Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
What it is & How It can help with Imposter Syndrome

What is CBT?

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is based on the idea that the way we feel is shaped by two key things:

1. How we think – the thoughts, beliefs, and interpretations we have about ourselves, others, and the world

2. What we do – the behaviours we use to cope, respond, or avoid situations and emotions

How our thoughts affect how we feel

In CBT, we explore how it's not just the situation itself that causes us distress, but how we interpret it. For example, if you’re giving a presentation and your heart starts racing, one person might think “This is excitement” and feel energised, while another might think “I’m going to mess this up” and feel panicked.

Even though the situation is the same, the emotional experience is completely different — because of the way it’s being interpreted. These thoughts are often automatic, shaped by our past experiences and beliefs, and can happen so quickly we don’t even notice them.

We also pay attention to how we interpret our internal experiences — like thoughts, emotions, sensations, and urges. If you believe that feeling anxious means you’re weak, or that a mistake means you’re failing, it’s no surprise that those experiences start to feel threatening. How we relate to these thoughts and feelings plays a huge part in how we cope (or struggle) with them.

How our behaviour plays a role

What we do in response to our thoughts and feelings can either keep us stuck or help us move forward. If something feels difficult or uncomfortable, we might avoid it, try to push through it, or distract ourselves. While these responses make sense in the moment, they often reinforce the very thing we’re trying to get away from.

For example, if you avoid speaking up in meetings because you’re afraid of saying something “stupid,” that avoidance may reduce your anxiety short term — but it also reinforces the belief that you have nothing valuable to say. Over time, these patterns become more ingrained, and the anxiety sticks around.

CBT helps you notice these patterns and find new ways of responding. It’s about building a clearer understanding of how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours interact, and learning skills to create meaningful change.

How CBT Can Help With Imposter Syndrome, Self-Doubt, and Perfectionism

CBT is especially helpful for the kinds of patterns that show up with imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and feeling like a fraud.

If you often doubt yourself, dismiss your successes, or feel like you’re just “winging it,” CBT can help you understand where these thoughts and beliefs come from — and how they’re influencing how you feel and what you do.

Here’s how CBT helps with some of these common struggles:

• Imposter Syndrome: You might have thoughts like “I’m not good enough” or “They’ll realise I don’t know what I’m doing.” CBT helps you notice and step back from these beliefs, understand how they’ve developed, and learn to relate to them differently. It also explores the behaviours that maintain them — like over-preparing, avoiding challenges, or working excessive hours to ‘prove’ yourself.

• Self-Doubt: CBT helps you identify the internal rules and assumptions driving your self-doubt — such as “If I make a mistake, I’ve failed” — and supports you in testing out new, more balanced ways of thinking and acting.

• Perfectionism: Often perfectionism is a way of trying to avoid failure or judgement. CBT helps you understand what perfectionism is doing for you (and what it might be costing you), and offers ways to challenge unhelpful standards and create more compassionate, realistic expectations.

• Feeling Like a Fraud: CBT allows you to explore the gap between how you see yourself and how others see you. We look at how you're interpreting feedback, success, and mistakes, and work on breaking the cycle of thoughts and behaviours that keep you feeling like you don’t belong.

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If these patterns feel familiar, you're not alone. CBT offers a structured, supportive way to understand what's going on and learn how to respond differently — so you're no longer stuck in a cycle of self-doubt, overthinking, and pressure to prove yourself.