Imposters

I have a bad feeling about something I heard in the news today. People posing as inspectors showed up at hospitals in Los Angeles, Boston, and Detroit in the middle of the night, asking unusual questions. They wanted to know about the "depravity" of each institution. They even requested guided tours. Fortunately, security guards were suspicious, and the “inspectors” ran away.

The news report called the intruders “impostors.” Thankfully, they were not the kind of impostors I interviewed during my stint as a forensic psychiatrist. If they had been, they probably would have gotten their guided tour--and perhaps invited back to lecture.

Impostors of the kind forensic psychiatrists study are almost always males- talkative males. They make up incredible tales—starring themselves—of supposed, personal accomplishments and adventures. They pretend to be doctors, attorneys, spies, airline pilots, astronauts, or members of other professions the general public likes to glamorize. Sometimes, they claim that they are royalty; impostors bask in the glory of their own fabrications.

In 1989, an impostor-astronaut was arrested in Boston. He had just returned from a tour of Ireland, where he'd thrilled admiring audiences with lectures about his adventures as a space shuttle pilot. He even sported a NASA jacket to support the character he invented. He charred kitchen tiles and presented them to his fiancé as a gift. They were tiles form the space shuttle, he declared, scorched on re-entry. She eventually realized the truth when she received a bill containing fraudulent charges he'd made on her credit card. It was as though the person she thought she knew had died, she said.

Impostors say “I” a lot. It is remarkable how many times you'll hear that word, if you concentrate on their stream of talk. They seem to exude boundless self–confidence. Because of this, they often attract admirers with diminished self-esteem. The impostor’s performance seems to make his admirers feel better about themselves for a while. That's why it is generally unwise to expose an impostor. The admirers end up venting their anger not on the impostor but on the person who revealed the truth. It is sometimes better to leave the admirers alone until they have found their own way out of the imposter's web.

The impostor phenomenon is a truly fascinating mental disorder, and one which is quite difficult to treat. Once an impostor is discovered in one guise, he will most likely move on to another. And imposters will always be able to find vulnerable people who will believe them.