FIVM Series presents: Impostor Syndrome

Impostor syndrome is the tendency to doubt one’s abilities despite positive evidence to the contrary. Individuals who suffer from impostor syndrome are afraid of being discovered as intellectual frauds and they attribute their successes to external qualities such as luck or chance. Impostor syndrome is correlated with poor mental health, perfectionism, depression, anxiety, and burnout. Human medical professionals and veterinarians have a high prevalence of impostor syndrome with young, female veterinarians at greatest risk.

On Friday, October 15, Dr. Lori Kogan will discuss how to recognize impostor syndrome in yourself or others. She’ll also talks about the signs, symptoms, and contributing factors of imposter syndrome, and its effect on personal and professional lives. Lastly, Dr. Kogan’s seminar will focus on ways to change this detrimental way of thinking.

Lori Kogan, Ph.D. is a Professor of Clinical Sciences at Colorado State University. She is the Chair of the Human-Animal Interaction section of the American Psychological Association and Editor of the Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, an open-access, online publication supported by the American Psychological Association. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters, and co-edited books including ‘Pet Loss, Grief, and Therapeutic Interventions: Practitioners Navigating the Human-Animal Bond’, ‘Clinician's Guide to Treating Companion Animal Issues: Addressing Human-Animal Interaction’ and ‘Career Paths in Human-Animal Interaction for Social and Behavioral Scientists’ and given invited presentations on topics related to human animal interactions in both psychology and veterinary medicine venues. Dr. Kogan is currently engaged in several research projects pertaining to the intersection of the human animal bond and veterinary medicine.