Perfectionism

Is perfectionism problematic?

Not necessarily. It is often extremely useful and facilitates academic and personal fulfilment. This is helpful. It promotes self-efficacy, enhances our lives and probably enabled you to come to the University of Cambridge.

However, there are times when it isn’t so useful and prevents us from achieving certain goals. This is unhelpful. It impedes academic and social functioning and is associated with problems such as anxiety and depression. It can also maintain significant psychological distress.

This leaflet briefly describes one model of unhelpful perfectionism and suggests some simple strategies that can be useful. It isn’t intended to meet everyone’s needs but hopefully it may be sufficient for some.

A CBT model of perfectionism

There are many different ways to conceptualise this problem. One model (1) that you may find helpful specifically addresses negative self-evaluation when standards are not met, rather than the setting of impossibly high standards in the first place. In other words, the striving to achieve high standards isn’t seen as the issue, but crucially the negative response to perceived failure is regarded as the problem.

If our self worth is overly dependent on striving and achievement, this model suggests that we not only set standards accordingly but also experience some form of cognitive bias in the process. We see our world and ourselves differently. If we don’t meet these standards we then become self critical and this of course impacts on our self worth. On the other hand, if we successfully meet these standards our perfectionism reappraises them as insufficiently demanding and we respond by setting even higher standards.

Some simple strategies

Unhelpful perfectionism persists. We just can’t get away from it. It seems to have a life of its own and it keeps itself going. Successful strategies therefore need to target the ways in which it is maintained.

Six maintenance mechanisms for this problem have been identified (2) and are now described with suggested strategies:

1: Cognitive biases

Unhelpful perfectionism generates stress that in turn influences the way in which we view the circumstances and situations of our lives. Quite unintentionally, we can develop unhelpful thinking styles that aren’t logical or rational. This is a common human response to common human problems and has nothing to do with intellect or academic competence.

Typical examples of these unhelpful thinking styles include:

• All-or-nothing thinking: This occurs when a situation is viewed in extremes (whereas a more helpful perspective probably lies in the middle ground).
• Anticipating negative outcomes: This happens when a negative prediction is made (fortune telling?) and/or a catastrophic outcome is seen as inevitable.
• Disqualifying or discounting the positive: This is apparent when positive qualities and achievements are overlooked or regarded as irrelevant.
• Emotional reasoning: This occurs when something is believed to be the case because it is ‘felt’ (whereas of course our feelings are not facts).
• Mental filter: This is found when specific negative details are observed and the broader picture disregarded.
• Over-generalisation: This takes place when a sweeping negative conclusion goes far beyond the current situation.
• 'Should' and 'must' statements: These involve precise fixed expectations that lead to an over-estimation of negative consequences if these expectations are not met.
• Maladaptive thinking: This focuses on problematic thoughts that may actually be quite accurate, but the ruminative process of dwelling on these thoughts creates greater anxiety and interferes with progress.

Suggested strategy: Write down your anxious thoughts and identify any unhelpful thinking styles. The rationale is to discredit the thoughts and enhance self worth.

2: Setting of strict rules (with stringent adherence)

Unhelpful perfectionism thrives on absolute rules and unconditional compliance.

Suggested strategy. A useful start is to identify any unhelpful thinking styles. You might also find it helpful to consider your response to the laws and rules that you encounter in your everyday life – is your adherence equally rigorous for all of them? The rationale is to identify evidence of any variation in the application of rules and your response to them.

3: Failure motivates self-criticism

Sadly, this is a common problem, and one that is often exacerbated by competitive learning environments. Would you encourage your loved ones to criticise themselves? No? Then why do it to yourself?

Suggested strategy: Think of the nicest, kindest, most understanding and supportive thing that you could say to your closest friend in a time of crisis – and then say it to yourself. The rationale is to promote self-compassion.

4: Absence of positive emotional reaction to success

We all need to learn to find pleasure in our successes. If we haven’t had the opportunity to learn this at an earlier point in our lives, success can feel quite empty.

Suggested strategy: At the end of each day, take some time out to review the events of the day and identify anything that did not go completely wrong. It doesn’t matter if it might have gone better. If it didn’t go wrong, it was successful. Then make a plan to give yourself some sort of a reward the following day. Think about it and look forward to it. The rationale is to behaviourally reinforce achievement by having fun (a positive emotional reaction).

5: Fear of failure promotes avoidance

Quite naturally, we tend to put things off if we believe that we’re going to fail.

Suggested strategy: Focus on the task, not the outcome. Stop thinking and start doing! Sports psychologists use this to good effect and it can be extremely effective when dealing with unhelpful perfectionism. The rationale is to adopt a certain behaviour regardless of the feared consequence (in this case, failure).

6: Imminent failure promotes escape

Sometimes the erroneous belief that failure is unavoidable leads to the task being abandoned before its completion.

Suggested strategy. As with 5 (above) keep focused on the behaviour and simply keep going. Alternatively, take a break, write down your anxious thoughts and identify any unhelpful thinking styles. The rationale is to further develop your self-efficacy by using behavioural and cognitive approaches.

References

(1) Shafran, R., Cooper, Z. & Fairburn, C.G. (2002). Clinical perfectionism: A cognitive-behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 773-791.

(2) Riley, C. & Shafran, R. (2005) Clinical Perfectionism: A Preliminary Qualitative Analysis. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 33(3), 369-374.