Imposter Syndrome And Anxiety: Why We Feel Like A Fraud When We Are Doing Well

Imposter syndrome is the persistent feeling that we are a fraud and will soon be found out, despite clear evidence that we are capable. As Anxiety Specialist and Therapist Jennifer Roblin explains, it is not a confidence problem. It is our nervous system treating success and visibility as a threat, driven by old beliefs held in the unconscious mind.

This article is for you if you recognise yourself here ...

Do you ever sit in a meeting, nodding along, while a quiet voice tells you that any minute now someone will realise you do not really know what you are doing?

Have you been promoted, praised or thanked for your work, and felt a flash of dread rather than pride?

Have you ever put a success down to luck, good timing or other people, so that you never quite have to own it?

If this feels familiar, you are not alone, and you are certainly not a fraud. The people who feel like imposters are rarely the ones out of their depth. They are usually capable, conscientious people who care deeply about doing a good job. From the outside, life looks like it is going well. On the inside, there is a constant hum of tension and an exhausting effort to make sure nobody notices.

Many people know what anxiety feels like, but few truly understand what it is. We tend to treat imposter syndrome as a thinking problem we should be able to talk ourselves out of. If that worked, we would have done it already. What is really happening sits deeper, in our nervous system and our unconscious mind. And because it was learnt, it can be unlearnt.

We are not broken. Our nervous system just needs recalibrating.

What You Will Learn

• What imposter syndrome is, and why it is so closely linked to anxiety
• Why we frequently feel most like a fraud when things are going well
• Where imposter feelings come from, and why they are learnt rather than part of who we are
• The imposter cycle that keeps the feeling going, and the five types of imposter syndrome
• Eight nervous system strategies to calm imposter syndrome at home and at work
• When imposter syndrome therapy with an anxiety specialist can help you change the root cause

Before we go any further, it can help to get a clearer picture of how anxiety is showing up for you right now. Our free two minute anxiety quiz is quick and confidential, and it gives you personalised reflections that make the rest of this article easier to apply to your own life.

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What Is Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is the ongoing sense that we have somehow fooled everyone. That our results are down to luck, timing or other people, and that sooner or later we will be found out. It was first described in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, who noticed that many high achieving women they worked with could not internalise their own success. They called it the impostor phenomenon. We now know it affects people of every gender, age, background and profession.

Imposter syndrome is not a medical diagnosis. It is a pattern of thoughts, feelings and body responses that tends to show up at particular moments. Starting a new job. Being promoted. Leading a team for the first time. Returning after a break. Being the only person in the room who looks, sounds or started out like us.

It can look like the new manager who rewrites one email five times before sending it. The consultant who over prepares until midnight, then decides the meeting went well because the client was in a good mood. The person who freezes when told "you are so good at this", because a compliment feels like a raised bar rather than praise. Imposter syndrome often travels alongside perfectionism, and the two feed each other in a quiet, relentless loop.

How Common Is Imposter Syndrome In The UK?

If you feel like an imposter, you are in very good company. A YouGov survey of 2,500 UK workers for Indeed found that 58 percent had experienced imposter syndrome, and one in five senior managers always or very frequently feel like a fraud at work. Women were more likely than men to feel it very frequently or always, at 21 percent compared with 12 percent. Most telling of all, 94 percent had never talked about it at work.

A March 2026 MyPerfectCV survey of professionals across the UK and Europe found 51 percent feel like imposters at least some of the time. In the US, a 2026 MyPerfectResume survey found two thirds of employees feel pressure to appear more confident than they are. A large review in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found imposter feelings were consistently linked with anxiety, low mood and burnout. Imposter syndrome is not a sign that we personally are lacking. It is a recognisable human pattern, and patterns can change.

Is Imposter Syndrome A Form Of Anxiety?

Imposter syndrome and anxiety are so closely linked that, in our consultation room, it is often hard to see where one ends and the other begins. Imposter syndrome is essentially anxiety about being exposed. A tight chest. A churning stomach. Heat rising in the face. Lying awake the night before a presentation, rehearsing every possible question. These are not signs of a confidence problem. They are signs of a nervous system that has detected a threat.

When our brain senses danger, it switches on our fight, flight, freeze or fawn response. At work, fight might show up as defensiveness or over control. Flight looks like staying quiet or working all hours. Freeze is the blank mind when someone asks a direct question. Fawn is agreeing to everything so that nobody looks too closely.

This is why so many of us are calm and capable at our desk, yet anxious the moment we are visible, a pattern we explore in why we can feel confident at work but anxious in meetings. Imposter syndrome takes it one step further. It is not only the meeting that feels risky. It is being seen as good at what we do.

Why Do We Feel Like A Fraud When We Are Doing Well?

This is the part that confuses people the most. Surely success should make us feel more confident, not less? But our nervous system does not measure safety by achievement. It measures safety by familiarity and by exposure.

Every step forward makes us more visible. A promotion means more people watching. Praise sets a new standard we feel we must keep meeting. To an anxious nervous system, success is not a reward. It is a bigger stage with further to fall, and so the alarm gets louder rather than quieter.

Success also takes us into unfamiliar territory, and our nervous system prefers what it knows, even when what it knows is uncomfortable. If we grew up feeling we were only valued when we performed, a version of us who is successful and relaxed can feel strangely unsafe. Not because it is wrong, but because it is new.

I saw this long before I became an anxiety therapist. In my years in senior investment banking leadership, I sat in rooms full of brilliant people who quietly believed they were one mistake away from being found out. Their success had not removed the fear. Often it had amplified it.

So what does this mean for you? It means that feeling like a fraud is not evidence that you are one. It is evidence that your nervous system has learnt to link visibility with danger. And anything that has been learnt can be gently retrained.

Where Does Imposter Syndrome Come From?

No one is born feeling like an imposter. Like all anxiety, imposter syndrome is a learnt pattern, not something we inherit or something fixed in our personality. To understand it, it helps to look at two layers working together.

The first layer is the unconscious mind, the meaning maker that draws quiet conclusions from our early experiences. A child praised mainly for results may conclude, "I am only acceptable when I achieve." A child labelled "the clever one" may conclude, "If I ever struggle, I will lose my place." The first in the family to go to university, or one of very few people like us in a classroom or boardroom, may conclude, "I have to prove I deserve to be here." These conclusions are rarely spoken. They simply become the lens we see ourselves through.

The second layer is the nervous system, our alarm. Whenever one of those old beliefs is activated by a promotion, a compliment or a new challenge, it fires its protective response. The racing heart, the over preparing, the urge to downplay or hide. The belief lives in the unconscious mind, and the nervous system responds as though it were true.

We explore this two layer pattern in more depth in our article on the hidden beliefs driving our anxiety. For many of us, imposter syndrome also carries a thread of shame, that painful sense that if people saw the real us, they would be disappointed.

One of the most useful first steps is to start noticing the thinking habits that keep these beliefs in place. Discounting the positive, mind reading and all or nothing thinking are classic companions of imposter syndrome. Our Cognitive Distortions workbook walks you through how to spot them in your own day to day thinking.

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The Imposter Cycle: How Anxiety Keeps Imposter Syndrome Going

Clance described a cycle that keeps imposter feelings alive. It starts when we are given a task that matters and anxiety rises. We then either over prepare, working late and checking everything several times, or put it off until the last minute and rush to finish.

The task goes well and we feel brief relief. Then the unconscious mind explains the success away. If we over prepared, it only went well because of the extra effort. If we procrastinated, we got lucky. Either way the success never lands as proof that we are good at what we do, and the next task brings the anxiety back, often a little stronger.

This is why imposter syndrome so frequently sits alongside self sabotage and overthinking. The cycle is not a sign of weakness. It is the nervous system trying to protect us from exposure, using the only tools it has learnt.

What Are The Five Types Of Imposter Syndrome?

Researcher Dr Valerie Young identified five common ways imposter syndrome shows up. Most of us recognise ourselves in more than one, and seeing them through an anxiety lens helps us understand what each one is protecting us from.

The Perfectionist

Ninety nine percent feels like failure, because a mistake feels like the moment we will be exposed. Checking and control become the nervous system's way of staying safe.

The Expert

We feel we must know everything before we speak up or apply. The fear is being asked a question we cannot answer.

The Natural Genius

If something does not come easily, we take it as proof we are not good enough, so learning anything new can trigger a threat response.

The Soloist

Asking for help feels like admitting we are a fraud, so we carry everything alone and the nervous system stays on high alert.

The Superhero

We must excel in every role, at work, at home and with friends, which is a fast road to exhaustion and burnout.

Recognising your type is not about adding another label. It shows where your nervous system is working hardest to keep you safe, so you know where to begin.

One of our clients shared on Google how this kind of understanding changed the way he treats himself on harder days:

"Jennifer has helped me massively in noticing what I am worth and how anxiety does not have to prevent you from experiences. I no longer beat myself up when I have a bad moment." - Scott

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How To Overcome Imposter Syndrome: 8 Nervous System Strategies

The strategies below are tools you can use at home, at work, or between sessions. They help settle the nervous system in the moment and begin to loosen the imposter cycle. What they will not do on their own is reach the unconscious beliefs underneath, which is the deeper root cause work we do in therapy. Think of them as a starting point, not the destination. Choose one or two that feel realistic and practise them regularly, because the nervous system learns through repetition.

1. Name The Moment For What It Is

When the imposter voice gets loud, it presents itself as the truth. "They are going to realise." "I should not be here." Try this. When you notice the feeling, say to yourself, "This is my imposter alarm. My nervous system thinks being seen is dangerous." You do not need to argue with the thought or force it away.

This works because naming an emotion engages the thinking part of the brain and helps quieten the threat centre. You move from being inside the alarm to observing it, and from there you have far more choice about how to respond.

2. Breathe Out For Longer Before You Walk Into The Room

Imposter syndrome frequently spikes in the minutes before you are visible, before the meeting, interview or presentation, and your breathing becomes fast and shallow. Try this. Breathe in through your nose for a count of four, then out slowly through your mouth for a count of six or seven, as if blowing through a straw. Repeat five or six times. You can do it at your desk or in the lift and nobody will know.

A longer out breath activates the part of the nervous system responsible for rest and calm, and slows the heart rate. You are speaking to the body in its own language rather than trying to reason your way out of anxiety. If you would like to go further, our article on how breathing techniques help with anxiety explains several more.

3. Keep An Evidence File

The imposter cycle survives because your successes never quite land. Try this. Create a folder in your inbox or a page in a notebook. Every time you receive positive feedback, solve a problem or finish work you are proud of, add one line about what you did and the skill it used. Read it before reviews, interviews or any moment the imposter voice is loudest.

This helps because the brain has a natural negativity bias and remembers threat far more readily than success. A written record gives the calmer part of your mind real evidence to hold on to, so the anxious part does not get the only say.

4. Notice How You Explain Your Success

Listen to the words you use when something goes well. "I was lucky." "The team did all the work." "It was just good timing." Try this. For one week, each time you explain away a success, add a second sentence that is also true. "The team was brilliant, and I led them." You are not boasting. You are simply finishing the sentence honestly.

These small phrases are how the unconscious mind keeps the old belief intact. Every explanation you repeat becomes more familiar, so when you keep adding your own part back into the story, you slowly give yourself permission to be someone who is capable.

5. Practise Good Enough On Purpose

Over preparing feels like protection, but it keeps the cycle spinning, because you credit the extra hours rather than yourself. Try this. Choose one low stakes task this week and do it to a good enough standard. Send the email after one read rather than five. Go into a routine meeting with notes rather than a script. Then notice what actually happens, rather than what you feared.

The nervous system learns from experience, not reassurance. Each time you take a small risk and nothing terrible happens, the alarm gains evidence that it does not need to fire so loudly. If imposter feelings are tipping you into exhaustion, our article on burnout and how to overcome it may help too.

6. Let Praise Land In Your Body

Many of us with imposter syndrome are experts at deflecting compliments. Try this. Next time someone praises your work, pause, breathe, and simply say "thank you". Nothing more. Then notice what you feel in your body, perhaps warmth, perhaps discomfort, and let it be there for a few seconds without pushing it away.

Deflecting teaches the nervous system that being seen in a good light is uncomfortable. Receiving praise widens your capacity to tolerate being seen. What feels awkward at first becomes familiar with practice, and familiar is what the nervous system reads as safe.

7. Talk About It With One Safe Person

Remember that 94 percent of UK workers who had experienced imposter syndrome had never talked about it at work. Secrecy keeps the feeling powerful, because we assume everyone else is confident. Try this. Choose one person you trust, a colleague, mentor, friend or partner, and tell them honestly how it feels. You may be surprised how often the answer is, "Me too."

Connection is one of the strongest signals of safety the nervous system can receive. Hearing that someone you respect feels the same also challenges the belief that you are uniquely flawed.

8. Ask Whose Voice This Really Is

The imposter voice sounds like your own, but it frequently echoes something heard or concluded long ago. A parent who meant well but focused on results. A teacher who said you were not academic. Try this. When the voice says "you are not good enough", get curious rather than critical. Ask, "When did I first feel this way? Whose words does this remind me of? How old do I feel right now?" Write down whatever comes up.

This begins to separate the old belief from present day reality, so you can see the voice belongs to an earlier version of you who was trying to stay safe. It is also where the deeper work begins, because these beliefs live in the unconscious mind, and that is where lasting change happens. Our article on mindset shifts for anxiety explores this in more detail.

Imposter syndrome is particularly common in the workplace, where visibility, performance reviews and constant comparison keep the nervous system on alert. If that is where it shows up most for you, our How to Manage Workplace Stress and Anxiety eBook is a practical guide for both employees and leaders.

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Our Client's Experience

A client came to us shortly after being promoted to a senior leadership role. On paper, it was everything she had worked towards. In reality, she was arriving at the office before seven, rewriting board papers late into the night, and waking at three in the morning with her heart racing. When her director told her she was doing a great job, her first thought was, "He has not noticed yet." She was convinced the problem was that she was not good enough for the role.

We began by helping her understand what was happening in her body. She learnt to recognise the imposter alarm as it started, to use her breathing before meetings, and to keep an evidence file. Within a few weeks she was sleeping better and leaving work at a reasonable time. But the feeling of being a fraud still hovered in the background.

The real shift came when we worked on the root cause. Together we found the belief her unconscious mind had formed as a child, that she was only acceptable when she was the best. Her nervous system had been firing its alarm every time that belief was activated, and a senior role activated it every single day. Using NLP and hypnotherapy, we worked with that early belief directly and helped her nervous system learn a calmer response to being seen. She later said the biggest difference was that she no longer felt she had to prove herself every hour of the day. The strategies settled the surface. The therapy changed what was underneath.

This kind of change is exactly why we focus on the root cause rather than coping alone. Here is how another client described her experience of working with us:

"She is a skilled, patient and empowering therapist who helps you to find yourself, trust yourself and love yourself again." - Karen

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If You Would Like Further Support

The strategies in this article can make a real difference to how imposter syndrome feels day to day. But if you have read every article, listened to every podcast and tried every tip, and still feel like a fraud, that is not a failure on your part. It usually means the pattern is held at a deeper level than strategies alone can reach.

At Better Your Life, we work with both layers. We help calm the nervous system so the alarm stops firing at every opportunity, and, using approaches such as NLP and hypnotherapy, we work with the unconscious mind to change the old beliefs that set it off in the first place.

We offer imposter syndrome therapy in person in Essex and online across the UK and beyond, supporting professionals, leaders, students and anyone who feels they are waiting to be found out. If you are looking for an anxiety therapist who understands how imposter syndrome and anxiety work together, a free consultation call is a relaxed, no pressure place to start.

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Can Imposter Syndrome Lead To More Serious Issues?

Left unaddressed, imposter syndrome rarely stays still. The constant over preparing, long hours and self monitoring wear down our reserves, leaving us more vulnerable to chronic anxiety, panic, poor sleep, low mood and burnout. It can also quietly shrink our lives. Many people with imposter feelings hold back from promotions, turn down opportunities or make themselves less visible at work, and the same fear of being found out can make it hard to let people close or ask for help.

If you are struggling with persistent low mood, sleep that is not improving, or physical symptoms that worry you, please speak to your GP as well. We are not medically trained, and it is always important to rule out anything physical.

The encouraging news is that the nervous system is responsive at any age. Here is what one client shared about finally reaching the root of patterns he had carried for years:

"Jenny has been the one who has completely unlocked the deep rooted causes for a lot of the adult coping mechanisms that have plagued me for so many years." - Austin

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Imposter syndrome is not who you are. It is a learnt response, and the same brain that learnt it is fully capable of learning something new. I have witnessed it for myself with clients who once felt sure they would be found out and now feel settled and proud of what they have built.

When the old belief is resolved and the nervous system feels safe being seen, success stops feeling like a threat and starts feeling like something we are allowed to enjoy.

You do not need to struggle alone. Now is the right time to take back control of your life and free yourself from those anxious thoughts.

Take The Next Step

If you are tired of waiting to be found out, a free consultation call is a warm, no pressure place to start.

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Additional Resources To Ease Imposter Syndrome And Anxiety

If you would like to explore further, here are nine of our most helpful articles, videos and free workbooks. Pick the one that feels most relevant to where you are right now.

Read

• Why Am I Confident At Work But Anxious In Meetings? - why being visible can switch on anxiety even when we know our stuff.
• How To Overcome Perfectionism - loosen the need to get everything right that keeps the imposter cycle spinning.
• The Hidden Beliefs Driving Your Anxiety - how early life conclusions shape the way we see ourselves today.

Watch

• Understanding Fight And Flight - why your body reacts the way it does when you feel exposed.
• How To Reduce Anxiety Immediately - quick steps to settle your nervous system before a big moment.
• More Anxiety Relief Videos On Jennifer's YouTube Channel - practical support for every kind of anxiety.

Free Workbooks

• Journaling Questions To Reduce Anxiety - prompts to explore where your imposter voice really comes from.
• Emotions Diary Workbook - notice the feelings and situations that trigger your imposter alarm.
• Window Of Tolerance Workbook - understand how much pressure your nervous system can hold and how to widen it.

If you would like to talk things through with a real person, you can book a free consultation call with an anxiety therapist.

Still Have Questions?

Book a free consultation call and get clear, kind answers about what would actually help your imposter syndrome and anxiety.

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Prefer to talk? Call us on 07503 067941

FAQs About Imposter Syndrome And Anxiety

Is Imposter Syndrome A Form Of Anxiety?

Imposter syndrome is not a diagnosis in its own right, but it is very closely linked to anxiety. At its heart it is anxiety about being exposed, and it produces the same body responses, such as a racing heart, a churning stomach and racing thoughts, because the nervous system is responding to a perceived threat.

Why Do I Feel Like A Fraud When I Am Doing Well?

Success makes us more visible and raises the stakes, and an anxious nervous system reads that as danger rather than reward. If our unconscious mind concluded early in life that we are only acceptable when we perform, doing well can activate that belief and switch on the alarm.

What Triggers Imposter Syndrome?

Common triggers include a new job, a promotion, leading a team, public speaking, performance reviews, receiving praise, returning after a break, and being one of very few people like us in a setting. Anything that increases visibility or expectation can set it off.

Is Imposter Syndrome A Mental Health Condition?

No. Imposter syndrome is not a clinical diagnosis. It is a recognised pattern that affects a large proportion of people at some point. When it is persistent, it is frequently linked with anxiety, low mood and burnout, which is why it deserves to be taken seriously.

Why Do High Achievers Get Imposter Syndrome?

High achievers often learnt early on that their worth was linked to performance. That belief drives great results, but every achievement raises the bar and increases visibility, so the imposter alarm can get louder the more we achieve.

How Do I Know If It Is Imposter Syndrome Or If I Really Am Not Good Enough?

Look at the evidence rather than the feeling. If you have qualifications, positive feedback and results, yet still feel like a fraud, that gap between evidence and feeling is the hallmark of imposter syndrome.

Does Imposter Syndrome Ever Go Away?

The feeling often eases with experience but returns at each new milestone, because the underlying belief has not changed. Strategies help settle the nervous system day to day. For lasting change, working with an anxiety therapist on the unconscious root cause allows the belief itself to shift.

Can Therapy Help With Imposter Syndrome?

Yes. Anxiety therapy that works with both the nervous system and the unconscious mind can be very effective. At Better Your Life, we use approaches such as NLP and hypnotherapy to change imposter syndrome at its root, in person in Essex and online across the UK and beyond.

Posted: October 2026