Imposter Syndrome and Age: What You Should Know

Dr. Pauline Clance and Dr. Suzanne Imes, the researchers that identified the mindset in the late 70s, didn’t actually call it ‘imposter syndrome’, but ‘the imposter phenomenon’.

Clance, now 85, was interviewed earlier this year for the Financial Times and spoke candidly of her discovery, the nuance of viewing it as a ‘phenomenon’ rather than a ‘syndrome’ and how she feels it can be challenged by each of us that feel it creeping up too.

The interpretation for the psychological condition is ‘the experience of intellectual and professional fraudulence’:

“Imposters are ambitious, hard-working people who believe they must have fooled anyone who thinks that they are capable or talented. Even when faced with objective evidence of their skills, they remain unwavering in their conviction that they succeeded thanks to luck or error.”

The Financial Times, 10 February 2024.

Sound familiar? Well you’re not alone. The original research highlights how the phenomenon can disproportionately impact women. And that, despite the fact that confidence should come with age, many of us experience it as we get older too.

Reading the paper today, an obvious unexplored component of the original research is the impact we now know our hormones can have on our confidence levels in midlife. Whether it is brain fog, exhaustion or anxiety, the loss of words or the sense that our bodies are no longer ours to control, menopause can knock us sideways. 1 in 10 of us leave work. 1 in 5 consider it. And many more of us simply slip away a little; stepping away from that deserved promotion, reducing our hours, no longer sure that we can ‘cope’.

Clance’s advice for imposter phenomenon feels pertinent for midlife too. It’s an invitation to see yourselves as others do. To trust their wisdom if you can no longer trust your own. She says:

“Remember a success you’ve had. Then invite your boss in the room. What would they say? Then let someone else in, maybe your professor. Then the head of the project. Then your father, your sister. What would they say? Observe their conversation. Once the room is full, I ask you . . . don’t you think it’s interesting that you can fool so many bright people?”

So if you’re questioning yourself this weekend, why not give the exercise a go. Take a moment. Think about who you’d invite into your space to share their perception of you. And listen them as they would listen to your perception of them too. Respect their honesty and candour. Accept that they have the perspective we rarely have ourselves. You have so much to offer. The world needs women in midlife, perhaps now more than ever. Continue to speak up. Continue to step up. Continue to shine.