The Relationship Between Imposter Syndrome And Perfectionism
In people who are very perfectionists, a very curious paradox can occur. On the one hand, they are so involved in their work or project that they know its technical aspects down to the smallest detail; However, precisely because there are many emotions at play, they can also have a very biased view of what they are doing and the results they obtain.
In other words, they know a lot about the different parts and mechanics of what they are creating, but they have a harder time taking an objective, detached view of what it all means, and what it says about yourself.
That is why in the field of Psychology many people talk about what is known as “dysfunctional perfectionism”, which usually gives rise to behavioral patterns based on self-sabotage and low self-esteem. In this article we will talk about one of the most common consequences of this form of perfectionism: imposter syndrome
The first thing to note is that the simple fact of being a perfectionist is not necessarily something negative; It is important to distinguish between different cases. For example, self-oriented perfectionism is one in which oneself sets the goals and ideals to achieve, and in these situations anxiety problems are less likely to arise.
However, there is another type of perfectionism, the socially prescribed one, which is a real time bomb when it comes to mental health, since it puts us again and again in a situation in which We value everything we achieve not from our point of view, but from the one we attribute to other people and that puts us under great pressure to work hard and well in order to gain the acceptance and validation of others.
But this last way of being perfectionists not only harms us because it puts us under the continuous wear and tear of anxiety; Furthermore, it influences the way we interpret the results we obtain, making us always feel bad about them. It does not make us feel dissatisfied, but directly guilty and emotionally hurt; This is because our way of relating to the moral value of “perfection” is from the fear of not measuring up in the eyes of others, so we are always alert to any sign of anger or rejection, and this task It is in itself another type of work that we do in parallel and stresses us in a different way.
And what is imposter syndrome?
Let’s now move on to see what the other sub-topic of this article consists of: imposter syndrome. It is a psychological phenomenon in which someone who has made certain significant achievements (for example, earning a college degree, receiving a promotion at work, or creating a successful company) is unable to accept that he or she is deserving of those merits so he assumes that everything is a misunderstanding when interpreting something that has been the result solely of luck.
As you can guess, imposter syndrome is closely linked to certain self-esteem problems that make the person always “on guard” waiting for the moment to be unmasked as a fraud.
The Link Between Perfectionism and Imposter Syndrome
Now that we have seen what dysfunctional perfectionism and impostor syndrome are, it is time to ask ourselves: how are the two related? What they have in common is a problematic way of managing anxiety associating it with a desperate search to postpone the moment when others discover that we are not cut out for a certain task, project, or professional role.
The person with the type of dysfunctional perfectionism that we have seen before does not make an effort because it fulfills him or because he is very interested in getting closer to an ideal, but to escape shame, ridicule or the anger of others; For this reason, he understands that his only recourse to not fall before the demands of others is to sacrifice a lot of time and effort, a precarious solution that, from his point of view, is not sustainable; Sooner or later he will stop working.
Taking this way of seeing things into account, it is not surprising that when praise or expressions of admiration arrive, they are seen as a painful reminder that “cheating has been done”; a sign that others are paying attention to the wrong person and, deep down, They deserve to know that they are facing a fraud
Once we have adopted that point of view linked to the anxiety caused by looking back and remembering the path of bitterness that has led us to that “undeserved” fame, the next thing is to pay our attention only to our defects, to everything that confirms the narrative of the imposter person who deceives others by maintaining an image that does not correspond to reality, since the need to keep all of this hidden appears.
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