Imagine asking a room of five hundred women: “Raise your hand if you have experienced imposter syndrome.” I did this recently. A sea of hands went up, including my own. Because we’ve been schooled to believe that we are in the grip of this “syndrome” and that whenever we feel self-doubt, insecurity or questioning we should label it as such. It’s painful and feels nasty. So naturally we want a diagnosis. It makes sense if the patient has imposter syndrome.
想象一下,当你向有500位女性的一屋子人提问:“如果你有过冒名顶替综合症,请举手。”我最近就这么做了。一大堆人举起了手,包括我自己。因为我们受过的教育让我们认为,我们已经受到了这种“综合症”的控制,每当我们自我怀疑、没有安全感或有质疑时,我们就应该把这种情况称为冒名顶替综合症。它令人很痛苦,而且让人感到很恶心。所以我们自然想要诊断一下。如果冒名顶替综合症是一种病,那就说得通了。