Impostor Syndrome? You’re no fraud! Hypnotherapy can help you to believe it.

Sick of feeling a fraud? Hypnotherapy could help you to own your success, your talent and your general all-round awesomeness!

If you suffer from impostor syndrome then you’re far from being alone. You are, in fact, in very good company and I have worked with a great many people who had the very same feelings at work, in sports or elsewhere. I am, therefore, quite experienced in helping people to move beyond this paralysing feeling of inadequacy.

I have used hypnotherapy for impostor syndrome with dozens of people in Reading, Oxford, London, Wallingford and Thame. Hypnotherapy can help people to overcome the feelings of anxiety, the depression and the misplaced guilt. It has helped others before you. It could help you too.

Do you experience any of the following?

Do you feel as if have to work so much harder than everybody else in order to feel worthy? Do you then put your successes down to that same hard work, rather than recognise your own ability?

Do compliments feel as if they don’t fit, leaving you feeling a fraud, a phoney, a fake? Do you keep telling people that you’ve just been lucky to get where you are in life and spend your time in fearing that someone, sometime is going to notice that you just don’t deserve that title, qualification or job at all?

Does everything have to be perfect, down to the smallest detail, leaving you beating yourself up for the tiniest of imperfections for hours, days and even weeks?

Perhaps you feel as if you have to be the complete expert in your area of work and that not knowing something renders you a complete incompetent?

These are all incredibly common feelings and fears. Most people suffer from them at times, to a degree. I suppose, in fact, that it’s a question of degree. If these feelings stop you applying for promotions, asserting your views or asking for that pay-rise, it’s then that impostor syndrome begins to interfere with functionality. So, if impostor syndrome is limiting your capacity to perform, if it’s restricting your ability to stand up for yourself then perhaps it’s time to seek a solution

And so, you may be experiencing impostor syndrome!

If you experience one or more of these feelings to such an extent that it’s having an impact upon your mental health then it’s quite likely that you’re suffering from one of the most common and debilitating problems faced by high-achieving but insecure people.

Depression, anxiety, perfectionism and procrastination are common bedfellows and only speed the likely descent into burnout and despair.

Impostor Syndrome isn’t an official diagnostic term. It doesn’t exist in the DSM V, the diagnostic manual for psychiatrists and psychologists. It is none the less a very real problem and can destroy happiness, self-esteem and mental health.

Hypnotherapy for your impostor syndrome could be the solution you’re looking for. You certainly don’t want to keep on suffering. I’m sorry you have to be here, reading this but please don’t despair, help is at hand – whenever you’re ready to reach out and take it.

Give me a call whenever you’re ready. I’ll be more than glad to talk with you of how hypnotherapy could offer you a way out.

How common is it?

There aren’t very many studies investigating the incidence of impostor syndrome. I suspect it just becomes swallowed up in more general studies regarding anxiety disorders of various kinds. However, the research which does exist seems to suggest that it becomes increasingly common the further you move up the skill ladder.

Doctors, for example, some of society’s most skilled and educated workers, suffer from the problem to quite an alarming extent. Von R. Mascarenhas, Delia D’Souza and Abhishek Bicholkar (2018) found that 86% of the 150 medical interns they studied suffered from impostor syndrome to a moderate or high extent.

Research also suggests that women are more prone than men to the condition. However, some of this difference between the sexes may be due to under-reporting on the part of men. Men tend to be less happy in confessing to anxieties, for fear that it reflects poorly upon their masculinity.

Men are also more likely to resort to alcohol, drugs and unsafe habits in order to deal with the feelings of anxiety.

Whatever the statistical truth may be, it’s equally awful for both male and female sufferers.

Isn’t it time to put a stop to it?

Deal with the lack of self-esteem and the problem will wither

Hypnotherapy could help you to beat the symptoms called ‘impostor syndrome’ whilst also resolving the lack of self-regard which underlies it. Obsessive thoughts, anxieties, depression, procrastination, perfectionism and all else which comes as a consequence (and cause, in a viciously circular process) of impostor syndrome is open to resolution through interventions which blend hypnotherapy, mindfulness, CBT and other forms of psychotherapy.

Call me on 07786 123736, email me at paul@resolvedhypnotherapy.co.uk or use the contact form at the bottom of this page. Call me and we can get to work and help you to free yourself from this problem, once and for all.