Nowadays more and more people identify with the impostor syndrome, but what is this syndrome really? It refers above all to the discomfort that a person may feel at work level thinking that he does not deserve his job or that he does not have enough qualities to develop it. It is not a disorder described by diagnostic manuals, but it is a syndrome that generates a lot of discomfort.
The person feels that he is an impostor who does not deserve his job position. She is constantly afraid of being discovered and of others thinking it is a fraud. This fear is subjective and does not correspond to reality, but the person experiences it in a very intense way. This feeling comes from the insecurity of the person himself and is related to low self-esteem, which makes him perceive reality in a biased and negative way. It is often associated with self-demand and a tendency to self-punishment.
The main symptoms of this syndrome are the following:
- Feeling that their merits and achievements have been by chance or luck and that they do not depend on their own abilities and resources.
- Insecurity in his own ability to work and feeling of being away from the best version of himself.
- Feeling of being a fraud and fear of being discovered.
- Low self-esteem and feeling of inferiority in social relationships and at work.
- Constant expectation of failure.
- Difficulty feeling motivated as you think you will never succeed.
- General feeling of discomfort, anxiety, depression and sometimes even social phobia.
These symptoms are increasingly common in the population and in part have to do with the person’s self-demand and with their feeling that they will never reach the demanding goals that they set for themselves. This feeling of insecurity leads him to think that what he achieves is not due to his effort but to chance. The way to treat this syndrome is by trying to analyze where this self-demand and low self-esteem comes from so that little by little we can change them.
Diana Faón Psicoterapia 