SELF DOUBT AND ITS

EFFECTS
MAKE IT HARD TO
REACH GOALS
Self Doubt can make daily choices and
decisions hard, but it can also make
reaching your goals a mountain. There
is a good quote that says, “Don’t fear
failure, fear the absence of progress.”
This shows that self doubt can make
you believe you’re only going to fail and
that it is a bad thing. In reality it would
be so much easier to let go of self
doubt that is dragging students down.
IMPOSTER SYNDROME
Self doubt can start as a motivator and
then build to harmful thinking. The
definition is written in the quote from
an article explaining self doubt and
imposter syndrome, "They may
struggle from something called
'imposter syndrome,' which is an inner
experience of believing that you are
not good enough, not successful
enough, or not competent enough.”.

DEPRESSION
Depression and self doubt go hand in
hand to tear down students. The stress
and sadness of both go in a downward
spiral to misery. There have been
studies to show that low self esteem
students had twice the odds of being
at risk of anxiety, and four times the
odds of having depressive symptoms

ANXIETY
Anxiety slowly creeps into students' lives
as more work and more activities get
added to their plate. The students begin
to overthink and stress about things that
used to be simple to think about. Even
though anxiety can lead to successful
outcomes, it damages one’s confidence
and limits their learning. Having doubt
can lead to overwhelming and
unnecessary thoughts

PROCRASTINATION
Students who have self doubt end up
putting off work to the side because they
believe they won’t do a good job. They are
afraid to fail and feel worse about
themselves. An article on self doubt wrote,
“when they are disappointed by their
performance on a task, they think not only
that they have failed on that task, but also
that they have failed as a person.” Not doing
the work seems better than failing at the
 SUICIDAL THOUGHTS
In a study by “Frontiers in Psychiatry” it
found that students who were under
stress and self doubt were more likely
to have considered or attempted
suicide. Something as simple as
doubting one’s abilities can lead to
something so serious as taking one’s
own life. This shows that we need to
change how this issue is being
handled. The graph to the side shows
different statistics on suicide and how
age and gender affects the stats
.

SELF DOWNING
The definition of self downing is
“making negative global evaluations
about oneself”. People get inside their
heads so much that they tear
themselves down and lose confidence
in themselves. Doubting your ability to
do things will start to make you doubt
yourself as a person. This will go on and
on till you think of yourself as nothing
more than a piece of dirt
SUBJECTIVE
OVERACHIEVMENT
. The definition of subjective overachievement is
, “taking heroic measures to guarantee a
successful outcome, and attributing that
success solely to effort.” This effect of self doubt
is common among high school and college
students. Students are so afraid of failure they
will do anything they can to not make it so. This
isn’t necessarily bad but will take a toll on
students after a long time being this way

EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY
Self doubt has to do with not giving
yourself the credit and recognition the
person deserves. This can be used to
push to do better, but it also can be
emotionally draining and damaging. In
an article about overcoming self doubt
it says, “we will always be the harshest
critic for ourselves

DIFFICULTY MAKING
DECISIONS
Self doubt can make everyday things
harder like making simple decisions.
There is a fear of failure and a fear of
success because of the doubt inside
the person's head. Making choices can
be hard since people with self doubt
have a fear of making the wrong
choice.
 Citations:
- Sani, A. (2021, August 25). 10 powerful ways to overcome self-doubt
(& give your best shot). Calm Sage - Your Guide to Mental and
Emotional Well-being. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from
https://www.calmsage.com/how-to-overcome-self-doubt/

- Nguyen, D. T., Wright, E. P., Dedding, C., Pham, T. T., & Bunders, J.
(1AD, January 1). Low self-esteem and its association with anxiety,
depression, and suicidal ideation in Vietnamese secondary school
students: A cross-sectional study. Frontiers. Retrieved March 13,
2022, from
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00698/full
- Flanagan, L. (2018, January 22). How to find balance when too much
self-doubt gets in the way. KQED. Retrieved March 13, 2022, from
https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/50014/how-to-find-balance-when-
too-much-self-doubt-gets-in-the-way
- Balkis, M. (April 12, 2018)Procrastination, Self‐Downing, Self‐Doubt,
and Rational Beliefs: A Moderated Mediation Model. https://eds-s-
ebscohost-com.libprox1.slcc.edu/eds/detail/detail?
vid=1&sid=75d5e345-02d9-4377-9d55-
442678768c0d%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2Nvc
GU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=128731791&db=buh
- USA Today Magazine (January 12, 2022) "Imposter Syndrome" Starts
as Self-Doubt. "Imposter Syndrome" Starts as Self-Doubt.
- Smith, J. (2021, October 12). 10 tips to overcome self-doubt. Eugene
Therapy. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://eugenetherapy.com/article/overcome-self-
doubt/#:~:text=Self%2Ddoubt%20may%20stem%20from,self%2Ddo
ubt%20later%20in%20life.
- Chui, A. (2021, April 19). How self-doubt keeps you stuck (and how
to overcome it). Lifehack. Retrieved March 14, 2022, from
https://www.lifehack.org/567587/the-reasons-of-self-doubt-and-
steps-to-deal-with-it