Imposter syndrome
Corie Lok
Friday, 22 May 2009 19:18 UTC
Naturejobs has an interesting article about the imposter syndrome…the feeling that some scientists feel they got hired into this lab/institution or got published in this journal by accident and that someone will come along and reveal them to be undeserving of their position in science.
It delves into some of the debate among psychologists about whether this is an actual syndrome and quotes scientists (both men and women) who have experienced such feelings. And it also gives some tips on how to keep feelings of self-doubt in check.
How common is this feeling among young scientists? Where does it come from? And what can be done to deal with it?
-
Replies
-
I found this article very reassuring!
I did wonder, if
even the most accomplished scientists
fall prey to “imposter syndrome”, what hope there is for younger scientists to avoid it.
However, from the article, it seems that the “syndrome” is unrelated to achievements or lack thereof. The practical steps in the article are useful starting points, and the article itself is helpful in voicing what seems to be a not uncommon feeling.
-
Thanks for a wonderful article. I am not clear if this is a clinical state which needs proper treatment?
-
Thanks for your question, Anshu. As the writer, I’m happy to try to answer it.
Neither the clinical psychologists who first identified and named the malady in the 1970s nor the medical director of the outpatient program of the psychiatry department at the esteemed Georgetown University in Washington, DC, are calling it a clinical condition or state. (In fact, the two clinical psychologists refrained from calling it a “syndrome” because they feared that doing so would be another way to pathologize and point fingers at women and say “Here’s another thing wrong with them, hahahahahahahahahahhhh!!!!”)
I’m unclear if you’re asking about how to treat the malady, however. If you are — as I said in the story, the two psychologists recommend therapy; the medical director says that if you have it, then there’s some other clinical condition present, like depression or anxiety, giving rise to it. So it sounds as if therapy and medication are indicated in any event.
Hope that helps.
For Erika — thanks for your comments. From my research and interviews, I don’t know that there is a way to AVOID it, at least on your own. (It seems it’s largely rooted in childhood, when one’s parents gave praise for intellectual accomplishments to the exclusion of most to all other kinds of praise … so there isn’t much that can be done about that.) With limited space, I tried to focus on what could be done by those who are now suffering from it. It does seem to be quite universal and completely unrelated to one’s achievements and accomplishments.
-
Thanks Karen! Is this condition controlled/regulated entirely by environmental cues or there is a genetic basis to it, like in some cases of depression?
-
For Anshu,
It seems the phenomenon may have links to both environment and genetics. But I can’t say definitively — I didn’t specifically address underlying cause in my interviews or research, only what prompts or triggers it.
-
