Impostor Syndrome

        According to Eyes on Eye Care, impostor syndrome is a phenomenon where people believe they are not as intelligent or competent as they are letting on to others. People who struggle with imposter syndrome believe their success thus far is largely due to luck or change, as opposed to hard work and qualifications. As a new grad in the field of OT, imposter syndrome is something majority of us experience. OT school can be extremely challenging where you are learning a ton of information, and then when we are out in the real world on our own. It's easy to feel unprepared and that you shouldn’t be where you are. But in reality, we are prepared, we should be confident in all of our abilities as we are becoming qualified skilled OT practitioners. We are not where we are by luck, but by hard work and dedication to the profession of occupational therapy.           

        While completing the Clance IP Scale, I was somewhat struggling to rate each of the statements. I wanted to feel like I am confident, prepared, proud of my accomplishments, but I also wanted to say the complete opposite. I scored in the “frequently has impostor feelings” category. I think this comes more from having a Type A personality and wanting to please everyone and do my best at everything. This can be very challenging, especially as a new grad. Since I scored in this category I want to work on some of these areas while on level II fieldwork to help prepare myself for the real world to be confident and the best OT practitioner I can possibly be.