Fear Of Success in Women: A Psychodynamic Reconstruction*

With the changing status of women in recent years, women have been increasingly seeking therapy for problems relating to achievement and success. Consequently, articles have proliferated on this subject in both the lay and scientific press. While the manifest content of this topic is well documented, the latent content appears to be lagging behind. The purpose of this paper is to reconstruct the developmental psychodynamics of the fear of success syndrome (“success phobia”) in women on the basis of my clinical work.

The conflicts, inhibitions, and anxieties in this syndrome encompass many areas of behavior — vocational, academic, sexual, marital, and maternal. Achievement and success reflect the realization of a long-cherished deeply rooted wish. Clinically, the presenting manifestations may include the following symptoms: intense anxiety which may reach panic proportions, marked ambivalence, inhibition of assertion, phobic avoidance of the conflictual area, depersonalization, detachment, isolation, and emergence of psychosomatic symptoms. The patient may express fears of failing as well as fears of being the object of criticism, humiliation, ridicule, shame, or rejection. Above all, she is often unable to experience any joy or pleasure in success, other than transient highs. She may be aware of self-defeating masochistic behavior, such as sabotaging her success, or destructively acting-out