Karyl McBride

If a child did not receive validation in her early developmental years, and as a young woman is not able to validate herself, she often succumbs to the lure of doing more and trying harder in ways that bring validation from others.

The praise appears to fill the emptiness, but relying on external praise can create anxiety. Because it is external validation, the daughter does not own it or control it and it can be taken away from her at any time. If she does not continue to accomplish, it will also disappear.

High-achieving daughters with the impostor syndrome are at great risk for “generalized anxiety, lack of self-confidence, depression, and frustration related to inability to meet self-imposed standards of achievement,”5 and cannot usually stop proving their worth until they work through a recovery program.