Coaching for Confidence: Working With Impostor Feelings

Confidence is one of the most common reasons people seek coaching, and one of the trickiest to work on. Often the client is, by any outside measure, doing well. They have the degree, the title or the track record. Inside, though, they feel like a fraud who is about to be found out.

That experience has a name, the impostor phenomenon, and a specific origin in a 1978 paper by two psychologists. It has since become a popular phrase, usually as "impostor syndrome," and in the process it has picked up some myths.

This guide covers where the idea came from, what the research does and does not say, how coaching can help build grounded confidence, and when impostor feelings call for a different kind of support.

Where the Idea Came From

In 1978, psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, of Georgia State University, published "The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention" in the journal Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. They used the term to describe "an internal experience of intellectual phonies."

Their observations came from about five years of clinical work, in individual psychotherapy, groups and college classes, with more than 150 highly successful women. Despite degrees, honors and professional recognition, these women did not feel successful inside. They believed they were not bright and had "fooled anyone who thinks otherwise." They explained away their achievements as luck, errors in grading or other people's faulty judgment.

On her website, Clance describes how the term arose. While teaching, she heard students with excellent records express the same fears she had felt in graduate school. One said, "I feel like an impostor here with all these really bright people." She and Imes then coined the term. Clance also notes that most people with these feelings would not describe themselves as impostors, yet when they read or hear about the experience, they ask how anyone knew exactly how they feel.

The original paper focused on women and suggested, based on the authors' clinical experience, that the phenomenon was less frequent and less intense in men. They flagged that observation as something that needed research. Later studies, discussed below, found impostor feelings common among men as well.

Not a Diagnosis

Despite the word "syndrome," impostor feelings are not a recognized mental disorder. A 2020 systematic review in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, by Dena Bravata and colleagues, notes that impostor syndrome does not appear in the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual or as a diagnosis in the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision. Clance herself says that results from her Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale "do not constitute an official diagnosis."

The Bravata review, which covered 62 studies with 14,161 participants, found:

• reported prevalence ranged widely, from 9 to 82 percent, largely depending on the screening tool and cutoff used
• impostor feelings were common among both men and women and across age groups, from adolescents to late-career professionals
• rates were particularly high among ethnic minority groups in the studies reviewed
• impostor feelings often occurred alongside depression and anxiety, and were associated with impaired job performance, lower job satisfaction and burnout
• no published studies had evaluated treatments

Because of that, many coaches prefer to talk about "impostor feelings" rather than a "syndrome." It describes the experience without implying a condition that has been diagnosed.

The Cycle That Keeps It Going

Clance and Imes described several behaviors that tend to keep impostor feelings in place. A person may show one or more, but seldom all:

• Diligence and hard work. Fear of being exposed drives intense effort, which produces success and brief relief, but the success feels empty because it is credited to effort rather than ability. The cycle then repeats.
• Intellectual inauthenticity. Holding back real opinions and telling people what they want to hear, which means never finding out whether one's true views would have been respected.
• Seeking approval through charm. Winning over admired mentors, then discounting their praise as not really being about one's abilities.
• Avoiding displays of confidence. The authors linked this to the social penalties that confident women could face.

Coaches will recognize these patterns. A client may over-prepare for every meeting, stay quiet in discussions, or wave away positive feedback. The behaviors make sense as protection, and they also prevent the person from ever gathering evidence that would change their mind.

Building Grounded Confidence

Psychologist Albert Bandura's concept of self-efficacy, a person's judgment of their own capability to carry out what a task requires, offers a useful map. A 2012 article in Perspectives on Medical Education by Anthony Artino summarizes four sources of self-efficacy beliefs. Each suggests a coaching move:

1. Mastery experiences, described as the most influential source. Help the client notice and record real evidence of their capability, including what they actually did, not just how it turned out.
2. Vicarious experiences. Seeing similar people succeed can help. Ask who the client admires who started where they are now.
3. Persuasion. Encouragement helps only within limits. Artino notes that overly optimistic persuasion tends to backfire, especially if the person then fails. Specific, honest feedback works better than general praise. Our guide to giving feedback as a coach covers how to keep it specific.
4. Physical and emotional states. People read nerves as a sign they cannot cope. Exploring what a racing heart before a presentation might mean, other than incompetence, can loosen that link.

Other approaches that fit coaching well:

• Small experiments in authenticity, such as sharing one genuine opinion in a meeting this week, then reviewing what actually happened.
• Gently questioning "luck" explanations: "What did you do that made the most of that luck?"
• Separating effort from ability, since needing to work hard does not mean someone lacks talent.
• Looking at context. If a client is consistently overlooked or treated as an outsider, that is not only an inner belief to fix. A coach can help them name what is happening and decide how to respond.

When to Refer

Coaching can help with impostor feelings, but it is not therapy. Because research links these feelings with depression, anxiety and burnout, coaches should watch for signs that something more is going on: persistent low mood, ongoing anxiety that disrupts daily life, exhaustion that does not lift with rest, or trouble functioning at work or home. In those cases, a licensed mental health professional is the right next step, and a primary care provider can be a good place to start. Our guide to coaching versus therapy explains how coaches make those referrals.

If someone is in crisis in the United States, they can call or text 988 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at any hour. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 911.

Key takeaways

• The impostor phenomenon was first described by Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978, based on clinical work with high-achieving women.
• It is not a recognized psychiatric diagnosis, and its creator says her scale's results are not an official diagnosis.
• A 2020 systematic review found impostor feelings common across genders and ages, with reported prevalence varying widely by measurement method.
• Coaching can build grounded confidence through evidence of mastery, realistic feedback and small experiments in authenticity.
• Persistent distress, depression, anxiety or burnout calls for referral to a licensed mental health professional; in a US crisis, call or text 988.

Sources

• Clance and Imes, The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice (1978)
• Pauline Rose Clance, Impostor Phenomenon
• Bravata and colleagues, Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: a Systematic Review, Journal of General Internal Medicine (2020)
• Artino, Academic self-efficacy: from educational theory to instructional practice, Perspectives on Medical Education (2012)
• National Institute of Mental Health, Help for Mental Illnesses
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, Get Help