The Impostor Syndrome

In today’s spotlight, I would like to discuss the impostor syndrome, or the idea that if others knew what you know about yourself, that somehow this would diminish or even discredit you. This complex, or syndrome, (also known as impostor phenomenon, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which people doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent, often internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud.” Many people hold themselves back from success because they fail to believe that they deserve it. As a result they can develop methods to avoid attention and allow those feelings ...