Is impostor syndrome a mental illness?

No. Impostor syndrome is not a diagnosable mental illness and does not appear in the DSM-5 or ICD-11. It is a psychological experience — a pattern of thinking and feeling — that many high-achieving people encounter. However, when it is severe or persistent, it can contribute to anxiety, depression, and burnout, which are clinical conditions. If impostorism is significantly affecting your life, speaking with a registered psychologist is worthwhile.

What causes impostor syndrome?

Research points to several contributing factors: early family messages about achievement (for example, a child praised only for being 'the smart one' who then fears losing that label); entering an environment where you are a minority or newcomer; high-pressure or competitive workplaces; perfectionism; and general anxiety. It is not caused by actual lack of ability — in fact, it is most common among capable, conscientious people.

How do I overcome impostor syndrome?

Evidence-based approaches include: naming and externalising the feeling ('that's my impostor voice talking, not a fact'); separating feelings from facts by keeping a concrete record of your achievements; cognitive reframing with CBT techniques to challenge distorted thinking; practising self-compassion (treating yourself as you would treat a struggling friend); and talking to a psychologist when the pattern is entrenched. No single tip works for everyone — persistent impostor syndrome often benefits from professional support.

Who experiences impostor syndrome most?

Originally identified in high-achieving women, research now shows impostor syndrome affects people of all genders, professions, and backgrounds. It is particularly prevalent among people entering a new role or organisation, academics, medical professionals, and individuals who belong to a minority group in their workplace or field — where the feeling of 'not belonging' has a structural dimension as well as a psychological one (Chrousos & Mentis, 2020).

When should I see a psychologist about impostor syndrome?

Consider seeing a registered psychologist if: impostor feelings are stopping you from applying for opportunities, speaking up, or accepting recognition; the self-doubt is constant rather than occasional; you notice related symptoms such as anxiety, low mood, burnout, or sleep disruption; or you have tried self-help strategies without lasting relief. A psychologist can help you identify the specific thought patterns driving your experience and work with you using evidence-based approaches such as CBT or ACT.

Impostor Syndrome: Why You Feel Like a Fraud — and How to Stop

Q: What is impostor syndrome?

Impostor syndrome is the persistent internal experience of feeling like a fraud — believing your success is undeserved and that you will soon be 'found out' — despite external evidence of genuine competence. It was first described by psychologists Clance and Imes in 1978 and has since been documented in up to 82% of people across professions and demographics (Bravata et al., 2020).

Impostor syndrome is the persistent, internal experience of feeling like a fraud — believing your achievements are undeserved and that you are about to be ‘found out’ — despite clear, objective evidence of your competence. It is not a character flaw. It is not a sign that you actually are inadequate. It is one of the most common psychological experiences among capable, conscientious people, affecting up to 82% of us at some point in our lives (Bravata et al., 2020).

What Is Impostor Syndrome?

Infographic: what impostor syndrome is — coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, why it is not a mental illness, and the gap between external reality and internal experience

The term was coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, who were studying high-achieving academic women. What struck them was striking in its contradiction: these were women with postgraduate degrees, published research, and respected careers — and yet, privately, many of them believed they were frauds who had somehow fooled everyone around them.

Clance and Imes called it the “impostor phenomenon.” The word “syndrome” crept in later, though it is important to note: impostor syndrome is not a mental illness. It does not appear in the DSM-5 or ICD-11. It is a pattern of thinking and feeling — one that can be understood, named, and addressed.

The experience typically involves three interlocking beliefs:

My success is not really mine. It was luck, timing, a low bar — anything except genuine ability.
I have fooled people. Others think I am more capable than I really am.
It is only a matter of time. Eventually, I will be exposed.

These beliefs persist even as evidence to the contrary piles up. A promotion arrives — the impostor interprets it as a mistake. Positive feedback lands — the impostor dismisses it as politeness. This gap between external reality and internal experience is the defining feature.

The Five “Types” of Impostor Syndrome

Infographic: the five types of impostor syndrome identified by Valerie Young (2011) — the Perfectionist, the Expert, the Soloist, the Natural Genius, and the Superhero

Researcher and educator Valerie Young (2011) spent decades studying the impostor experience and identified five common patterns — what she calls “competence types.” Most people recognise themselves in at least one.

1. The Perfectionist

For the Perfectionist, success is never quite good enough. A 95% is not cause for satisfaction — it is proof that the remaining 5% is a fatal flaw waiting to be discovered. Perfectionists set impossibly high standards, and when they inevitably fall short, they interpret it as evidence of inadequacy rather than the natural limits of human performance.

Perfectionism and impostor syndrome have a circular relationship: perfectionism drives the fear of being found out, and the fear of being found out drives perfectionism. For more on this cycle, see our post on perfectionism, anxiety, and depression.

2. The Expert

The Expert believes that truly competent people know everything — so any gap in their knowledge proves they are not truly competent. They are reluctant to speak until they feel completely prepared. They over-research, hesitate to call themselves an expert even after years of practice, and feel a chronic sense of not knowing enough.

3. The Soloist

The Soloist equates asking for help with admitting inadequacy. “Real” competence, in their mind, means doing it all yourself. Collaboration feels like cheating; needing support feels shameful. This can lead to isolation, burnout, and missed opportunities that come from working with others.

4. The Natural Genius

The Natural Genius believes that truly talented people find things easy. If something requires hard work, practise, or multiple attempts, it must mean they do not have what it takes. The first time something does not come naturally is experienced as devastating confirmation of inadequacy, rather than the normal arc of learning.

5. The Superhero

The Superhero feels they must outperform everyone else at everything — across every role they hold, whether professional, parental, social, or personal. They work harder and longer than necessary, not from ambition, but from the belief that only extraordinary effort can compensate for their secret inadequacy.

Why Does Impostor Syndrome Happen?

Infographic: why impostor syndrome happens — early family messages, entering a new environment, minority status in your field, perfectionism and anxiety, and being conscientious and capable

Impostor syndrome does not have a single cause. Research and clinical experience point to a cluster of contributing factors.

Early family messages

Many people with strong impostor feelings grew up in families where certain roles were assigned around achievement. Perhaps you were “the smart one” and internalised the message that your value depended on staying smart. Or perhaps your achievements were consistently minimised — “don’t get too big for your boots” — and you learned that claiming success was dangerous or arrogant.

Entering a new environment

The transition into any new context — a first job, a promotion, a new school, immigration — can trigger impostor feelings even in people who had none previously. You are genuinely less experienced in the new setting, and the brain can mistake “I am new here” for “I do not belong here.”

Minority status in your field

Research consistently shows that impostor syndrome is more prevalent among people who belong to minority groups in their professional context (Chrousos & Mentis, 2020). When the environment itself sends signals that people like you are unexpected — fewer role models, casual exclusions, conscious or unconscious bias — the internal experience of not belonging has an external structural dimension that compounds it. This is not simply a cognitive distortion to be corrected; it reflects a real dynamic that workplaces need to address.

Perfectionism and anxiety

Perfectionism and anxiety are closely linked to impostor syndrome. The mechanisms overlap: heightened threat sensitivity, difficulty tolerating uncertainty, excessive self-monitoring, and catastrophising about mistakes all feed the impostor cycle.

Being conscientious and capable

One of the most important things I tell clients in the room: the Dunning-Kruger effect tells us that the least competent people tend to overestimate their competence, while the most competent often underestimate theirs. If you are worrying about whether you are good enough, it is almost certainly a sign that you are.

The Impostor Cycle

Understanding the cycle helps you interrupt it.

Challenging task or new achievement
         ↓
Anxiety and self-doubt ("I'm going to fail / be exposed")
         ↓
Either: Over-preparation (working twice as hard as needed)
Or: Procrastination and avoidance
         ↓
Success (or adequate performance)
         ↓
"I only succeeded because I worked so hard / got lucky / wasn't really tested"
         ↓
No update to self-belief — cycle begins again

The cruel irony is that both over-preparation and avoidance prevent you from ever getting the one piece of evidence that could break the cycle: direct experience of competent, relaxed performance. Instead, each success is explained away, leaving the underlying belief intact.

Evidence-Based Ways to Address Impostor Syndrome

Infographic: evidence-based ways to address impostor syndrome — name and externalise it, separate feelings from facts, cognitive reframing with CBT, self-compassion, normalising the experience, addressing perfectionism, and seeking professional support

There is no single cure, and I am cautious about framing impostor syndrome as something to be “fixed” with a list of tips. What I can share are the approaches that have genuine research support and that I have found clinically useful.

1. Name it — and externalise it

One of the most powerful first steps is simply naming the impostor voice as a voice, not as a fact. “There’s my impostor syndrome talking” creates a small but meaningful distance between you and the thought. You are observing the pattern rather than being inside it.

Clance developed a specific tool — the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale — to help people recognise the pattern. Naming and measuring the experience helps depersonalise it.

2. Separate feelings from facts

Impostor syndrome is an emotional experience. It feels true — but feelings are not facts. A useful exercise is to keep a running document of concrete achievements, specific pieces of positive feedback, and skills you have demonstrably developed. When the impostor voice says “you don’t really know what you’re doing,” you have actual evidence to consult.

This is not toxic positivity. It is accuracy. You are correcting a systematic bias in how you are evaluating yourself.

3. Cognitive reframing with CBT

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) addresses impostor syndrome by identifying the specific distortions maintaining it. Common ones include:

Discounting the positive — “That compliment doesn’t count because they were just being nice.”
Mind-reading — “Everyone in the room knows more than I do.”
All-or-nothing thinking — “If I don’t know everything, I know nothing.”
Catastrophising — “If I make one mistake, my whole credibility will collapse.”

A psychologist working with CBT will help you examine the evidence for and against these thoughts, and practise more accurate, balanced alternatives.

4. Practise self-compassion

Dr Kristin Neff’s research on self-compassion is directly relevant here. Self-compassion has three components: mindfulness (noticing the painful experience without over-identifying with it), common humanity (recognising that struggle and imperfection are part of the shared human experience, not a personal failing), and self-kindness (responding to yourself with warmth rather than harsh criticism).

Research shows that self-compassion is negatively correlated with impostor syndrome — and positively associated with psychological wellbeing, motivation, and resilience (Neff, 2011; Peteet et al., 2015). Importantly, self-compassion does not mean lowering your standards. It means your response to perceived shortfalls becomes less devastating, which paradoxically makes you more able to take healthy risks.

For a deeper look at how self-compassion works in practice, see our post on self-compassion as a mental health foundation.

5. Normalise the experience — carefully

Knowing that 82% of people experience impostor syndrome can help — but it can also accidentally reinforce avoidance. “Everybody feels this way” is only useful if it is paired with action. The more productive shift is: “This is a common, understandable pattern — and I do not have to stay stuck in it.”

6. Address perfectionism directly

Because perfectionism and impostor syndrome are so tightly linked, addressing one often requires addressing the other. This might involve practising deliberate “good enough” — submitting work that is 80% ready and noticing that the anticipated catastrophe does not arrive. It involves tolerating the discomfort of imperfection without treating it as proof of incompetence.

7. Seek professional support

When impostor syndrome is entrenched — when it has been limiting your career, relationships, or wellbeing for years — self-help strategies often reach their limit. This is the point at which working with a psychologist becomes genuinely valuable.

A psychologist can help you trace the roots of the pattern (early messaging, specific experiences that cemented the belief), work through it systematically with evidence-based approaches like CBT and ACT, and — just as importantly — hold the space for you to tolerate uncertainty and imperfection without catastrophising.

If you also experience significant anxiety alongside impostor feelings, it is worth reading about anxiety treatment at Bella Vista or social anxiety disorder, which often co-occurs.

A Note on Impostor Syndrome in Minority Contexts

I want to name something directly, because I think it matters clinically.

For people from minority backgrounds — whether cultural, linguistic, gender, racial, or disability-related — impostor syndrome has a dimension that is not purely cognitive. When your environment has fewer people who look like you, when your accent or name prompts a raised eyebrow, when you carry the weight of representing your community — the feeling of not fully belonging is not just a distortion. It is also an accurate reading of structural conditions.

This does not make the psychological work irrelevant. But it does mean that framing impostor syndrome purely as a thinking error to be corrected can be reductive, even invalidating. A skilled psychologist will hold both dimensions — helping you build an accurate, self-compassionate internal lens while also acknowledging the external realities you are navigating.

In my own practice, working with South Asian clients across English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu, I see how much cultural context shapes what “success,” “worthiness,” and “belonging” mean — and how that context must be part of the work.

When to Reach Out

Impostor syndrome is worth taking seriously when:

It is stopping you from applying for roles, taking on projects, or accepting recognition you have earned
The self-doubt is constant rather than situational
You notice growing anxiety, low mood, exhaustion, or sleep disruption
You have tried changing your thinking but the pattern reasserts itself
The feeling of fraudulence is beginning to affect your relationships or sense of self

You do not have to wait until things are severe. Reaching out early — before the cycle becomes deeply entrenched — makes the work considerably easier.

About the Author

Dr Gurprit Ganda is a Clinical Psychologist (AHPRA Clinical Endorsement) and Practice Director at Potentialz Unlimited in Bella Vista, NSW, with over 25 years of clinical experience. Her work spans complex anxiety and depression (CBT, ACT), perfectionism, adult ADHD assessment and treatment, trauma (EMDR), and EFT-informed couples counselling. She offers sessions in English, Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu.

If you recognise yourself in this post and would like to explore working together, you are welcome to get in touch or book directly via live.potentialz.com.au. Medicare rebates are available with a GP Mental Health Care Plan.

Potentialz Unlimited · Unit 608, 8 Elizabeth Macarthur Drive, Bella Vista NSW 2153 · 0410 261 838 · Monday–Friday 10am–7pm · Telehealth across NSW

References

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