The Vertigo Effect: Part 2

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Well, although self-doubt should be noticeably harmful, this is far from the reality for overachievers. 

In general, your brain is programmed with signals that repeat, even if they’re wrong. In the context of self-doubt, the more you question yourself, the more your confidence decreases, and the less stable you feel. 

This is synonymous with the effects of vertigo:

Vertigo is caused by conflicting messages being sent to the brain. Your eyes think you’re standing still, but the abnormality in your vestibular system says you’re spinning—consequently, you feel unstable. Your brain tries to correct this confusing contradiction in different ways, like tightening muscles or adjusting your eyes. But since there is no actual imbalance to fix, this can sometimes worsen the vertigo, increasing your dizziness. And, of course, vertigo attacks repeat and repeat, leaving your brain confused every time and making you uncomfortable, although your brain thinks it’s helping you. 

In self-doubt, your perception of yourself doesn’t match the reality of your achievements. This internal misalignment makes you feel unstable. So, your brain starts trying to “correct” the instability by overthinking decisions or seeking external validation, for example. But since there is no actual imbalance to fix, these “corrections” hurt much more than they help: they make you more uncertain of your abilities, decrease your confidence, and lead you straight on a path towards burnout…although your brain thinks it’s helping you.  

Here’s a quick anecdote to bring mental vertigo to life:

In Maya’s first year of college, she double-checked everything: Every lab report, every email, and every assignment was scanned for “hidden errors.” Each time she reread her work, she felt calm, like she had finally caught her balance. But within minutes, the same thought returned: What if I missed something?

The reassurance never lasted. Her mind kept sending alarms, warning her that something was wrong even when nothing had changed. So she tried harder to fix her “mistakes.” She stayed up later, rewrote perfectly good sentences, and refreshed her inbox waiting for feedback that might finally silence the spinning. But the more she tried to stabilize her confidence, the more unsteady it became. 

Many of us fall into the cycle that Maya did.

But here’s the good news: it is possible to break free from the cycle. In vestibular rehabilitation, the goal isn’t to suppress every false signal but to teach the brain to interpret them differently. Overachievers must do the same thing with self-doubt: retrain their responses rather than silencing them.

To be continued :).

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