Perfectionism

Perfectionists strain compulsively and unceasingly toward unobtainable goals, and measure their self-worth by productivity and accomplishment.

Pressuring oneself to achieve unrealistic goals sets the person up for disappointment. Perfectionists tend to be harsh critics of themselves when they fail to meet their standards.

Researchers have investigated the role of perfectionism in mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders and personality disorders.  Perfectionism in young women has been associated with body-image dissatisfaction and avoidance of social situations that focus on weight and psysical appearance. Perfectionism has been linked with anorexia nervosa in research for decades.

According to Mallinger and DeWyze, perfectionists are obsessives who need to feel in control at all times to protect themselves and ensure their own safety.

There have been identified three main components of perefectionism:

A. Self- oriented perfectionism is characterized by a strong motivation to be perfect, setting and striving for unrealistic self-standards, focusing on flaws, and generalization of self-standards.

B. Other-oriented perfectiosnim involves similar behaviors but these behaviors are directed towards others instead of toward the self.

C. Socially prescribed perfectionism entails the belief that others have perfectionistic expectations and motives for oneself.

Perfectionism can be damaging. In general, maladapatative perfectionists feel constant pressure to meet their high standards.

In the workplace, perfectionism is often marked by low productivity as people lose time and energy by paying attention to irrelevant details of their tasks. Adderholdt-Elliot (1989) describes five characteristics of perfectionists which contribute to underachievement: Procrastination, fear of failure, an "all-or-nothing" mindset, paralysed perfectionism, and workaholism.

Cognitive -behavioral therapy has been shown to successfully help perfectionists in reducing social anxiety, public self-consciousness and perfectionism. By using this approach, a person can begin to recognize his or her irrational thinking and find an alternative way to approach situations. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is intended to help the person understand that it is okay to make misstakes sometimes and that those misstakes can become lessons learned.