Board 8 > Have you ever suffered from Impostor Syndrome?

(+) Yeah! (+)

It seems like the majority of us on this board have suffered from numerous types of anxiety issues. How about this one?

https://www.fastcompany.com/40421352/the-five-types-of-impostor-syndrome-and-how-to-beat-them

Also, here is an explanation below if you don't want to click the link.

William Somerville has always been a good student. In high school and college, he looked forward to taking tests and writing papers objective measures of success gave him a chance to prove himself.

But as a PhD student in clinical psychology at The New School in New York City, he began to doubt his abilities. Now he wasn't just studying to make the grade, but actually leading therapy sessions with patients in a hospital psychiatric unit.

"I felt, what gives me the right to be here?" he says.

In those moments, he says, he didn't just feel he was lacking certain skills. He wondered whether he belonged there at all. "There's a sense of being thrown into the deep end of the pool and needing to learn to swim," he says. "But I wasn't just questioning whether I could survive. In a fundamental way, I was asking, Am I a swimmer?'"

In retrospect, Somerville realized that he was experiencing typical feelings of the impostor phenomenon. First described by psychologists Suzanne Imes, PhD, and Pauline Rose Clance, PhD, in the 1970s, impostor phenomenon occurs among high achievers who are unable to internalize and accept their success. They often attribute their accomplishments to luck rather than to ability, and fear that others will eventually unmask them as a fraud.

Though the impostor phenomenon isn't an official diagnosis listed in the DSM, psychologists and others acknowledge that it is a very real and specific form of intellectual self-doubt. Impostor feelings are generally accompanied by anxiety and, often, depression.

By definition, most people with impostor feelings suffer in silence, says Imes, a clinical psychologist in private practice in Georgia. "Most people don't talk about it. Part of the experience is that they're afraid they're going to be found out," she says.

With my recent job offer I've been thinking about this again. Every time I've moved up in my career I felt this way for the first few weeks and I've also had this numerous times in the past with really great girlfriends I had.
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Just run of the mill self-doubt here!
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It's basically my life tbh
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Yes because academia is toxic as all hell. I haven't done any sort of survey or study, but my guess would be that experiencing Impostor Syndrome at some point is the norm among people going for PhD's. (I do at least know based on information my department gives to first-year students that it is evidently very common.)
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Janus5k posted...

It's basically my life tbh

No, but with my anxiety, I bet I would've if I had actually been a high achiever.
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MysteriousStan posted...

Janus5k posted...

It's basically my life tbh

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Dantezoid posted...

MysteriousStan posted...

Janus5k posted...

It's basically my life tbh

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where's the link to a Dailymail article and Pooh pic

oh wait this isn't a FT topic
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also I'm probably the closest to #3 but I wouldn't categorize it as anxiety or a syndrome
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i go into work every day thinking that today is the day they figure out i don't know what i'm talking about

but instead they continue to think i walk on water i dont get it
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Sure wish my parents would have focused on positive reinforcement rather than negative. That did a whole lot of bad for me.
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Oh, I thought imposter syndrome was when you believed yourself to be another person to the degree that you eventually replace the original and then live their life in place of them. So, no, I guess.
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I think I have but I'm also concerned I might've just been faking it.
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Kenri posted...

I think I have but I'm also concerned I might've just been faking it.

Even if you're joking, mood.
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mood?
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INCEPTlON posted...

mood?

"This thing you said is my current mood."
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Im not entirely certain what my English degree even means but Im positive I could bullshit my way back there. Thats probably not the same thing.

mnkboy907 posted...

INCEPTlON posted...

mood?

"This thing you said is my current mood."

Ah!
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I suppose. I'm very clearly avoidant, though.
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Esuriat posted...

I suppose. I'm very clearly avoidant, though.

Avoidant of what,if I may ask?
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Alluding to avoidant personality disorder. It's a little like impostor syndrome, but also extending it to relationships. And similarly there's a very strong root in anxiety and past experiences causing and compounding it.
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Sort of, but I haven't made it into a professional position yet. Which just bolsters that type of fear.
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Esuriat posted...

Alluding to avoidant personality disorder. It's a little like impostor syndrome, but also extending it to relationships. And similarly there's a very strong root in anxiety and past experiences causing and compounding it.

Now that I look it up, I can honestly say I understand where you are coming from.
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Pretty damn close to that stated 70%
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If you ever have such thoughts, just look around. Countless people are in positions beyond their capacity.
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Zyxyz0 posted...

Dantezoid posted...

MysteriousStan posted...

Janus5k posted...

It's basically my life tbh

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nope.

surprised to see the huge number of 'yes' votes but it's an interesting look into the mind of board 8.
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Ill bump this one last time.
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Zyxyz0 posted...

Dantezoid posted...

MysteriousStan posted...

Janus5k posted...

It's basically my life tbh

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Yep, sounds like my life to me. Especially the perfectionist one(Because clearly everyone else knocks it out of the park on the first try, so why can't I?)
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even in my moments of self-doubt, I've never felt this way
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I've never felt like an impostor/fraud. even when I swim badly, I know I'm a swimmer, just a bad one.

but looking at the article, I'm #1 + #3
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I'm closest to #1 if anything, but I voted no.
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I definitely feel this a little bit in my current teaching program. I have a degree in English and will eventually teach English, but don't feel like I'm knowledgeable at all on literature.

In my class on teaching English, a discussion on favourite authors/books took place, and in my head I just thought "wow, I know these authors, but I haven't read any of these books".

I took courses on literature from the 16th century to modern times in my undergrad, but couldn't tell you much about it other than the names of some important people.

I'm just not a reader.
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