If you’ve been involved in the mental health and self-care niche of the internet, you might have heard of “impostor syndrome”. If not, the cursed among us reference probably comes to mind.
If you’re a part of the second group, don't worry, it’s quite self-explanatory. A brief definition of the impostor syndrome phenomenon would be when one is doubting their abilities to the extent that they feel like a fraud, particularly in professional or academic settings. It can also be accompanied by stress, depression and overthinking; the whole package.
Although there is academic research supporting the existence of impostor syndrome, it’s not recognized by the DSM or ICD, which are manuals for diagnosing mental disorders and diseases. It is a proven mental occurrence in individuals, but one which is not severe enough to warrant psychiatric intervention.
Now despite this, there are resources, conversations, and tips on how to deal with this. It ranges from your average social media infographic to more detailed articles by big news outlets. What I have a problem with though, is the direction of all this discourse.
The social media conversation redirects this to self-love quotes and confidence tips. Outlets like Time, share some academic research but again, conclude with tips about self-reflection and confidence, even after getting really close to getting the point. It’s like almost finishing a jigsaw puzzle but cramming in the most oddly shaped piece in the final gap. Kind of close, but just not there.
Something that we acknowledge, something research has shown, again and again, is that impostor syndrome is the most common in women and people of colour, particularly women of colour.
What does this pattern have in common with? It reflects our systems; our hierarchies. Impostor syndrome is often a product of internalised oppression. Naturally, a person of colour will feel like an impostor in a room where barely anyone looks like them. So, why are we dissecting their feelings and preaching self-love, when really, those feelings might not even exist if the biases that caused them didn’t? Why aren’t we advocating for gender, racial and cultural inclusion?
Now I know what you might be thinking, not every person who experiences impostor syndrome is part of a marginalized group. High achievers, perfectionists and people with families who overvalue achievement exist.
That’s true. But what do all these causes have in common? What gives us the motivation to reduce our self-worth to our levels of productivity? What makes people see their loved ones this way? Our society and economic system. People are valued for what they offer to the world before they are valued as people.
Impostor syndrome is just one example of how you can’t isolate mental and cultural phenomena from larger cultural and structural issues. This even applies to mental illnesses to smaller extents. Why do the most marginalised groups have the highest rates of them? It’s easy to direct the focus on a symptom or product of the problem rather than tear it up by the roots.
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