UPDATE: wow, never thought this post would take off this much! thanks
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Imposter syndrome is a type of inferiority complex where your perceived inadequacies cause you to not feel you belong in whatever role you’re fulfilling. I’ll give you a personal example:
This is common among new doctors, and I certainly had a bit of it after I graduated medical school. In case you don’t know, as a medical student, you have very little real responsibility. You basically follow a doctor around and your primary function is to watch and learn. That’s what I did through medical school. Six weeks after graduating, I suddenly wore a long white coat, a badge that said MD, and was the one nurses would call, who had to write prescriptions and make orders. I felt lost without someone looking over my shoulder and making sure I was doing everything right (technically we had supervising doctors in residency, but we were expected not to bug them too much).
The first couple months I was plagued with anxiety and felt like I didn’t belong. Even simple things like using the doctor’s lounge, I felt like someone was going to call me out for intruding. At worse, it can lead to paranoia and can actually impact your performance. Now that I help to oversee a residency program, I’ve started a mentorship program that sets up new residents with older residents for guidance to help ease the transition.
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