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,當你向有500位女性的一屋子人提問:“如果你有過冒名頂替綜合癥,請舉手?!蔽易罱瓦@么做了。一大堆人舉起了手,包括我自己。因為我們受過的教育讓我們認為,我們已經受到了這種“綜合癥”的控制,每當我們自我懷疑、沒有安全感或有質疑時,我們就應該把這種情況稱為冒名頂替綜合癥。它令人很痛苦,而且讓人感到很惡心。所以我們自然想要診斷一下。如果冒名頂替綜合癥是一種病,那就說得通了。