Do you tend to beat yourself up over little mistakes and have high expectations for yourself? Has anyone ever commented that you might be a perfectionist? A recent research study examined the impact that perfectionism has on depression, anxiety, and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).
This blog article will provide a description of what perfectionism, clinical implications, and how therapy can reduce perfectionistic symptoms. This article will review the findings from the research article, The Relationships Between Perfectionism and Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
What is Perfectionism?
Perfectionism is a personality trait characterized by setting and striving for unrealistically high standard. People who are perfectionists also use excessive self-criticism and have a fear of failure. Perfectionists have an intense focus on flawlessness and control. Importantly, people who are perfectionists gauge their self-worth based on their ability to meet self-imposed high standards.
Perfectionism can be both adaptive and maladaptive. Adaptive perfectionism involves high standards that motivate individuals without negatively impacting their mental health. Maladaptive perfectionism involves feelings of inadequacy, distress, and a persistent concern about making mistakes.
Researchers associate maladaptive perfectionism with psychological conditions such as anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Maladaptive perfectionism fosters a rigid mindset where even minor imperfections can lead to significant emotional distress.
Example of Maladaptive Perfectionism
Consider a 30-year-old woman named Emily who is working in a high-stakes corporate job. Emily is diligent and has high attention to detail. Recently, Emily’s drive for perfection has increased to the point where it is impacting her mental health and well-being. Below are some examples of how Emily’s perfectionism has become maladaptive to her every day life:
1. Unrealistic, High Standards:
Emily feels her work must be flawless. She experiences minor errors as significant failures. This leads to self-criticism and frustration.
She often repeats tasks many times, even when she completes them well. This consumes too much of her time and energy and tends to make her feel drained and exhausted.
2. Fear of Failure and Negative Evaluation:
Emily avoids delegating tasks to coworkers, fearing they won’t meet her high standards. She is overly sensitive to criticism, interpreting any feedback as an indication that she is not “good enough.”
She feels anxious before performance reviews. She also has trouble accepting praise. She frequently attributes her successes are because of luck.
3. All-or-Nothing Thinking:
If Emily feels she can’t do something perfectly, she prefers not to do it at all. This mindset leads to procrastination on tasks she perceives as especially challenging, resulting in missed deadlines and additional stress.
4. Self-Worth Tied to Achievement:
Emily’s self-esteem is highly dependent on her accomplishments. When she performs well, she feels temporarily relieved, but any perceived imperfection causes a disproportionate level of distress. This cycle often leads to burnout and mental exhaustion.
5. Physical and Emotional Consequences:
Emily’s perfectionism contributes to chronic stress, leading to sleep issues, irritability, and symptoms of depression. She feels lonely because she works a lot. She often turns down social invitations. She worries she can’t handle everything.
Clinical Perspective on Emily’s Perfectionism
Adaptive perfectionism is when someone sets ambitious but achievable goals. From a clinical psychology view, Emily’s behavior shows maladaptive perfectionism. This type of perfectionism ties a person’s self-worth to high standards. She is strict and has unrealistic expectations that she believes she must meet to be worthy or successful.
Often times inflexibility goes along with an intense fear of failure or criticism. This can lead to high levels of distress when someone falls short of their goals. Negative thoughts play a role in perfectionistic tendencies. One of the side effects of perfectionisms is decrease quality of life.
Underlying Factors and Patterns
Emily’s maladaptive perfectionism is likely influenced by a range of factors, which could include:
Cognitive Distortions:
Emily may engage in all-or-nothing thinking, viewing outcomes in black-and-white terms, where anything short of perfect is seen as a complete failure. This thought pattern amplifies her stress because she rarely feels a sense of accomplishment, even when she performs well.
Other common issues in perfectionism include catastrophizing and overgeneralization. Catastrophizing means thinking that small mistakes will lead to big problems. Overgeneralization is when one failure is seen as proof of being a failure overall.
Conditional Self-Worth:
Emily’s self-esteem appears to be conditional on her achievements and others’ perceptions of her. If she constantly links her worth to perfection, she feels intense shame and self-criticism over any perceived imperfection. This type of self-worth is a sign of unhealthy perfectionism.
Unhealthy perfectionism creates a negative cycle. People feel they must be perfect to feel valued.
Avoidance of Negative Emotions:
Emily might redo tasks or avoid delegating because she wants to escape negative feelings like shame, anxiety, or disappointment.
Her perfectionism serves as a way to cope. It tries to stop uncomfortable feelings. This can bring short-term relief. However, it also strengthens perfectionistic behaviors and the stress that comes with them.
Difficulty with Self-Compassion:
Maladaptive perfectionists like Emily often lack self-compassion, treating themselves harshly when they fall short of their expectations. Rather than responding with kindness or understanding, Emily likely engages in self-blame. Emily believes she deserves criticism for even minor mistakes.
Therapeutic Approaches and Interventions
In therapy, a clinician working with Emily would likely take a multi-faceted approach to address her perfectionistic tendencies. A variety of treatment options are available, some potential strategies include:
Cognitive Restructuring: Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) involves identifying and challenging distorted thinking patterns. In particular all-or-nothing beliefs and catastrophic interpretations of failure.
The therapist may work to reframe perspectives, e.g. small mistakes do not equate to personal failures. This line of thinking encourages that imperfection is a normal and manageable part of life.
Exposure to Imperfection: Gradual exposure to imperfection, is a technique used to address perfectionistic behaviors. The therapist might encourage imperfectly completed tasks without redoing them. Controlled exposure helps perfectionists learn how to tolerate imperfection and learn that they do not lead to catastrophic consequences.
Developing Self-Compassion: Building self-compassion is crucial for breaking the cycle of harsh self-criticism. Techniques like self-compassion exercises and mindfulness practices help people view failures with understanding instead of criticism. For example, being kind to yourself during stressful times can make a difference. These techniques can lead to a sense of feeling worthy, independent and capable of achievement.
Setting Realistic and Flexible Goals: Setting attainable goals and learning how to prioritize tasks allows people to become comfortable with “good enough” standards.
Therapists can help people learn that their high standards are counterproductive. Having good enough standards can reduce burnout and increase life satisfaction. A great goal is to learn towards a growth-focused approach. This is when effort and learning are valued over perfection.
Acceptance of Negative Emotions: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a good treatment option. The focus of ACT is to acknowledge and accept feelings of anxiety or disappointment as normal. Learning that these feelings are normal reduces the signal that anxiety means you have to try harder to be perfect.
Long-Term Benefits of Addressing Maladaptive Perfectionism
Addressing maladaptive perfectionism can have profound effects on emotional and physical well-being. By learning to accept imperfection and challenge harsh self assessment people can reduce:
- Stress
- Anxiety
- Burnout
- Exhaustion
- Continuous cycling of perfectionism
Over time, people can cultivate a healthier sense of self-worth that doesn’t rely solely on achievement. This will improve work satisfaction, relationships, and other ares of life without the constant pressure of striving for flawlessness.
Research Results
The researchers identified two different forms of perfectionism. First, there’s perfectionist strivings, where people set incredibly high standards for themselves and constantly push to achieve them. This often involves intense goal-setting and an internal drive to excel.
On the other hand, we have perfectionist concerns. People with this type of perfectionism tend to worry about making mistakes. They feel a pressure to meet others’ high expectations, and experience significant distress when they fall short.
Perfectionists strivings and concerns often experience symptoms of anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, perfectionist concerns are more strongly associated with pathology compared to perfectionist strivings. Interestingly, researchers find that perfectionism does not connect with social anxiety but does connect with other clinical anxiety diagnoses.
The takeaway for clinicians? Both forms of perfectionism merit attention in therapy. The researchers recommend reducing symptoms of perfectionism, regardless of focusing on the “type” of perfectionism. One suggestion for those who suffer from perfectionism is to set meaningful goals without intense self-criticism.
About the Author
Dr. Awalt is a Psychologist in Lakewood, Colorado, in the Green Mountain area. She provides in-person therapy sessions to her clients in the Denver metro area. She provides virtual sessions across Colorado.