Category: Dean Watkins Therapy | CBT Therapy

Perfectionistic Checking: Why High Achievers Get Stuck in the “Just One More Look” Loop

(Part of the series: Patterns That Keep You Stuck) Perfectionistic checking is one of the most common safety behaviours for high achievers with imposter syndrome. Learn why it happens, how it reinforces self-doubt, and how therapy helps break the cycle. Introduction If you’ve ever found yourself re-reading an email several times before sending it, tweaking […]

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Pulling It All Together: A Summary of the 5 Imposter Patterns

Dean Watkins Therapy, Imposter Syndrome Therapy / dwatkins

The Five Imposter Types Summary Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared a series of posts exploring five common imposter patterns: the Perfectionist, Expert, Soloist, Natural Genius, and Superhuman, as identified by the work of Dr Valerie Young. This final post brings everything together. It’s not another “type” or framework to memorise, it’s a chance to step

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Emotions Are Like the Weather: Why Fighting Feelings Keeps You Stuck

ACT, Dean Watkins Therapy, Imposter Syndrome Therapy / dwatkins

We all know what it’s like to wake up to a grey, rainy morning. You may not like it when you wake up to these conditions but you also recognise there is not much you can do about the weather as you don’t control it, you only control how you what you do when it

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Dropping Anchor – A Simple Way to Steady Yourself When Self-Doubt Hits

ACT, Dean Watkins Therapy / dwatkins

We all know what it’s like to get caught up in a storm of thoughts and feelings. Maybe it’s stress before a big meeting, anxiety on the train ride to work, or a familiar voice in your head telling you “You’re not good enough for this.” When that wave hits, most of us do one

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How Feeding the “Hungry Tiger” Makes Imposter Syndrome Stronger

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT, Dean Watkins Therapy, Imposter Syndrome Therapy / dwatkins

Introduction Imposter syndrome can feel like a relentless companion as it whispers doubts, demands proof, and pushes you to keep running to avoid being “found out.” At first, the strategies you use to quiet it down such as working harder, hiding mistakes, chasing credentials, seem to help. But over time, the pressure builds, and instead

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Is It Normal to Doubt Myself Even After Success?

Dean Watkins Therapy, Imposter Syndrome Therapy / dwatkins

Understanding Imposter Syndrome What exactly is the imposter phenomenon? Answer: What most people call “imposter syndrome” was originally described by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978 as the impostor phenomenon. They were careful not to call it a syndrome or disorder, because it’s not an illness. It’s a common, deeply human experience where

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