What is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome, it’s pretty much exactly what it says. Feelings of being an “Imposter”

What is the definition of Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome is an overwhelming feeling of anxiety regarding your achievements, and not experiencing success internally despite being high performing in external objective ways. This can result in you feeling like a “fraud” and have you doubting your abilities. It can leas you to wondering if and when will you be “caught out” as an imposter.

There is so much more to it though.

It doesn’t just affect you in regards to your academic success, but also plays a part in your health too. This can be feeling as though you are faking your illnesses, or making up your mental health symptoms. Feeling this way about your mental health is extremely common, and one quote I heard was
“if you are doing it when you are alone, who are you faking it for? yourself?” Which honestly, is a great quote, and probably a really helpful way of putting it into perspective.

Now, if I wasn’t autistic this probably would have been a lot more helpful for me personally, however I had the “secret cameras and people watching me so I can’t ever unmask or be myself just incase someone see’s me” type of autism (/hj)

Many autistic adhd people may feel like they are “faking” their diagnosis, especially if they are late diagnosed. If you spent your life masking, when it then comes to starting your unmasking journey, it can almost feel as though you are “putting it on” or suddenly being “more autistic/adhd” which can cause the imposter syndrome to seep in even more.

When you start unmasking, you go through so many stages, and it can take years to fully take the mask off.
Once you do, you can experience skill regression, which only heightens the feelings of imposter syndrome.

Common characteristics of Imposter Syndrome

• A continuous fear of not living up to expectations

• Extremly self critical

• Attributing your success to external factors, or feeling like you secretly cheated

• Undervaluing your contributions

• Self doubt

• Sabotaging your chance at success

• Setting unrealistic expectations

• Negative internal self-talk

• Unable to realistically assess your competence

• Overachieving

• Extremely sensitive to criticism, even when it is constructive

There are 5 types of Imposter Syndrome

The Natural Genius
You may feel like an imposter because you don’t believe that you are in anyway naturally intelligent or gifted, if you don’t grasp something or master a skill right away, you begin to feel like a fraud. This can be attributed to work, such as mastering a new computer system, or even a hobby and being unable to be master a new skill or technique.

The Perfectionist
This type of imposter syndrome essentially means that unless you where completely and 100% perfect, that you have some how failed and could have (or should have) done better. You constantly feel like an imposter or a fraud because you don’t believe that you live up to the perfect version of yourself. You think others believe you are better than you actually are, and fear you will be found out as a phony.

The soloist
You may feel like an imposter if you had to ask for help, or was given help in order to achieve something, because you didn’t do it completely alone you feel unworthy of the success. You feel that others do not get or need the same type of help to reach their success and become extremely self critical and doubt that you earned any of your achievements.

The Expert
The expert can feel like an imposter because they don’t know absolutely every detail about a particular subject. [This can be especially common amongst autistic people in regards to their special interest] They feel because they have more to learn, that they are not the “expert” others think they are. This can lead you to feeling uneasy and anxious when asked questions about a topic, through fear of not knowing an answer, which would result in you being “caught out” as a fraud.

The SuperPerson
Someone who deals with this type of imposter syndrome, believes that they must work harder than everyone else, and attain the highest level of achievement possible, otherwise you are a fraud. A constant need to prove their resilience, which never feels enough.

Tips / ways to help manage and overcome Imposter Syndrome

• Talk openly about your feelings, once you voice the way you are feeling it can be a lot easier to begin the healing process

• Acknowledge the imposter, sit with the feelings that you are dealing with and allow them to pass

• Share and talk openly about your failures, learning to embrace your real failures can help paint a clearer picture of your success. Being able to acknowledge that failing means you tried, and that’s okay.

• Celebrate your success, no matter how small. Learn to sit with the guilt of your accomplishments until you are able to recognise that you deserve, and earned your achievements, whether you did it alone or with help.

• Write down your thoughts about a situation regarding your success / achievement, and also write down the facts, are they different? if yes, you know then that your feelings are not an accurate representation of your success

• Redefine what success means to you. Success is trying.

• Make a list of your achievements, and write down everything you actually did to achieve it, or even have a friend do it for you. It can really help when you are able to view things from a different perspective

• If you are feeling like a fraud in your disability/illness, ask yourself why? What is it that makes you a fraud? Talk to other people with the same disability as you, see if they have ever felt the same way, I can almost guarantee that they have, and this will not only ease your anxiety of feeling like you’re a fraud, but can also do the same for the other person too.

• Always question your own thoughts, does it make logical sense for you to be a fraud given all the factual information at hand?

• Therapy. yes, therapy. If it becomes to overwhelming and you are unable to deal with the feelings, therapy can really help.

I hope that this was insightful and helped you understand imposter syndrome a little more, and hopefully you can see that you are not alone in this feeling.

and just so you know
YOU ARE NOT A FRAUD.

Have a super good day!

Adelaide x