3. the natural genius

They are characterized by his great ability to learn new skills quickly and easy but, having learned it, they feel insecure when they have difficult goals ahead of them.

• Related article: "Self-concept: what is it and how is it formed?"

4. the individualist

prefer perform all tasks individually without asking for help for fear of showing his alleged incompetence.

5. The expert

You will not be satisfied until you know all the information about a topic. They have a continuous feeling that they have not been sincere and, therefore, fear being discovered as a fraud.

• You may be interested: "Albert Bandura's Self-Efficacy: Do You Believe in Yourself?"

To do?

Once the different styles of this syndrome have been identified, it is important to take into account several strategies that help us combat it to relieve the discomfort to which it has subjected the subject that experiment. It is very important to try to combat it, since, due to its marked pattern of thought, it will negatively affect your work / academic performance, negatively impacting productivity, stress generated and the way of performing tasks. These strategies are made up of:

1. Focus on the facts

It is very important that, once we analyze a situation, we focus on it as we perceive it. Irrational beliefs will arise, all around "I'm not up to this", which will be what feed this psychological phenomenon, but we must focus on the task, the results obtained, the assessments and evaluations, etc.

• Related article: "Cognition: definition, main processes and functioning"

2. Abandon perfectionism taken to the extreme

This perfectionism can sabotage the achievements because there will always be "something missing" to make everything perfect. We must focus on optimizing and improving the process, learning from our own mistakes.

3. Learn to ask for help

Nobody is going to discover you as a fraud, someone with more experience will be a good opportunity to learn and get the necessary tools in the process. Also, when faced with excessive work, a good option is to delegate.

4. celebrate achievements

You should feel proud of the work done, validate your own skills and strengths.