Do you ever suffer from INCOFT?

Reflecting on our interview with April Snow about Highly Sensitive Therapists reminded me of a phenomenon we’ve witnessed in so many female clinicians we know, including many of the women we’ve interviewed on our podcast. We’ve written about this topic in the past but listening to our interview with April again, made me think this might be a good time to re-visit this topic.

The phenomenon we’re talking about is a close cousin to the Imposter Phenomenon or Imposter Syndrome but has it's own unique features. We’ve named it the I’m Not Cut Out For This (INCOFT) phenomenon.

As the acronym implies, it may be close to the feelings of incompetency (or INCOMP) that we feel in the Imposter Syndrome but it is different. Clinicians affected by INCOFT don’t necessarily doubt their abilities to help their clients but feel that they’re not “cut out” to be a mental health clinician because they feel a mismatch between themselves and other aspects of their role as clinicians.

As it turns out, however, we might have more in common with our colleagues than we realize...

For example, would it surprise you to know that almost all the women we’ve spoken with identify 4 as their ideal number of client appointments per day? And that many of them assumed that other women in their profession were easily seeing 6 or 7 clients per day? Easy to understand how the “4 client per day” women could easily fall prey to the INCOFT phenomenon.

Fortunately, there is an antidote for this condition: connecting with other like-minded women.

The conversations we’ve had with female mental health clinicians over the years have been incredibly validating and a great reminder about how conversations like this contribute to us recognizing our own experiences as truly part of the “common humanity” that comes with being a female mental health clinician.

So, if you find yourself feeling vulnerable to INCOFT, remember there is an antidote, and you already have access to it!