“If they only knew … I am a total fraud and everyone is about to find out.”

If you have ever felt this way, you are familiar with imposter syndrome — that gnawing feeling of self-doubt and incompetence coupled with the dread of being exposed as a fraud.

People with imposter syndrome feel inauthentic, question their ability to be successful and are convinced that they do not belong in the roles they hold, even when they experience success. Women are especially vulnerable to imposter syndrome, though I know a number of wildly successful men who suffer from it too. As a male patient once commented during a session: “When are they going to pull the curtain back and realize that I just got lucky?” He had just made partner at a highly competitive New York City law firm and was in his early forties. “Unworthy” was the adjective he used to describe himself.