Do you feel like you shouldn’t be doing the job you do? Or that you aren’t deserving of your partner? Or do you feel like a phony and that someone is going to catch you out? Or maybe you feel like you have only landed your role because you are lucky and not because you are capable and qualified, looking over your shoulder, anxiously wondering when your luck is going to run out?
If you can relate to any of the above, it could be that you are suffering from imposter syndrome.
What is imposter syndrome?
Imposter syndrome makes you feel like you are a fraud which can often escalate into severe anxiety and panic attacks. In 1978, psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes identified imposter syndrome. It involves feelings of self-doubt or of incompetence, regardless of qualifications, background, knowledge, or skills.
Imposter syndrome can often make you feel like a fraud. Surprisingly, it affects more high-achievers, who find it difficult to accept their achievements, however, anyone and everyone regardless of their career or status is susceptible to experiencing this.
Even though imposter syndrome isn’t a psychiatric diagnosis, both men and women experience this paradox which can often exist side-by-side with depression and anxiety.
Self-doubting can often lead to anxiety and stress. When this happens it can sometimes cause burnout or in extreme cases depression, leading to dissatisfaction and underperformance at work. The majority of individuals suffering from imposter syndrome are high achieving, highly successful individuals, indicating that this isn’t related to low self-esteem or lack of self-confidence, but is strongly linked with perfectionism.
How does Solution Focused Hypnotherapy help?
Imposter syndrome can make even the most accomplished people feel like they don’t belong, but Solution Focused Hypnotherapy offers a practical way to overcome it. By using gentle trance techniques combined with a positive focus on your strengths and goals, it helps you reframe negative self-beliefs and rediscover your confidence. Sessions are designed to help you imagine a future where you feel capable and at ease, gradually replacing self-doubt with a clearer sense of achievement and self-worth. It’s a supportive, forward-thinking approach that helps you move past feelings of being an “imposter” and into a place where you can truly own your success.
“Sometimes I think you believe in me more than I do,” said the boy.
“You’ll catch up,” said the horse. – Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.
If you are struggling with what you feel may be imposter syndrome, please contact me to arrange a Free 15 minute discovery call or Book an Initial Consultation here