Impostor syndrome or society?

Wellbeing reader Dr Talia Steed shares how she overcame impostor syndrome by learning to love and accept herself.

- Dr Talia Steed

Impostor syndrome is when you don't feel competent enough, despite your qualifications, to confidently perform your role.

This is exactly how I felt throughout my former years as a medical doctor, with the vastness of the knowledge required only contributing to the cultivation of this feeling. In our society, it is very common for people to have multiple qualifications. Then, the question to really ask is, how many qualifications and titles will it take to feel competent to do your job?

I believe that one of the deeper layers beneath this lies in feeling confident to simply be who you are in the world. In a world that encourages you to be the same as everyone else and to follow the conditioned approach to how you go about living your life, you may not have been taught the importance of remaining true to yourself.

Perhaps the notion of impostor syndrome really comes about from trying to be who you think you should be in the world. I remember when I was training in general practice that I constantly felt this. On reflection, it wasn’t so much about not having the credentials or knowledge, but the feeling of having to be someone I wasn't.