People who suffer from this type of syndrome feel very unintelligent, very afraid, have many negative doubts about the results of their actions, doubt their abilities and are amazed when they get good results, even thinking about where it came from or how they made it. Their level of doubt is so high that they may come to think that others are wrong regarding their positive result, they have a total disconnection with their abilities. This type of syndrome is not limited to a person’s working life, since the vast majority begin to suffer from it from school age. 

Impostor syndrome is directly related to very low self- esteem . In this case, the person does not have a positive concept of himself, he feels that he is not capable. This can originate in the family, being a failure where he was not valued correctly, where he did not experience consideration. It can also originate in families with very demanding guidelines, in which nothing is good enough and therefore the person develops an acute fear of being enough. 

Explanation of the definition of Imposter syndrome

These people may come from family environments where they have not been valued enough and, therefore, the way they have learned to relate to themselves is from this little consideration. On the other hand, they can also come from highly demanding homes, where the person grows up believing that they are insufficient and as a consequence develops a deep fear of failure , which they try to hide with phrases such as I am not capable, I cannot or I am not intelligent. 

In the work or academic environment it usually occurs and in the vast majority of aspects of the person; that is, in the family, social, couple, sports. All the successes are rejected, because they do not agree with the notion that they have about themselves. 

These people have thoughts and feelings that their achievements are due to luck, a work accidents with sick leave, and unpaid leave for personal matters. In the latter case, the firm may cut the employee’s salary increase, a promotion, recognition from their superiors originates from the sum of a number of coincidences that he himself does not know where they originated from, you have a constant feeling that they don’t deserve anything in life, not even what you manage to achieve, that you don’t have the value that others think you have and repeatedly feel like an impostor. 

These types of thoughts may not be constant, but they have occurred at some point in your life, due to insecurity, the appearance of new opportunities, a job promotion, a new job, but this eventually disappears. Or it may be the case that these thoughts occur continuously and daily 

But also, it may be that these thoughts are always present in your mind and with it the fear that others may notice or discover that you are not as good as they think, that it is inevitable that at any moment your true face will be exposed and everything will fall to the ground. All these thoughts painfully get worse with the passage of time and it ends up being a very disabling situation for the person. 

This syndrome is also known as fraud syndrome. The impostor syndrome was mentioned by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes for the first time in 1978, according to an investigation carried out on a sample of women who had a large number of achievements in their lives. Although this type of syndrome affects men and women equally. 

Things a person experiences that may indicate you have impostor syndrome include: 

1. When starting a new job, thinking that you will not be able to carry out the position or the responsibilities of the position, Thinking that passing the interview was a stroke of luck, not feeling that you have the necessary skills that they believe you have. 
2. Not knowing exactly how he completed his studies, thinking that passing the exams was just a stroke of luck. 
3. Constantly contemplating the way colleagues work at work, with the thought that they are very good and better and coming to bear in mind that at any moment you can be fired. 
4. You are speechless when asked to think of three positive characteristics about yourself. 
5. When they are recognized about my performance regarding a job, they do not have the capacity to recognize their merits and they think that it was a coincidence that everything went well. 
6. It bothers him greatly if someone persists in valuing his performance and tends to believe that it is a lie or fabrication. 
7. The impostor syndrome can be confronted taking into account the following aspects: 
8. Consider what are the beliefs that you have regarding failure, what is its meaning, from this analysis it becomes easier to understand why we have the ability to tolerate it or not. That is to say, it is very different to see and understand the mistakes made as an advance in the journey, than to understand them as definitive, final and destructive. 
9. Analyze our relationship with ourselves, if we consider ourselves valuable people, if we love each other, if we appreciate ourselves. This is of vital importance, because it is very difficult to give value to our achievements if we do not value ourselves as a person. 
10. Examine our internal language, which is the way we speak to our self, to ourselves. Many people tend to be very compassionate with other people, but on the other hand are very critical of themselves. Review your behavior towards you when things don’t go as you expected. 
11. Analyze the way your environment is, you feel valued, the way other people treat us is a fundamental aspect in the relationship we establish with ourselves. In cases where your achievements were not valued or underestimated, it may be that you have learned to do the same. 
12. Check your level of self-criticism, living thinking that you are never enough is the basis for the appearance of impostor syndrome. The situation can be very virtuous, but once the pleasant sensation is reached, it disappears and we set ourselves a new goal.