A New Way to Address Impostor Syndrome

Impostor Syndrome

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Impostor syndrome (IS) or impostor phenomenon relates to the difficulty in internalizing success due to feelings of being phony or inauthentic, despite having evidence of the contrary. Individuals suffering from IS believe that they are undeserving of their achievements and may experience a wider range of mental health conditions, including impaired psychological functioning (e.g., depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, burnout, somatic symptoms, social dysfunction, and decreased job satisfaction and performance).

The challenge of imposter syndrome

Recent meta-analytic research has found that IS affects up to 80 percent of the population, is highly prevalent among men and women, trans and nonbinary individuals, and multiple ethnic groups, and is exacerbated in professional settings. Despite these far-reaching negative consequences, no clear treatment guidelines or specific recommendations exist to treat IS, to date. Hence, effective interventions are urgently needed.

This lack of guidelines is because of the diversity of opinions, researchers' perspectives, and corresponding factors believed to be associated with IS (e.g., personality characteristics, environmental and contextual factors, and family background).

Not surprisingly, many publications offer many strategies on how to overcome impostor feelings and stop undermining your accomplishments. Some of the most common methods include accepting it, learning the facts, sharing your feelings, reminding yourself of all your accomplishments, celebrating your successes, letting go of perfectionism, practicing self-compassion, and sharing your failures.

These strategies appear to be useful. In reality, they only provide short-term relief and the illusion of effectiveness. This is because they work at a very surface level of the brain and are unable to properly deconstruct the deep-rooted mental mechanisms of action that cause IS. What is really required to completely eliminate IS is to deconstruct the schemas responsible for causing it, which are deeply rooted in the deeper structures of the brain.

The solution

A novel approach could enable the elimination of IS. This new model integrates two evidence-based approaches: (1) Immunity to Change and Schema Therapy.

Immunity to Change (ITC) is a learning process developed by the Harvard University Graduate School of Education faculty's Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey. Informed by 30 years of research on adult development, ITC addresses the challenge of behavioral change being generally difficult to achieve. Using the psychological dynamic of "competing commitment," ITC proposes that the failure to achieve personal goals is due to activation of the "emotional immune system," which is designed to protect individuals from the negative consequences of personal change (e.g., shame, disappointment), rather than being due to lack of determination or willpower.

Another key concept in Immunity to Change is "big assumptions"—the assumption(s) underlying the stories or beliefs that people accept as reality or treat as truths and keep perpetuating their Immunity to Change. The challenge for most people is to uncover their big assumptions. This is when Schema Therapy comes into play. The concept of "schema" corresponds to the concept of the big assumption in ITC. Hence, the term "lifetraps"—a pattern that starts in childhood and reverberates throughout life, is also used when referring to schemas. Similarly, big assumptions are deeply rooted beliefs that people have about themselves and the world, which they've long held close—since childhood.

In short, this new approach works because it:

1. Uncovers the processing of information that escapes mental consciousness
2. Fully unpacks, deconstructs, and disables the immune system that maintains your imposter syndrome, by unlocking your unique "lifetrap combination code"

For more on this new approach, see "A New Model to Treat Impostor Syndrome and Associated Conditions."