This is the first of a three part series on perfectionism, where we ask what is perfectionism, how does perfectionism keep problems going, and what can help?
What is perfectionism?
Ann works two hours late each evening, without stopping for breaks. Mike is always on time for work, appointments and social occasions. Gerry stays up all night prior to an important presentation at work, preparing his slides. Jessica always keeps her ‘happy face’ on when at work and socially. Lee strives to run his marathon a little faster each time. Gráinne checks her emails 10 times before she sends them. Martin goes to the gym for three hours every day. Liz spends much time in the morning co-ordinating her clothes. Lucy is there for her friends all the time, despite not getting support for herself. Mark strives to get As in all exams. Jill spends six hours per day cleaning her home.
‘Perfectionism’ is a term used to describe a person who strives to achieve their best performance in things they do. Perfectionism can relate to many parts of a person's life or just to one part. Common areas that perfectionism occurs are in:
- work life
- home life
- study
- relationships and friendships
- social performance
- personal appearance
- cleanliness
- activities such as sports, exercise or music.
These areas are generally ones that are very important to the person.
"Perfectionism is the setting of, and striving to meet, very demanding standards that are self-imposed and relentlessly pursued despite this causing problems. It involves basing one’s self-worth almost exclusively on how well these standards are pursued and achieved."( Shafran et al 2007)
Important dimensions of perfectionism are:
- Demanding standards and self-criticism
- Striving to meet demanding standards, despite negative effects
- Basing self-evaluation on high standards.
Research has shown us that there are different forms of perfectionism:
- High standards of self, but also expecting high standards of others and believing others have high standards of you
- High personal standards and being self-critical if mistakes are made (found by a research group found that the key components of perfectionism).
Although there are differences in defining perfectionism, what is agreed is that, for some, perfectionism is unhelpful and this is very different to a healthy pursuit of excellence.
The main differences between unhelpful perfectionism and a healthy pursuit of excellence are that, in unhelpful perfectionism, the person’s view of themselves is too dependent on how well they think they achieve their own demanding standards. Also, in unhelpful perfectionism, people continue to pursue their standards, despite negative consequences. In a healthy pursuit of excellence, the person’s view of themselves is not overly dependent on how well they think they achieve their own standards and a person would be able to break from pursuing their standards if negative consequences occur.
Tags: CBT
Continue to…
How does perfectionism keep problems going?