August 16, 2023 • 22 mins
Feeling like a fraud or a fake autistic is so common in those who are diagnosed as autistic in adulthood. In this episode, I talk about impostor syndrome and how it relates to autistic impostor syndrome. I also talk about the impact of impostor syndrome and some strategies for coping with it.
Be sure to stick around right to the end. Toby is super chatty. And so is Google... It gets weird.
Watch this episode on YouTube.
If you'd like to know more about topics discussed in this episode, check out:
"Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Impostor Syndrome: A Systematic Review" by Dena M. Bravata et al.
The Impostor Phenomenon: Overcoming the Fear That Haunts Your Success by Pauline Rose Clance
"Introducing Autistic Impostor Syndrome" by Natalie Engelbrecht
"Feel Like a Fraud?" by Kirsten Weir
Episode outro music: "Spaceman in K-Town" by Kristen Hovet
Theme music: "Everything Feels New" by Evgeny Bardyuzha.
All episodes written and produced by Kristen Hovet.
Send in your questions or thoughts via audio or video recording for a chance to be featured on the show! Email your audio or video clips to otherautism@gmail.com through WeTransfer.
Buy me a coffee!
Buy The Other Autism merch. Use code FREESHIP for free shipping on orders over $75 USD!
The views, opinions, and experiences shared by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host or production team. The content is intended for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical or professional advice. Please consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making any decisions related to your health, fitness, or wellness.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristen Hovet (00:00):
Today we're talking about imposter syndrome
as it pertains to autism andbeing diagnosed or identified as
autistic.
Before we get into it, I wantedto say thank you to everyone
who voted for the Other Autismin the People's Choice Podcast
Awards.
(00:20):
You did it.
The Other Autism Podcast hasmade it to the final slate of
the 18th Annual People's ChoicePodcast Awards in the education
category.
The finalist podcasts in eachcategory are going through a
final round of voting, which Ihear involves over 20,000
(00:43):
listeners recruited from a poolof over 8 million who cast their
votes this year.
Amazing.
I believe that was a record forthe Podcast Awards.
Voting will continue throughSeptember 9th and then winners
will be announced at the virtualPodcast Awards ceremony on
(01:05):
Saturday, September 30th, at 6pmEastern Standard Time, which is
, of course, 3pm Pacific Time.
The event will be live streamedon podcastawards dot com, so be
sure to mark your calendars.
Okay, so let's begin bydefining imposter syndrome.
Now, imposter syndrome is verycommon for late-diagnosed
(01:28):
autistic folks.
It's one that's been commonlyasked about by listeners and
when I had the survey for season3, it was one of the top
voted-on items that peoplewanted me to talk about.
So imposter syndrome isn't aformal diagnosis and it's not in
(01:48):
the Diagnostic and StatisticalManual of Mental Disorders, also
called the DSM, nor is it inthe International Classification
of Diseases or ICD, but it is aterm used by many psychologists
and other healthcareprofessionals to describe a
specific set of feelings,thoughts, and accompanying
(02:09):
behaviors.
According to a systematicreview published in the Journal
of General Internal Medicine byDena Bravata and their team,
investigating imposter syndromein the general context, so not
in relation to autismspecifically, imposter syndrome
is often seen in quotehigh-achieving individuals who,
(02:33):
despite their objectivesuccesses, fail to internalize
their accomplishments and havepersistent self-doubt and fear
of being exposed as a fraud orimposter.
People with imposter syndromestruggle with accurately
attributing their performance totheir actual competence.
In other words, they attributesuccesses to external factors
(02:58):
such as luck or receiving helpfrom others, and attribute
setbacks as evidence of theirprofessional inadequacy.
End quote.
Imposter syndrome has also beencalled imposter phenomenon,
fraud syndrome, perceivedfraudulence or imposter
experience.
(03:19):
The term imposter syndrome orphenomenon was first described
in 1978, but received widespreadattention, starting in 1985
with the publication of PaulineRose Clance's book titled the
Impostor Phenomenon (03:36):
Overcoming the Fear That Haunts Your
Success.
According to the AmericanPsychological Association, or
APA, imposter syndrome caninclude the development or
exacerbation of anxiety and ordepression and can accompany low
self-esteem.
(03:56):
Also, according to the APA,imposter syndrome is more common
in minorities or those whoexperience more discrimination
than is usual or typical.
According again to the articleby Bravata and team, who looked
at more than 60 studiesrepresenting a total of more
(04:19):
than 14,000 individuals,imposter syndrome indeed appears
to be most common amongminority groups.
In their study, they found thatimposter syndrome is
particularly common amongAfrican American, Asian
American, and Latino or LatinaAmerican individuals of college
(04:40):
age.
Also, regardless of type ofwork setting, the researchers
found that imposter syndromeappears to be a significant
contributor to burnout.
Interestingly, while impostersyndrome isn't an official
diagnostic or clinical term,there have been several tools
developed to measure it.
(05:01):
There's the Clance ImposterPhenomenon Scale, the Harvey
Imposter Phenomenon Scale, theLeary Imposter Scale, the
Perceived Fraudulence Scale, theYoung Imposter Scale and others
.
These are, at least from myreading, often used in research
(05:22):
looking at imposter syndrome.
I want to highlight that inthis research on imposter
syndrome, this systematic reviewby Bravata and their team, it
was found that individuals whoreport social dysfunctions or
difficulties are more likely tohave imposter syndrome or report
(05:43):
traits of imposter syndrome.
This makes me wonder if severalautistic individuals identified
or not reported traits ofimposter syndrome in these
studies.
In fact, from my understandingand reading on this subject in
the context of autism, autisticpeople often already have a long
(06:03):
history with imposter syndromein several contexts in their
lives, even before they knowthey're autistic.
Many of us will feel anywherefrom a hint of imposter syndrome
to a debilitating case of itwhenever we've accomplished
something, gotten a new job orpromotion or award, or even if
(06:26):
we're diagnosed with a mental orphysical health condition or,
in this case, assigned aneurotype like autism.
Basically, we're prone todoubting ourselves and various
changes or newness in our livesor identities in general.
As we've seen earlier, impostersyndrome is a term that's
(06:46):
usually used to describe someonewho doubts their talents or
accomplishments, but in thecontext of autism specifically,
we're not talking about talentsor accomplishments.
Instead, imposter syndrome is auseful shorthand to describe
the ways we doubt both ourdiagnosis and our place in the
(07:07):
autism or autistic community.
This can manifest as us feelinglike frauds or like fake
autistics who are not deservingof any accommodations or
different treatment, and it'sincredibly uncomfortable and
unsettling.
I've personally had manysleepless nights dealing with
(07:28):
this and the resulting blows tomy sense of self and,
unfortunately, theself-sabotaging behavior that
can result if not resolved intime.
Thankfully, those weeks andmonths have passed.
There's an interesting bugmaking sounds outside.
Thankfully, those weeks andmonths have passed and I'm
(07:51):
absolutely solid in my autisticidentity now.
My identity as an electronicmusic producer, on the other
hand, well, currently feelingrather fraudulent actually, but
that's for another episode orpodcast altogether.
I will, however, try to musterthe courage to include my latest
(08:15):
attempt at music in the outroof this episode.
My body's tightening up, sendhelp.
Anyway, there's no one reasonfor autistic imposter syndrome,
but typically several internaland external contributing
factors.
The big ones that stand out tome include the way our brains
(08:36):
work, which is an example of akey internal factor, and the
amount of support we have ordon't have from people in our
lives, which is an example of akey external factor.
On this last point, we couldhave quite a bit of support in
our lives typically, but it cantake just one misplaced or
(08:58):
insensitive or hurtful commentor just one nasty individual to
really undo all of thosepositive feelings and effects of
supportiveness following ourautism diagnosis or
identification.
In an article on the EmbraceAutism website, Dr Natalie
Engelbrecht states that thisimposter syndrome is rooted, in
(09:21):
part, in our strong lateralthinking.
Lateral thinking, alsosometimes called thinking
outside the box or thinking inunusual or especially creative
ways, can allow us to come upwith many potential alternative
causes for our traits, which wecan sometimes really focus on
thanks to our propensity tothink deeply and in great detail
(09:43):
about a topic, situation orevent.
In effect, we're able to thinkour way out of our diagnosis.
This seems to trouble and botherso many of us, both during the
lead up time before ourassessment and following our
assessment and diagnosis.
And is sometimes made worsewhen we tell loved ones about
(10:03):
our identification as autisticand they respond with disbelief
or incredulousness.
They might say things like youdon't look autistic to me, or
we're all a little autistic.
Or they may even argue with youand try to convince you that
you're not actually autistic,basically claiming to know more
(10:24):
than your expert universitydegree- emblazoned assessor,
which is not cool.
And I'm sorry to those of yougoing through this currently
with loved ones or trying towork through these types of
experiences from your past.
It certainly isn't fun and itisn't fair.
I will also say that the factthat you're questioning your
(10:46):
autistic identity is itself avery autistic thing to do.
So, oddly enough, it sort ofconfirms a diagnosis when that
diagnosis is received inadulthood, at least in my
opinion.
Also, it's common to have someidentity issues after a late
autism diagnosis.
We've known ourselves for solong with either no diagnoses
(11:08):
and just thinking of ourselvesas having a few differences or
peculiarities, or we've knownourselves for so long with
having a series of what we nowknow to be misdiagnoses or
partial diagnoses, and now wehave this new autistic label.
In adulthood, this can be quiteunsettling, even while we're
(11:29):
feeling celebratory and relieved.
These feelings and these statesof being can all coexist and
make for a very draining,confusing, disorienting time.
So be sure to be kind toyourself, of course always, but
especially focus on being kindto yourself right
post-assessment and diagnosis.
(11:51):
I want to talk a bit about theeffects of experiencing imposter
syndrome followingidentification of autism in
adulthood.
Doubting our diagnosis can leadus to not speaking up, not
engaging, and thinking thateither we don't have serious
enough challenges or that wearen't autistic enough to engage
(12:11):
or share our experiences, oreven ask for help or seek out
helpful resources.
Many of us even go throughphases where we distance
ourselves from our newfoundautistic community or we resist
joining to begin with.
Imposter syndrome can beassociated with increased social
isolation and masking ofautistic traits, which, in turn,
(12:33):
can be associated withincreased mental health
challenges.
So this is also a good point toremember for all of you allies
of autistic individualslistening right now.
Almost all of us go through somelevel of imposter syndrome
following our autism diagnosis,so it's important to be super
(12:53):
supportive and, I guess, followour lead in terms of what we
might be feeling on any givenday when it comes to this new
identity of ours.
We can be all over the place interms of how we feel, or one
day we're feeling very confidentin our autistic identities and
the next we're doubting it tothe core and feeling quite
(13:17):
distraught.
Of course, this is superdependent on the individual, but
some level of imposter syndromeseems to be expected.
All of it is normal and 100%okay.
That's the message I reallywant to get across.
It's a process, and support andlove and understanding will
help us get through this morequickly.
(13:38):
However, as I mentioned earlier, imposter syndrome in many
contexts seems to be somethingthat autistic individuals are
particularly accustomed to, notjust surrounding identification
as autistic.
We may never totally resolvethis tendency, but we can take
actions to support ourselves andto try to reduce the effects of
(14:03):
imposter syndrome in our lives.
We can,number one, take time to reflect
on our accomplishments and theeffort and hard work we put in
to achieve those.
Write them down so you havethem as reminders.
Write the little things, thebig things, everything in
between that make you proud ofyourself.
Believe me, when you really dothis activity genuinely, you
(14:27):
will be left with a long, longlist.
It could even help some of youto keep track of positive
feedback and compliments youreceive from others, others that
you respect, trust, and look upto.
It can help to go back andreview these when you're
slipping into imposter syndromemode, since so many of us
experience black and white orabsolutist type thinking where,
(14:51):
for example, everything'spainted with a particularly
caustic, negative brush.
When we're in a low mood orexperiencing very heavy
self-doubt, it's like the wholeuniverse in those moments is
painted with that awful brushand that's all we can see.
These types of lists andreflections, written down or
(15:12):
expressed in other ways, canreally help pull us out of these
places.
They seem simple, but they'resuper useful.
Number two, seek regular mentalhealth support, ideally with a
trusted neurodivergent therapistor counselor.
I can't stress enough theamazingness of having a fellow
autistic or neurodivergenttherapist or any other trusted
(15:35):
individual who just gets youwithout having to explain
yourself at every turn.
Regularly expressing ourfeelings and concerns, even
those related to feelingfraudulent or self-doubting, can
help resolve them or attenuatethem before they get worse or
more debilitating.
Number three, okay, the wordself-care is really overdone,
(16:00):
overused, abused these days, butI can't stress it enough
actually.
Self-care activities that areapplicable to imposter syndrome
include exercising, practicingmeditation or mindfulness,
engaging in hobbies as discussedby a previous guest on the
Other Autism podcast, CourtneyBenner, and just anything that
(16:21):
gives you joy and reducesnegative stress.
Number four, which kind of linkswith seeking regular mental
health support involvesconnecting with supportive folks
in general and just saying noto jerks.
Seriously, if you have peoplequestioning your diagnosis and
trying to get you to questionyourself or experts you're
(16:42):
working with regarding autism,ask yourself if they need to
stay in your life.
Even if you have negativepeople bringing you down for any
other reason, maybe not relatedto autism at all, you have the
right to create boundaries andprotect yourself.
Take time to learn about toxictraits, what those look like,
(17:05):
evidence of that because it'snot always obvious, and how
toxic individuals behave, andreduce those things in your life
as much as you possibly can.
Obviously, everyone goesthrough phases where they might
be more negative than usual, andit's important to be supportive
and have patience during thosetimes.
But if these folks are toxicand hurtful, seemingly by nature
(17:29):
, like they're not going to bechanging anytime soon, you
really have to take a close lookat the place they hold in your
lives and examine whether theydeserve to be there, to take up
that space.
Well, that's all I have for youtoday.
(17:49):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Until next time, bye.
Today we're talking about imposter syndrome
as it pertains to autism andbeing diagnosed or identified as
autistic.
Before we get into it, I wantedto say thank you to everyone
who voted for the Other Autismin the People's Choice Podcast
Awards.
(00:20):
You did it.
The Other Autism Podcast hasmade it to the final slate of
the 18th Annual People's ChoicePodcast Awards in the education
category.
The finalist podcasts in eachcategory are going through a
final round of voting, which Ihear involves over 20,000
(00:43):
listeners recruited from a poolof over 8 million who cast their
votes this year.
Amazing.
I believe that was a record forthe Podcast Awards.
Voting will continue throughSeptember 9th and then winners
will be announced at the virtualPodcast Awards ceremony on
(01:05):
Saturday, September 30th, at 6pmEastern Standard Time, which is
, of course, 3pm Pacific Time.
The event will be live streamedon podcastawards dot com, so be
sure to mark your calendars.
Okay, so let's begin bydefining imposter syndrome.
Now, imposter syndrome is verycommon for late-diagnosed
(01:28):
autistic folks.
It's one that's been commonlyasked about by listeners and
when I had the survey for season3, it was one of the top
voted-on items that peoplewanted me to talk about.
So imposter syndrome isn't aformal diagnosis and it's not in
(01:48):
the Diagnostic and StatisticalManual of Mental Disorders, also
called the DSM, nor is it inthe International Classification
of Diseases or ICD, but it is aterm used by many psychologists
and other healthcareprofessionals to describe a
specific set of feelings,thoughts, and accompanying
(02:09):
behaviors.
According to a systematicreview published in the Journal
of General Internal Medicine byDena Bravata and their team,
investigating imposter syndromein the general context, so not
in relation to autismspecifically, imposter syndrome
is often seen in quotehigh-achieving individuals who,
(02:33):
despite their objectivesuccesses, fail to internalize
their accomplishments and havepersistent self-doubt and fear
of being exposed as a fraud orimposter.
People with imposter syndromestruggle with accurately
attributing their performance totheir actual competence.
In other words, they attributesuccesses to external factors
(02:58):
such as luck or receiving helpfrom others, and attribute
setbacks as evidence of theirprofessional inadequacy.
End quote.
Imposter syndrome has also beencalled imposter phenomenon,
fraud syndrome, perceivedfraudulence or imposter
experience.
(03:19):
The term imposter syndrome orphenomenon was first described
in 1978, but received widespreadattention, starting in 1985
with the publication of PaulineRose Clance's book titled the
Impostor Phenomenon (03:36):
Overcoming the Fear That Haunts Your
Success.
According to the AmericanPsychological Association, or
APA, imposter syndrome caninclude the development or
exacerbation of anxiety and ordepression and can accompany low
self-esteem.
(03:56):
Also, according to the APA,imposter syndrome is more common
in minorities or those whoexperience more discrimination
than is usual or typical.
According again to the articleby Bravata and team, who looked
at more than 60 studiesrepresenting a total of more
(04:19):
than 14,000 individuals,imposter syndrome indeed appears
to be most common amongminority groups.
In their study, they found thatimposter syndrome is
particularly common amongAfrican American, Asian
American, and Latino or LatinaAmerican individuals of college
(04:40):
age.
Also, regardless of type ofwork setting, the researchers
found that imposter syndromeappears to be a significant
contributor to burnout.
Interestingly, while impostersyndrome isn't an official
diagnostic or clinical term,there have been several tools
developed to measure it.
(05:01):
There's the Clance ImposterPhenomenon Scale, the Harvey
Imposter Phenomenon Scale, theLeary Imposter Scale, the
Perceived Fraudulence Scale, theYoung Imposter Scale and others
.
These are, at least from myreading, often used in research
(05:22):
looking at imposter syndrome.
I want to highlight that inthis research on imposter
syndrome, this systematic reviewby Bravata and their team, it
was found that individuals whoreport social dysfunctions or
difficulties are more likely tohave imposter syndrome or report
(05:43):
traits of imposter syndrome.
This makes me wonder if severalautistic individuals identified
or not reported traits ofimposter syndrome in these
studies.
In fact, from my understandingand reading on this subject in
the context of autism, autisticpeople often already have a long
(06:03):
history with imposter syndromein several contexts in their
lives, even before they knowthey're autistic.
Many of us will feel anywherefrom a hint of imposter syndrome
to a debilitating case of itwhenever we've accomplished
something, gotten a new job orpromotion or award, or even if
(06:26):
we're diagnosed with a mental orphysical health condition or,
in this case, assigned aneurotype like autism.
Basically, we're prone todoubting ourselves and various
changes or newness in our livesor identities in general.
As we've seen earlier, impostersyndrome is a term that's
(06:46):
usually used to describe someonewho doubts their talents or
accomplishments, but in thecontext of autism specifically,
we're not talking about talentsor accomplishments.
Instead, imposter syndrome is auseful shorthand to describe
the ways we doubt both ourdiagnosis and our place in the
(07:07):
autism or autistic community.
This can manifest as us feelinglike frauds or like fake
autistics who are not deservingof any accommodations or
different treatment, and it'sincredibly uncomfortable and
unsettling.
I've personally had manysleepless nights dealing with
(07:28):
this and the resulting blows tomy sense of self and,
unfortunately, theself-sabotaging behavior that
can result if not resolved intime.
Thankfully, those weeks andmonths have passed.
There's an interesting bugmaking sounds outside.
Thankfully, those weeks andmonths have passed and I'm
(07:51):
absolutely solid in my autisticidentity now.
My identity as an electronicmusic producer, on the other
hand, well, currently feelingrather fraudulent actually, but
that's for another episode orpodcast altogether.
I will, however, try to musterthe courage to include my latest
(08:15):
attempt at music in the outroof this episode.
My body's tightening up, sendhelp.
Anyway, there's no one reasonfor autistic imposter syndrome,
but typically several internaland external contributing
factors.
The big ones that stand out tome include the way our brains
(08:36):
work, which is an example of akey internal factor, and the
amount of support we have ordon't have from people in our
lives, which is an example of akey external factor.
On this last point, we couldhave quite a bit of support in
our lives typically, but it cantake just one misplaced or
(08:58):
insensitive or hurtful commentor just one nasty individual to
really undo all of thosepositive feelings and effects of
supportiveness following ourautism diagnosis or
identification.
In an article on the EmbraceAutism website, Dr Natalie
Engelbrecht states that thisimposter syndrome is rooted, in
(09:21):
part, in our strong lateralthinking.
Lateral thinking, alsosometimes called thinking
outside the box or thinking inunusual or especially creative
ways, can allow us to come upwith many potential alternative
causes for our traits, which wecan sometimes really focus on
thanks to our propensity tothink deeply and in great detail
(09:43):
about a topic, situation orevent.
In effect, we're able to thinkour way out of our diagnosis.
This seems to trouble and botherso many of us, both during the
lead up time before ourassessment and following our
assessment and diagnosis.
And is sometimes made worsewhen we tell loved ones about
(10:03):
our identification as autisticand they respond with disbelief
or incredulousness.
They might say things like youdon't look autistic to me, or
we're all a little autistic.
Or they may even argue with youand try to convince you that
you're not actually autistic,basically claiming to know more
(10:24):
than your expert universitydegree- emblazoned assessor,
which is not cool.
And I'm sorry to those of yougoing through this currently
with loved ones or trying towork through these types of
experiences from your past.
It certainly isn't fun and itisn't fair.
I will also say that the factthat you're questioning your
(10:46):
autistic identity is itself avery autistic thing to do.
So, oddly enough, it sort ofconfirms a diagnosis when that
diagnosis is received inadulthood, at least in my
opinion.
Also, it's common to have someidentity issues after a late
autism diagnosis.
We've known ourselves for solong with either no diagnoses
(11:08):
and just thinking of ourselvesas having a few differences or
peculiarities, or we've knownourselves for so long with
having a series of what we nowknow to be misdiagnoses or
partial diagnoses, and now wehave this new autistic label.
In adulthood, this can be quiteunsettling, even while we're
(11:29):
feeling celebratory and relieved.
These feelings and these statesof being can all coexist and
make for a very draining,confusing, disorienting time.
So be sure to be kind toyourself, of course always, but
especially focus on being kindto yourself right
post-assessment and diagnosis.
(11:51):
I want to talk a bit about theeffects of experiencing imposter
syndrome followingidentification of autism in
adulthood.
Doubting our diagnosis can leadus to not speaking up, not
engaging, and thinking thateither we don't have serious
enough challenges or that wearen't autistic enough to engage
(12:11):
or share our experiences, oreven ask for help or seek out
helpful resources.
Many of us even go throughphases where we distance
ourselves from our newfoundautistic community or we resist
joining to begin with.
Imposter syndrome can beassociated with increased social
isolation and masking ofautistic traits, which, in turn,
(12:33):
can be associated withincreased mental health
challenges.
So this is also a good point toremember for all of you allies
of autistic individualslistening right now.
Almost all of us go through somelevel of imposter syndrome
following our autism diagnosis,so it's important to be super
(12:53):
supportive and, I guess, followour lead in terms of what we
might be feeling on any givenday when it comes to this new
identity of ours.
We can be all over the place interms of how we feel, or one
day we're feeling very confidentin our autistic identities and
the next we're doubting it tothe core and feeling quite
(13:17):
distraught.
Of course, this is superdependent on the individual, but
some level of imposter syndromeseems to be expected.
All of it is normal and 100%okay.
That's the message I reallywant to get across.
It's a process, and support andlove and understanding will
help us get through this morequickly.
(13:38):
However, as I mentioned earlier, imposter syndrome in many
contexts seems to be somethingthat autistic individuals are
particularly accustomed to, notjust surrounding identification
as autistic.
We may never totally resolvethis tendency, but we can take
actions to support ourselves andto try to reduce the effects of
(14:03):
imposter syndrome in our lives.
We can,number one, take time to reflect
on our accomplishments and theeffort and hard work we put in
to achieve those.
Write them down so you havethem as reminders.
Write the little things, thebig things, everything in
between that make you proud ofyourself.
Believe me, when you really dothis activity genuinely, you
(14:27):
will be left with a long, longlist.
It could even help some of youto keep track of positive
feedback and compliments youreceive from others, others that
you respect, trust, and look upto.
It can help to go back andreview these when you're
slipping into imposter syndromemode, since so many of us
experience black and white orabsolutist type thinking where,
(14:51):
for example, everything'spainted with a particularly
caustic, negative brush.
When we're in a low mood orexperiencing very heavy
self-doubt, it's like the wholeuniverse in those moments is
painted with that awful brushand that's all we can see.
These types of lists andreflections, written down or
(15:12):
expressed in other ways, canreally help pull us out of these
places.
They seem simple, but they'resuper useful.
Number two, seek regular mentalhealth support, ideally with a
trusted neurodivergent therapistor counselor.
I can't stress enough theamazingness of having a fellow
autistic or neurodivergenttherapist or any other trusted
(15:35):
individual who just gets youwithout having to explain
yourself at every turn.
Regularly expressing ourfeelings and concerns, even
those related to feelingfraudulent or self-doubting, can
help resolve them or attenuatethem before they get worse or
more debilitating.
Number three, okay, the wordself-care is really overdone,
(16:00):
overused, abused these days, butI can't stress it enough
actually.
Self-care activities that areapplicable to imposter syndrome
include exercising, practicingmeditation or mindfulness,
engaging in hobbies as discussedby a previous guest on the
Other Autism podcast, CourtneyBenner, and just anything that
(16:21):
gives you joy and reducesnegative stress.
Number four, which kind of linkswith seeking regular mental
health support involvesconnecting with supportive folks
in general and just saying noto jerks.
Seriously, if you have peoplequestioning your diagnosis and
trying to get you to questionyourself or experts you're
(16:42):
working with regarding autism,ask yourself if they need to
stay in your life.
Even if you have negativepeople bringing you down for any
other reason, maybe not relatedto autism at all, you have the
right to create boundaries andprotect yourself.
Take time to learn about toxictraits, what those look like,
(17:05):
evidence of that because it'snot always obvious, and how
toxic individuals behave, andreduce those things in your life
as much as you possibly can.
Obviously, everyone goesthrough phases where they might
be more negative than usual, andit's important to be supportive
and have patience during thosetimes.
But if these folks are toxicand hurtful, seemingly by nature
(17:29):
, like they're not going to bechanging anytime soon, you
really have to take a close lookat the place they hold in your
lives and examine whether theydeserve to be there, to take up
that space.
Well, that's all I have for youtoday.
(17:49):
Thank you so much for beinghere.
Until next time, bye.
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!