Imposter Syndrome in Plant Biology
by Luis de Luna, past NAASC ECS member
“We as a community need better institutional mechanisms to protect trainees from bullying and harassment from senior faculty and other staff, but most importantly we need a shift in the academic culture to promote good mental health instead of rewarding hyper-competitive frameworks that are detrimental to both the scientists and the science. ”
The Tales of Imposter Syndrome (IS)
The term impostor phenomenon or Imposter Syndrome (IS) was initially coined in 1978 to designate an internal experience of intellectual disingenuousness that is particularly prevalent and intense among high-achieving women [1]. Despite outstanding professional accomplishments, women experiencing IS persistently believe that they have deceived everyone around them into thinking they are outstanding. Nowadays, IS is recognized as a behavioral health phenomenon among high-achieving individuals described as self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments. These individuals do not internalize their success and may experience pervasive self-doubt, anxiety, depression, and apprehension of being exposed as a fraud [2,3].
“I experienced overwhelming anxiety when I was required to present my research.... Anxiety was, throughout my PhD a constant feeling. I often found myself ruminating on all the possible ways I could expose my incompetence to my peers and over-prepared to the point of burnout.”
Imposter Syndrome is well-documented in the literature; there are ~284 papers describing 62 independent studies that include a total population of 14,161 individuals across 9 countries [4]. Despite this, IS does not have a formal medical definition. Individuals affected by IS usually present all or some interrelated traits, lacking some of these traits does not rule out IS.
Imposter cycle: In the Imposter cycle, individuals affected by IS respond by either over-preparing or procrastinating when facing new tasks. Given their self-perception as impostors, these individuals feel they must work harder than the rest to get the same results. On the other hand, procrastination leads them to prepare at the last minute and when successful, they believe they again fooled everyone. After completing the task, these individuals have a brief sense of success. However, this success is not internalized because of unknown neurological mechanisms, leading to anxiety and fear that permeates the next task.
Perfectionism: Individuals with IS tend to self-impose extremely high and practically unattainable standards. These individuals are extremely self-critical and generalize their mistakes as a lack of ability.
Super-heroism: These individuals push themselves to take on more tasks and responsibilities to appear capable. This additional workload harms mental health, often resulting in anxiety and burnout.
Fear of failure: IS-afflicted individuals experience fear of being humiliated when they fail at their tasks, as this would expose them as impostors.
Denial of competence: Affected individuals disregard their intelligence, experience, skills, and natural talents. They associate their success with external factors like luck or random chance.
Fear of Success: This is centered on the potential consequences of success, as it may lead to higher expectations or increase the workload.
The causes behind IS are not clearly understood. Although current epidemiological data is insufficient for clear conclusions, evidence suggests that IS is more common in females than males, in historically marginalized groups, and in individuals working in high-pressure environments [2,4]. One hypothesis is that IS is an expression of preexisting mental health disorders; however, another reasonable hypothesis is that the social and cultural context contributes significantly to imposter feelings, which may be amplified in women and historically marginalized groups [5].
Since there are no studies on the prevalence of IS among plant scientists, I sought several successful plant biologists identifying themselves as affected by IS. I asked them questions to try to understand their struggles and the strategies they have developed to cope with IS.
I interviewed the following 4 plant scientists; they provided these preferred descriptions:
Dr. RW (She/Her), is a Chinese scientist from the Chinese Academy of Science and is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar in the U.S.
Dr. CL (She/Her), is a Latino scientist who earned her Ph.D. in the U.S. and is currently a Fellow at the University of Tübingen, Germany.
Dr. MG (She/Her), is a Mexican biochemist who earned her Ph.D. in Mexico and is currently based in the U.S.
Dr. AV (He/Him), is an immigrant Person of Color (PoC) and is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the U.S.
How do you experience Imposter Syndrome?
RW: “I’ve always been good at school, but never felt confident. In grad school, I published several papers in high-impact journals, but I always thought it was only luck; not because of my abilities or skills”.
CL: “During my PhD and now as a postdoc (albeit less frequently), I had anxiety of showing professional incompetence to my peers. Perhaps, also in part due to my introverted personality, I experienced overwhelming anxiety when I was required to present my research to colleagues or during conferences. Anxiety was, throughout my PhD a constant feeling. I often found myself ruminating on all the possible ways I could expose my incompetence to my peers and overprepared to the point of burnout. To the outsider, I probably appeared competent and under control, but inside I always felt underprepared and unsatisfied with my performance, never failing to downplay my success.”
MG: “Imposter syndrome is a continuous companion. Even though I’m conscious of it, I can’t help suffering from it. I usually downplay my achievements because I believe I do not deserve them. For example, I graduated from my Ph.D. program with honors and my committee nominated me for a reputable award in my institution; The first thing I thought was that they made a mistake, or they felt pity towards me. Also, I often dismissed my authorship on my Ph.D. paper because I believed my contributions were not the most important. This objectively is not true since I laid out the project and developed more than 80% of the experiments and figures myself. Despite knowing that, negative thoughts often came to my mind. Currently, I mostly experience IS when discussing results or experimental strategies for new experiments. I unconsciously underplay my participation in certain projects, or I do not emphasize my progress. I also avoid sharing my knowledge because I think it would always be wrong, even if it is information that I am completely sure is correct.”
AV: “I usually present somewhat confident, calm, and collected. However, I feel extremely insecure all the time. There are certain topics in my field that I consider I only know superficially, and I’m terrified of people finding out that I don’t master these things. I think very badly of myself if I miss a detail or a fact in a discussion with my peers. I also tend to procrastinate a lot, because I’m not sure I can perform as expected and my results will be trash and it’ll be confirmed that I’m a failure as well.”
When and how did you realize you suffer from IS?
RW: “In graduate school, I was the only one in my class to win a scholarship that was a large amount of money. I felt bad when I got the money because I thought I was not good enough to be awarded like that, that I didn’t deserve it. That’s when I started learning about IS.”
CL: “In 2020 I came across a letter on Science regarding IS and its impact on diversity in academia (Chrousos and Mentis). I found that I could relate my experience to the definition of IS and started to read more on the topic. As soon as I could put a name on it, I realized I have been suffering from it essentially since the beginning of my path in academia. As a first-generation PhD student, I felt entirely inexperienced and was (and maybe still am) unaware of the expectations required to be successful in the system. I imposed the highest standards on myself, convinced that this would lead me on the right path. Now I realize these standards, which were often unrealistic put a significant emotional burden on myself and likely hindered my personal growth. I believe that the lack of role models early in my career also harmed my experience.”
MG: “For a long time I didn't know IS existed, I thought it was just me. I first heard about IS no more than two years ago in a conversation with my husband. Learning that something like this existed and that more people were suffering from it was sad, but relieving at the same time, knowing that there is a community that understands the struggle.”
AV: “I’ve known about IS for some time, but never really identified with it. Mainly because it’s usually portrayed to affect very high-achieving people and I consider myself very average, even if I was constantly being told (and shown) differently. Also, probably because I stayed in my comfort zone for a long time (I stayed in the same lab for my undergrad dissertation, Master, and PhD), so there wasn’t much room for me to feel it; the anxiety and fear were there but I always managed to think nothing of it. For my postdoc, I moved to the US and joined a prestigious lab in a new, exciting field. I quickly noticed that many of my peers seemed so far ahead, well prepared, coming from very prestigious institutions, with many publications in high-impact journals. This naturally, made me feel extremely anxious and insecure, and I started putting a lot of pressure on myself.”
In what situations do you experience IS the most?
RW: “My time as a graduate student was the most challenging, constantly feeling bad for my achievements.”
CL: “Whenever I must present my work to an audience, I feel overwhelmed and underprepared. I tend to be hypercritical of myself and, despite evidence on the contrary, feel like I didn’t perform well. I tend to focus on the negatives and undermine any positive feedback. I also tend to experience IS when facing new challenges. At different stages in the academic path, you are exposed to new challenges, which bring back feelings of estrangement.”
MG: “Looking back, the IS becomes more and more persistent when academic achievement approaches. I always think that my success was just luck or that external circumstances led me to it. Also, I experience it strongly in lab meetings and other circumstances when I may need to speak up.”
AV: “Whenever I’m in the lab (11 hours a day), especially when interacting with my PI. It turns out that my PI is incredibly toxic and abusive in all regards. She belittles my efforts and often criticizes my work (current and past) as careless, sloppy, trash, etc. Also, the lab meetings when I have to present my work are challenging because her negative comments about me as a scientist and my work feed my inner feelings of inadequacy. In a sense, I feel like an imposter who’s been outed. However, instead of releasing me from the stress, I live in an extreme urge to “keep up” and work more, to the point of burnout.”
How do you cope with IS or what are your strategies to mitigate it?
RW: “I challenge myself to do things that I am afraid of. Realizing that I can do these things helps me feel more confident and relieves the sadness for a while.”
CL: “I think that openly discussing IS is a step to mitigate it. After bringing this topic to friends and colleagues, one can find people who relate to these feelings and if they are in later stages of their career, they could provide advice on strategies that they have employed to cope with this behavior. A cognitive dissonance exists and mitigation of IS, I believe, requires a broad reframing of one’s self-perception. Having someone who you trust to give you an objective and balanced perspective from the outside is important to keep yourself centered.”
MG: “I'm still working on it. What seems to work is to first reaffirm my abilities and skills to myself, and also try to not discredit myself in work interactions in the laboratory, as I have noticed that it is easy for other people to focus on these points as well and make me feel insecure.”
AV: I don’t think I’m the best or even good at handling it, honestly. I mostly try to deal with the anxiety in different ways. I recently started going to the gym, that’s a bit helpful, and also, medication. My family helps me a lot to not spiral. Having a family can be overwhelming at times, but fatherly responsibilities are strong enough to pull me out of the negative thoughts to focus on other things.”
Do you have any advice for other people experiencing IS?
RW: “Good people come in many shapes and types. Don’t compare yourself to others, and don't be so harsh on yourself. Be happy for your achievements and for others as well.”
CL: “Find someone who you trust and can talk with about your experiences (a mentor, colleague, or friend/partner) and help you maintain a balanced view of yourself. Try to concentrate on the facts: you have done enough to be where you are and there is evidence to prove it! Be kind to yourself.”
MG: “IS is an annoying companion, that can be intensified or alleviated depending on the work environment. Competitive fields like academia are a rich media broth that exacerbates IS. My best advice would be to continue working on improving yourself, your skills, and your interests. Also, surrounding yourself with people capable of accepting your achievements, and pointing out your points of improvement, but in an assertive way and without being attacking or demeaning, would be the ideal.”
AV: “I am certain that good lab culture is essential to cope with the anxiety from IS. Before joining a lab, try to talk to current and past lab members and ask about lab culture and their relationship with their PI and other people in the lab. Listen to the red flags and stay away from toxic places. If you’re already trapped in one of those terrible environments, give yourself time and learn to remove value from the negative criticism, take whatever helps you grow and dismiss the rest. A support network is extremely helpful, having friends and family who can empathize is key.”
After talking to these great individuals a few things became clear to me. First, as expected, IS does affect plant biologists. Second, IS can come in many forms, from sadness (or depression) to extreme anxiety, so detecting it can be very challenging. Third, the work environment is pivotal to maintaining good mental health for IS-affected individuals, toxic places are bad for anyone but can be particularly harmful for people with IS, leading to poor mental health. Finally, we as a community need better institutional mechanisms to protect trainees from bullying and harassment from senior faculty and other staff, but most importantly we need a shift in the academic culture to promote good mental health instead of rewarding hypercompetitive frameworks that are detrimental to both the scientists and the science.
References
Clance P.R., Imes S.A. The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychother Theory Res Pract. 1978, 15:241–247.
Bravata DM, Watts SA, Keefer AL, Madhusudhan DK, Taylor KT, Clark DM, Nelson RS, Cokley KO, Hagg HK. Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: a Systematic Review. J Gen Intern Med. 2020, 35(4):1252-1275.
Feigofsky S. Imposter Syndrome. HeartRhythm Case Rep. 2022, 8(12):861-862.
Mak KKL, Kleitman S, Abbott MJ. Impostor Phenomenon Measurement Scales: A Systematic Review. Front Psychol. 2019 Apr 5;10:671.
Feenstra S, Begeny CT, Ryan MK, Rink FA, Stoker JI, Jordan J. Contextualizing the Impostor "Syndrome". Front Psychol. 2020 Nov 13;11:575024
