Prof. Dr. Onur Okan Demirci, lecturer in Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) evaluated the subject of “Impostor Syndrome” , which is not so well known in public.

Prof. Dr. Onur Okan Demirci, lecturer in Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gelisim University said that one of the most interesting disorders in the field of psychiatry, is referred as “Imposter Syndrome”. He added: “People who experience this disorder believe that their personal accomplishments are achieved by chance, luck, or as fake. They feel like they are fraudulent or dishonest because they believe in it.”

The most distinctive feature of those who suffer from the “Impostor Syndrome”, which is not so well known among public is that they believe that they are an impostor and a fraudster. Prof. Dr. Onur Okan Demirci, lecturer in Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gelisim University continued: “ This disease is also named as Imposter Phenomenon, Fraud Syndrome, Imposterism. People who experience this disorder believe that their personal accomplishments occur by chance, luck, or that they are fake. They feel like they are fraudulent or dishonest because they believe in it. However, the facts are not related to fraud. The person actually achieved success with his/her own skill and effort, but with some dysfunctional and unreal ideas that appear in the mind, he/she ends up believing that he/she is a fraud or impostor.”
 
"THEY AVOID SOCIAL SETTINGS"

Demirci also said that the person with imposter syndrome believes that that he/she is an impostor and that this will become apparent, and therefore they try to escape the speeches, conversations and social settings. He continued: “For example; they start to avoid attending meetings, speaking, giving a seminar, and avoid from the questions asked. Although the individual is quite successful and intelligent, he/she convinces self that this is not real, and as a result, they avoid social settings in order not to caught. Thus, performance anxiety and social anxiety appear. This situation seems to be a mixture of obsessive disorder and social phobia disturbances, which we all know.”
 
“SMART AND SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE SUFFER FROM THIS SYNDROME“

Demirci added: “The person who believes that everything should be perfect does not accept that there is no concept that is perfect, but everything they do is insufficient Any success with this inadequacy thought will be considered as coincidence or luck by the individual. Therefore, individual will live in anxiety and fear, thinking that one day will be noticed by others. These people typically think that they are fake, believe that their success is merely luck, and when they receive a compliment, they try to give extreme polite answers because they believe that this compliment is not real.
 
"MOSTLY WITNESSED AMONG WOMEN"
 
For example, a person who received compliments about her beauty would say 'I am not actually beautiful'. Or, if the person is praised about his/her success would make extremely polite comments such as 'it was just an easy test I did not do anything'. This disorder is mostly seen in women. It is rarely seen in men. Again, people who suffer from this condition are not unsuccessful or lazy people, but rather people who work hard, have high capacity, and they are smart and successful. They simply do not believe that they are smart and hard-working to deserve success.  

”MANY CELEBRITIES SUFFER FROM THIS SYNDROME“
 
Demirci stated that the individuals constantly criticize themselves with their inner voice. He added: “Such criticisms may be related to their success or appearance. As can be understood, the problem is not the thoughts, behaviors or words of other people, the real problem is the unrealistic thoughts that constantly flow in one’s mind. There are many celebrities who suffer from this.

Onur Okan Demirci said that psychiatric drug therapies can be used in the treatment of people with imposter syndrome. He also added: “An individual’s work environment can trigger this disorder. Any environment in which anxiety, competition is not considered as natural, where excessive pressure is experienced, and large and corporate companies will trigger this disorder. The aim of the treatment is to prevent the negative thoughts that are constantly engaged in the mind of the person, or to replace them with the real ones. Many of us may be caught in this situation, which is quite common in society. This may be a disorder which we might suffer from unintentionally, but we can change it.”