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After my recent inactivity, I finally gave everything some thought and I think I have something that may be contribution worthy to this site as I am likely not the only one.

I am aware of this question, but I don't think it's necessarily within the scope of my concern: What's the term for people who think they suffering from imposter syndrome when in reality they *are* imposters?

I am wondering the difference between whether someone suffers from Imposter's Syndrome vs. actually being out of their depth. I'm not going to say someone out of their depth is an "imposter" per se since I think that's rude and is somewhat snobby. The question that was also asked by the original questioner in the old post passed judgment on that other person as well and I think that's unfair. I also want the scope of my question to apply to those at the Ph.D level as well.

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    I'm a bit confused by your phrasing: colloquially, I would understand "being out of your depth" as a transient phenomenon, vs. "imposter syndrome" as a somewhat chronic behavioural health syndrome. I'm also not sure what purpose your example of yourself serves?
    – coffee_into_plots
    Commented Feb 21 at 22:17
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    @coffee_into_plots I edited my question to include a "not being cut out for it" so my intent is clarified. The purpose of my example was to illustrate a case where, when I've put it all in front of others alongside my disabilities, they are convinced that I wasn't ready for a Ph.D at all.
    – zzmondo1
    Commented Feb 21 at 22:22
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    That is a question for a therapist, not this community. Sorry.
    – Buffy
    Commented Feb 21 at 22:30
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    I’m voting to close this question because no one here can answer it for you. There may indeed be a way for someone who knows you well to sort out whether your problem is or is not impostor syndrome, but no one on this site is qualified to do so with the information you present.
    – Ethan Bolker
    Commented Feb 21 at 22:47
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    academia.stackexchange.com/questions/155257/… Does this answer your question?
    – Allure
    Commented Feb 22 at 2:46

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It's a fair question.

The whole impostor syndrome strikes me as unfalsifiable: if you feel inadequate then you are suffering from impostor syndrome, and if you don't feel inadequate then you are overestimating your own abilities, or at the extreme, delusional. And I think I've heard every definition of the impostor syndrome, including from the mouth of Valerie Young.

In the most benign form, the impostor syndrome is just that part of being young where it feels that everybody has it figured it out, but not you. Yes, there are 50-year-olds who claim to suffer from impostor syndrome, but I think that pretty much everybody eventually comes to the realization that nobody has it all together.

Some people have acquired impressive skills, and others have yet to learn those skills, and that's it.

Most people also feel great discomfort at being a beginner in a place full of experts, like for example, a grad student in a department full of postocs and professors. But other people actually thrive in those environments and actively search for situations where they can be the beginner among experts (Reminds me of Yo Yo Ma's "The beginner's mind")

There are no real impostors to sort out from the 'true' impostors: just people who have not learned the necessary skills. Now, there are plenty of delusional people out there who actually think they have things figured it all out, but they are not suffering from impostor syndrome, quite the opposite.

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  • I think this fails to address the underlying concern, which seems to be "what if you really aren't cut out for where you are but don't know it?"
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Feb 23 at 2:02

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