A Guide to Impostor Syndrome—and Overcoming It

The Impostor Syndrome Cycle

In their study of high-achieving women, Clance and Imes identified the impostor syndrome cycle.

The process begins when people overwork or over-function to compensate for a fear of being discovered as a fraud.

Although such efforts often lead to stellar grades or high performance, the person with impostor syndrome will temporarily feel better and are likely to quickly feel like a fraud again. They will feel compelled to overwork and start the cycle anew.

Another hallmark of the impostor syndrome cycle involves responding negatively to others’ positive feedback. For example, when people with impostor syndrome accomplish a task they’ve set out to achieve, they tend to disregard compliments.

According to Lisa Orbé-Austin, PhD, a licensed psychologist, executive coach, and author of “Own Your Greatness: Overcome Impostor Syndrome, Beat Self-Doubt, and Succeed in Life,” “When we hear anything that’s positive, we want to dismiss it, show others our mistake, and that we didn’t do well. Such thinking gets us caught in the impostor syndrome cycle.”

This type of behavior can be detrimental to relationships. When someone gives a compliment, for example, they are offering an opportunity to connect. When we dismiss compliments, the person who is giving the compliment can feel dismissed or wonder if they did something wrong.

“A compliment is relational,” Orbé-Austin states. “We’re losing that relational moment when someone tells us we did a good job [and we don’t accept it].”

Rather than getting caught up in feeling like it’s better to be humble, she advises people to accept praise.

“Instead of saying, ‘No, [my performance] was so-so,’” Orbé-Austin advises, “make eye contact and say, ‘Thank you so much. I really appreciate that—I’m really honored that you would take the time to say something to me.’”

Who Experiences Impostor Syndrome?

The truth is that most of us experience imposter syndrome at some point in our lives.

In her work with organizations, Susan David, PhD, has helped countless people address impostor syndrome and often shares that impostor syndrome is relatively common.

“That’s important to remember,” she says, “because many people think that feeling like an impostor is unique to them. It’s something that many people go through, including very high-functioning and competent people.”

It has been shown that men and women respond differently to negative feedback.

When receiving negative feedback, men struggling with impostor syndrome experienced greater anxiety and performed more poorly on a task.

When faced with the same negative feedback, women with impostor syndrome tried harder and performed better on the task. They are more likely than men to feel insecure about their performance and second guess themselves.

However, women tend to be “counterphobic.” They move towards what they fear. They often appear to be go-getters, constantly achieving one goal after the next, while being plagued with self-doubt all the while.

Men, on the other hand, aim for mastery. As a result, they may connect with peers who are less competent, take fewer risks, and challenge themselves less.

According to a 2018 article, these different gender responses could be related to societal pressures. Men may feel they need to uphold traditional gender roles to appear competent as they are expected to be.

Women with impostor syndrome may not feel the burden of expectation, freeing them to try harder to improve their performance, even if it means risking failure.

Research shows that levels of impostor syndrome are high in ethnic minority groups. Work and educational settings that marginalize members of ethnic minority groups can leave individuals feeling alienated, undervalued, and less competent—all hallmarks of impostor syndrome.

In a study of African American, Asian American, and Latinx college students, impostor feelings added to these students’ stresses, which included lack of adequate financial aid, the need to support themselves in school, racial discrimination, and being the first in their families to pursue higher education.

A 2017 study found that impostor syndrome, levels of depression, and survivor guilt frequently co-occurred in Black college students.

What We Know About the Cause of Impostor Syndrome

There is no single cause of impostor syndrome—however, culture and environment are factors, with research pointing to family dynamics and the roles people learn early in life.

“When it’s communicated that a person’s worth is tied to what they know—for instance, doing well at school and getting things right—the specter of not knowing can raise issues of identity threat and of being ‘found out,’” David reports. “We often find impostor syndrome in people who are perfectionists or those who were raised to be extremely conscientious.”

Clance and Imes noticed family patterns in the women they studied. They found that the women’s experiences tended to fall into two groups: the first cohort grew up with the experience of having a sibling or another close relative who was deemed “the intelligent one.”

The women who went on to develop imposter syndrome felt driven to achieve to prove that they were smart, too. Yet, no matter how many good grades or how much praise they received from teachers, they never felt validated by their family, and never felt smart deep down.

The other group of women came from families that heaped praise on them for every ability. As these women went out into the world and realized they were not good at everything they set out to achieve, they began to wonder if any of the messages they received from their families were true.

According to Orbé-Austin, “Behaviors like downplaying what you know, or seeking mentorship for external validation are not caused by one particular incident. They have long roots and they are often familial.”

How Impostor Syndrome Can Impact Our Lives

The damage impostor syndrome causes to a person’s personal and professional lives can be significant.

“When people buy into impostor stories and treat them as fact, it can stop people from putting themselves out there, taking risks, or moving forward,” says David. “It can prevent people from living life in ways that are congruent with their values.”

Impostor syndrome often reveals itself in work settings.

Employees with impostor syndrome are less likely to engage in career planning and move into leadership positions while being more likely to experience job dissatisfaction and burnout.

Drawing from her experience coaching managers, executives, scientists, academics, and others, David describes how impostor syndrome manifests itself in the workplace.

“I know people who have a particular level of expertise or who have done a lot of research about a topic, but they hold back in meetings and do not contribute,” she says.

“During these meetings, they are thinking to themselves, ‘How did I get into this room with people who are clearly smarter than me? They’re going to find out I’m a fake.’”

As the research of Clance and Imes showed, the condition can be especially problematic when impostor syndrome collides with cultural biases.

“I do a lot of work with women in science,” David shares. “These women have demonstrable skill and expertise in their respective fields, but they very often find themselves in work situations where they are the only female.”

In these cases, cultural biases and stereotypes can come into play and be turned against oneself. “A woman who is in a stressful position to begin with may start to question herself and whether she truly belongs or is just faking it’” David states.

Impostor Syndrome and Mental Health Conditions

People who struggle with impostorism are more likely to experience anxiety and depression. When these individuals experience failure, they are more likely to have low self-esteem and feel less satisfied with their lives.

Just the idea of possible failure can trigger mental health issues in this group. A 2020 article that explored impostor syndrome in medical students pointed out that the pressure of performing an achievement-oriented activity can create anxiety in someone who fears failure.

Even when people who struggle with impostor syndrome achieve goals, they may worry about the expectations of others. They fear that they will need to continue to achieve or that they will need to set the bar for success even higher.

Furthermore, when someone with impostor syndrome does meet a goal, they are likely to attribute the success to external factors. They may also feel undeserving or ashamed of recognition for the accomplishment. Such factors can contribute to depression and low self-esteem.

A 2015 study showed that people with impostor syndrome were more likely to struggle with perfectionism and have a lack of confidence in their ability to complete tasks.

Such people care deeply about the quality of their work and the impact of their contributions. However, the qualities become problematic when they are tied to self-worth or lead to inflexibility.