I’m going out on a limb and saying that everybody with ADHD experiences varying degrees of imposter syndrome in different situations. We feel like an imposter despite our accomplishments.

While this can happen to neurotypicals as well, especially in a career context, ADHD individuals walk around feeling this way consistently.

We can feel like a secret failure at just LIFE itself, and since having ADHD erodes self-trust, we also feel like imposters if we don’t seem “ADHD enough.

In episode 31, we’re discussing:

Defining imposter syndrome + key signs
5 types of imposter syndrome
Understanding imposter syndrome with ADHD + 7 reasons ADHDers struggle
How to deal with impostor syndrome

Listen below, stream it on your favorite podcasting app, or scroll to access the full blog post.

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What Exactly is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter Syndrome is not just a fun phrase that we all decided to make up. It was first identified back in the 1970s by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes.

They described imposter syndrome as…

The persistent feeling of being a fraud, even when there's clear evidence of your accomplishments.

It's like when you think, I only got here because of luck or because people are too nice to point out how inadequate I really am, they felt bad for me. They made a mistake and now they can't take it back.

“But everyone feels this way, don’t they?” - I can hear the neurotypicals asking.

Sure. Of course. Everyone has felt this way at one point in their lives

But when we’re talking about traits, characteristics, and symptoms of having ADHD, we are never saying that we experience emotions that are outside of the human realm that are unavailable to other people without ADHD.

What we are saying is that we have trouble regulating these emotions. Our brains are actually built differently.

And any annoyance that a neurotypical may experience situationally or occasionally can be chronic and debilitating for us.

Neurotransmitters and Self-Esteem:

Now working with the brain activity are the chemicals in our brain, the neurotransmitters, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, influence our self-esteem.

If these chemicals aren't balanced, then that's going to negatively impact how we see ourselves, our achievements.

Dopamine is something that ADHD humans lack. Our body produces Dopamine but our brains don’t release it properly, signals don’t get transmitted effectively and it doesn’t reach the right areas of our brain in the right amounts.

Dopamine can also play a part in recognizing and feeling good about our successes. If our dopamine is out of whack, we struggle to truly believe that we are accomplished at all and that we have earned our accomplishments.

All of these neurotransmitters in our brain work together to create a healthy sense of self.

When our chemicals aren't even working in our favor, how could we possibly think our way out of it?

Signs of Imposter Syndrome

These are some of the signs of imposter syndrome.

Persistent Self-Doubt

You might keep wondering if you're really qualified for your job despite any positive feedback you're getting.

You Attribute Your Success To Luck

You believe your achievements are random rather than earned, fear of failure, constantly worried about making mistakes.

This could mean that you avoid taking on new projects because you're scared of failing.

This leads to…

Self-Sabotage

You're not doing it on purpose, but you are now the one who is sabotaging yourself.

One popular method of self-sabotage is setting unrealistic standards.

Perfectionism

You might set the goal of being perfect in every aspect of your work, so you don't get found out, and that's just not feasible.

Discounting Your Achievements

You think your accomplishments are insignificant, so you downplay the significance of completing anything major, and you truly believe that anyone could have done what you did.

Overworked

You try to prove yourself through overworking. You come in early, stay late, and have difficulty accepting praise because your dopamine-deficient brain literally does not recognize the compliment.

Comparing Yourself To Others

You measure your worth against other people's achievements.

Even if you delivered something valuable, you may beat yourself up because you didn't present it the way your colleague did. You feel like a fraud and that you don't belong.

Avoid Challenges

You steer clear of new opportunities for fear of failing.

You might avoid applying for a new job or taking on something new because you're afraid you won't succeed.

5 Types of Imposter Syndrome

The University of Cincinnati has identified five types of imposter syndrome.

The Perfectionist - This person sets unrealistically high standards, focusing on how something is done and how it turns out.
The Superhero - This person feels the need to be exceptional and work harder than everyone else in the world.
The Expert - This person believes they need to know everything before they can take any action. And this means you might hesitate to contribute to a discussion because you feel like you don't know enough.
The Natural Genius - This person thinks they should excel at anything without a lot of effort.
The Soloist - This person prefers to do everything alone rather than ask for help. You might avoid collaborating with others because you feel you should handle everything on your own.

If you have ever looked at other people who make things look so easy and thought, They have supernatural abilities and they can do anything!

Did you ever stop to think that maybe they didn’t do it alone? Most likely, they asked people for help along the way.

You can ask for help along the way, too. You might be thinking, “But isn’t that cheating?” No. Cheating is cheating. Asking for help is asking for help.

Understanding Imposter Syndrome When You Have ADHD

ADHD and Imposter Syndrome Explained Plus How To Beat It

Now, if you have ADHD, feeling like an imposter, can complicate things further.

It can really amplify your feelings that are already there of self-doubt and inadequacy. Imposter syndrome erodes your self-confidence.

It makes you fear failure even more, and you have a hard time coping with that fear. Those feelings of fear can lead to actions of self-sabotage where you undermine your own potential for success.

You might undermine your attempt at:

Writing a speech for work
Doing reports for work
Singing a song perfectly in your recital because you have not learned how to wrangle the feelings of inadequacy and nervousness.

You might undermine your own success because you don't believe you deserve it, or you believe other people think you don’t deserve it.

If you're going through life, doing your reports at work, rehearsing with your singing coach, and your feelings of self-doubt are getting in the way, it might give you physical symptoms of shaking, of just feeling a heaviness in your heart, anxiety, panic.

The Goal: We’re not here to get rid of feeling like an imposter completely, although I believe that can happen. Your initial first step is to feel the fear and do it anyway - or ‘do it scared’.

Doing it scared allows you to: Have some wins and triumphs, so you can build up evidence that you can succeed and do well.

Then imposter syndrome begins to lessen, even if it’s only in one area of your life to start.

For example, maybe you feel like an imposter as a parent, but at your job, you have more confidence in your abilities.

7 Reasons ADHD Adults Struggle with Imposter Syndrome?

When you have ADHD, you most likely have an ongoing internal dialogue where you're just waiting for someone to point at you and say that you don't belong here.

You've been faking it all along. And you're thinking, Yep, you're right.

1. Inconsistency

One of the reasons this happens to ADHD people is inconsistent performance.

Our brains make us feel like geniuses, and other times you can't find your keys or your shoes or remember what day it is.

Our ADHD brains, because of the inconsistent neurotransmitter dopamine, are wired to have these wild fluctuations in productivity and attention.

One day you're getting everything done. You're doing it amazingly. And the next day you're sitting on your couch, staring at your phone. You don't even have the energy to scroll.

This inconsistency makes it really hard to see any wins that you had as something you've earned.

It's easier to think, Oh, that? That other day when I was totally nailing it? Yeah, that must've been a fluke. Rather than recognizing you're actually capable. You were fully in control of that day.

The reality is that the days when you're having a hard time are not the real you - they're a part of you, but they're no more valid than the days that you're functioning awesomely.

So, Why Do We Have Inconsistent Performance?

Because of our executive function deficits. Think of your executive functions as your brain's project managers and our project managers are disorganized and on a very long coffee break.

This is why planning, organizing, and following through is a struggle.

It's also why we end up in this loop of…

I didn't get that done on time.
I'm always behind.
Everyone else is always more on top of things than I am.

When that thought starts repeating, which it will, imposter syndrome sets in.

2. Masking

All of us with ADHD, especially the later-in-life diagnosed people, have spent years masking.

Just pretending to be neurotypical. Just to get by. We assume that we are bad neurotypicals.

We think that everyone else “gets it” and has their shit together while we’re putting on a show to cover up the whirlwind in our brains.

3. External Feedback

Most undiagnosed ADHD humans have consistently heard from teachers, coaches, bosses, coworkers and friends, all through their life - sentiments like, Why aren’t you trying? If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

We internalize that we’re careless and lazy; meanwhile, all of the people in our life who are supposed to protect and guide us never stop to think that we might need some accommodations, that our failings weren’t flaws.

This makes it harder for you when you're kicking ass in life to believe it. Those voices from your past, are now YOUR voice in the present.

Even when you're excelling, you may think, ‘I should have done more.’ Right?

You're not giving yourself credit for how hard you're working.

4. Memory Issues & Time Blindness

Even if you were able to accept a compliment, you have forgotten, or it's out of sight, out of mind.

Maybe it came easy to you and so you feel like you didn't do that much and it came easy, so it doesn't really count.

When you're reflecting on a big project or success, instead of thinking… I worked really hard on this.

You might think, I didn't really do anything. I was just kind of winging it. I didn’t really earn this.

This disconnect makes you feel like a fraud because you cannot remember the effort that you put in. You just remember the last-minute scramble and the nervousness of presenting it.

5. Hyperfocus and Procrastination

When an ADHD person is hyperfocusing, the results they get from that hyperfocus are usually excellent.

So when you're in a hyperfocus, you turn in excellent work, but then the next time you have to sit down to do something, your brain is in full procrastination mode.

If you attribute your success to your hyperfocus rather than acknowledging your actual abilities, you're feeding into your imposter syndrome.

6. Emotional Dysregulation & Rejection Sensitivity

ADHD humans feel everything intensely.

When someone criticizes us, or even if we think we've been criticized, it really feels like the end of the world.

Rejection-sensitive feelings can actually physically hurt…

It can hurt in our hearts and can feel like butterflies in our stomachs
We may end up hyperventilating, and feel hot, sweaty, or like a cold is running up our back
We can feel like we just can't stop crying

No matter how wild your rejection sensitivity feels and how physical it is, it can be barely perceptible to the people around you.

7. Our Reliance on External Structure

What our ADHD brains need is external structure, like reminders, schedules, check-ins, and putting things on a post-it note. It's just part of how we need to manage our day-to-day lives.

But when you rely on those structures, you might start thinking that things are only going well because of these external supports that you built in.

You feel like you're not competent because you need a little extra help.

It’s true, people who are neurotypical don't need the same external support that you do. However, it’s not because they're smarter than you. It’s because their brains are processing dopamine correctly. They were born with a built-in support.

How To Deal with Imposter Syndrome

1. Figure out where these feelings started…

Did something happen in your childhood or early career that sparked this self-doubt?

Even if you were diagnosed, I highly doubt that your school had all the support in place for someone with ADHD, including addressing the fact that ADHD is an emotional regulation issue.

You might have had support built in, but…

Did you have to go to another room?
Did everyone watch you go over here? What's that weird kid doing?

It’s a lifetime of just feeling different.

There's no magic solution to suddenly curing your imposter syndrome.

Instead, you're going to tackle a series of small practical adjustments in how you see yourself and handle those nagging doubts.

You're fine-tuning a machine. You're not rebuilding it from scratch. You don't have to get everything right about slowly overcoming imposter syndrome overnight.

The weight of self-doubt is unbearable. I know that. So we're not trying to tackle all of it. We're not trying to climb a mountain in flip flops, but even tiny steps forward count.

2. Understand & Reflect On Your Thoughts

One of the most important things that I learned from doing somatic therapy is that I'm not trying to get rid of a feeling or sensation in my body or a thought in my head, but I'm allowing it to sit with me while I go about my day.

I don't allow it to overtake me, so my therapist asks about these difficult feelings or difficult thoughts…

What are they trying to tell me? Really?
Okay, well, what happens then? You just have to keep talking to yourself logically.

With imposter thinking, you start to carve a neural pathway in your brain that gets used to thinking this way. It becomes comfortable to think, “I'm a failure. I'm a fraud. Wait until they find out about me.”

3. Write Down Positive Beliefs About Yourself

Think about all of the amazing things you want to believe about yourself and write them down in a journal or notebook.

Look at each of these things you want to believe, and think, 'Mmm, these might already be true.'

Final Thoughts

I'm not a coach and I'm not a therapist, so I don't have all the answers for you, but I can tell you where to begin to look, which is to avoid any neurotypical cognitive behavioral therapy in this instance. (This is just my opinion).

If that stuff works for you? Amazing. Don’t listen to me.

However, if you're truly lost and you're more like me than not, and you don't know where to begin…

Begin by realizing the messaging that came through to you.
Then think about what you would want to believe about yourself, no matter if it's true or not.

I wanted you to feel less alone by hearing this episode and know that imposter syndrome is very real - it comes from a place in your brain, your psyche, and your emotional development.

You are not an imposter. You might be a lot, but that's okay. Until next time…

FAQ

Sharon Saleen, a clinical psychologist, says, "Perfectionism often stems from a deep-seated sense of deficiency."
We might set ourselves unrealistically high standards because we're afraid of not meeting expectations, whether they are our own expectations or other people's.
This fear of not being perfect can lead to imposter syndrome because we feel like we're not measuring up even if we are.
If you set unrealistically high standards for yourself and you don't meet them, your brain does not realize these were unrealistically high standards.
I didn't meet them, but I got close. That's amazing. That was the goal. I'm going to aim high. And if I only reach sorta high, amazing. But that's not often the case with the ADHD brain.
We are unknowingly setting unrealistically high standards. You see, ADHD people don't actually know what can realistically be done in a certain amount of time, due to having time blindness.
Let’s say you have this research job and due to your low self-esteem, you might be sitting there thinking…
I have to research this project and I know my boss said they only need 10 pages. I'm gonna do 20. Just to prove that you're good enough.
Your brain is telling you that doing what's assigned is not good enough because you inherently are not good enough.
You are an imposter who, any minute, is going to be found out. So you continue to go above and beyond.
The fear of messing up and of not being perfect… will likely lead you to mess up and not be perfect because everybody messes up and nobody is perfect.
The Limbic System & Our Emotions:
Our brains have a part called the limbic system, which is crucial for processing our emotions.
Within this system, the amygdala plays a big role in handling fear and anxiety. When the amygdala gets overly active, it can make us feel disproportionately anxious or doubtful about our abilities.
Essentially, the amygdala's overdrive might lead us to blowing small mistakes out of proportion, causing us to feel like we're not good enough.
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for decision-making and critical thinking.
It's where the executive functions should be functioning. And as we know, ADHD is a disorder of executive functioning.
When the prefrontal cortex is overactive, it leads to excessive overthinking and self-criticism.
This means we could spend a lot of time second-guessing ourselves, ruminating on our perceived failures, which only fuels those imposter feelings.
I know you're thinking, but Jen, sometimes I do fail. It's not just perceived. That's great. Your brain can still ruminate on a failure, which is not the best way to bounce back from a failure.

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ADHD & Imposter Syndrome Explained + How To Beat It