It’s like feeling as if you’re in the Always Sunny episode “The Gang Broke Dee”, wherein the gang go to great lengths to trick Dee into thinking that she is a successful and respected comedienne, only for them to reveal that it was all a charade to belittle her more.
To me, that just sounds like imposter syndrome. You are assuming that others view you as competent while simultaneously believing that you yourself are not. Isn’t that basically imposter syndrome in a slightly different mask? One that is tinged with paranoia and trust issues, but still imposter syndrome nonetheless.
assuming that others view you as competent
That part does not apply, and I understand it to be part of the definition of Imposter Syndrome.
Gaslighting
This, to me, seems like the most correct answer. But only if what op describes is actually happening. If this is an entirely imagined scenario then probably that paranoia other have mentioned.
It almost sounds like a kind of social paranoia. Pretty common among kids that get bullied a lot (when another well-meaning kid is nice, the bullied kid responds aggressively, assuming the nice kid is trying to set them up). Not sure if there’s a more specific term though.
I think that’s just called capitalism.
For an actual answer, I’d turn to the idiom of dangling a carrot which evokes the idea of an animal chasing a carrot being held out in front of it on a stick by its own rider, unable to reach the carrot since it moves forward as they do, but it swings momentarily towards them creating the illusion of progress, so they continue chasing it forward anyway.
Edit: not to be confused with the very similar sounding idiom of “carrot and stick” in which the stick implies punishment.
It is partially stemming from a capitalistic source.
Long personal vent linked here, feel free to ignore if you don’t care. Basically unless you’re a free therapist, you don’t have to read this.
I guess that sounds like trust issues with some paranoid tendencies?
