I hate the term ‘Imposter Syndrome,’ and I’ve stopped using it. That said, I 100% acknowledge that people (myself included) have intense feelings of self-doubt from time to time, especially when faced with new challenges or situations. However, feeling unsure doesn’t make someone an impostor. I also believe in many cases these feelings can be channeled to be productive.
So, it’s specifically the term Imposter Syndrome that I take exception to.
Here is why the term is BS:
1) It is both of the words. Imposter and Syndrome. Most of us know Imposter Syndrome to be a psychological occurrence whereby a highly successful person doubts their own talent, skills or accomplishments despite external evidence of their competence. They believe their success is luck, or they’ve otherwise slipped past detection or fooled people. Additionally, they fear that they will be unmasked or found out as a fraud. Their fear can accompanied by anxiety and / or depression. That is a hefty mental load.
Now, let’s take the word Imposter. Defined, it means: A person who pretends to be someone else in order to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain. The word has a very Catch Me if You Can, con artist feel.
And the word Syndrome, which is defined as: A set of symptoms that occur together and suggest the presence of a certain disease or an increased chance of developing the disease. While there are very real psychological effects of ‘Impostor Syndrome’ it is not an officially recognized diagnosis.
So, essentially when we say that a person who is experiencing feelings of self doubt has imposter syndrome we are, however unintentionally, saying that they
are a deceptive con artist who needs to be cured rather than a capable human facing a challenge. Not really the support one needs in the situation.
2) Although many successful individuals, regardless of gender, experience feelings of self-doubt that could be considered ‘Imposter Syndrome’ (I’ve seen estimates as low as 33% and as high as 80%), in my experience the actual term Imposter Syndrome is usually associated with a woman. In fact, as I did research for this post, I reviewed several articles offering examples of famous athletes, celebrities and political figures who experienced ‘Imposter Syndrome.’ Almost to an exclusion, the examples were female. I have also had several female clients say that they have (or had) Imposter Syndrome. Sometimes, they whisper it when they tell me. There are so many systemic, cultural and societal factors that influence this – more than can be covered in this article. But essentially, feelings of doubt and unsuredness in females have been given the often shameful ‘diagnosis’ of ‘Impostor Syndrome.’ An HBR article called Stop Telling Women They Have Impostor Syndrome compared this to the diagnoses of ‘female hysteria’ in the 19th century.
3) When we say we have imposter syndrome it can feel like there is something wrong with us. We are somehow unworthy or undeserving of the success we have earned or the position we occupy. The focus becomes ‘fixing’ ourselves rather than on how we are facing challenges (or the environment we are in), and our problem-solving efforts are directed in the wrong place.
What do we say instead?:
I suggest that we abandon the phrase Impostor Syndrome all together and focus on addressing the feelings of professional self-doubt in a healthy and productive way. More on this in coming weeks.
What term should we use in place of Imposter Syndrome? I’ve landed on Perceived Undercompetence Phenomenon for the time being. However, I’m curious? Does Perceived Undercompetence Phenomenon resonate with you? If not, what term would you suggest to replace Impostor Syndrome?