Perfectionism
- “Those whose standards are high beyond reach or reason, people who strain compulsively and unremittingly towards impossible goals and who measure their own worth entirely in terms of productivity and accomplishment. For these people, the effort for excellence is self-defeating.” (Burns, 1980).
- “Setting of excessively high standards for performance accompanied by overly critical self-evaluation” (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990)
- it is associated with practical difficulties and negative emotional consequences, causing procrastination and anxiety;
- it is associated with a range of disorders including obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety, panic, generalized anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, chronic fatigue, depression, bipolar, and suicidal ideation and behavior;
- it may impede the treatment of such disorders;
- it increases the risk of developing eating disorders and depression.

Am I Experiencing Perfectionism?
Exercises
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Anorexia Nervosa (Fairburn, Cooper, Shafran, 2003)
Information handouts
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Bulimia Nervosa (Fairburn, Cooper, Shafran, 2003)
Information handouts
Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Clinical Perfectionism (Shafran, Cooper, Fairburn, 2002)
Information handouts
Cognitive Behavioral Model of Perfectionism (Shafran, Egan, Wade, 2010)
Information handouts
Demanding Standards – Living Well With Your Personal Rules
Guides
Discounting In Perfectionism – The Ratchet Effect
Information handouts
Evaluating Your Demanding Standards
Worksheets
Exploring Your Demanding Standards
Worksheets
Identifying Your Demanding Standards
Worksheets
Mental Filter
Information handouts
Perfectionism Self-Monitoring Record
Worksheets
Performance And The Yerkes-Dodson Law
Information handouts
Process Focused Case Formulation
Worksheets
Recognizing Anorexia Nervosa
Information handouts
Recognizing Bulimia Nervosa
Information handouts
Self-Monitoring Record (Universal)
Worksheets
Transdiagnostic Cognitive Behavioral Model Of Eating Disorders (Fairburn, Cooper, Shafran, 2003)
Information handouts
Understanding Anorexia
Guides
Understanding Bulimia
Guides
Understanding Perfectionism
Guides
What Keeps Anorexia Going?
Information handouts
What Keeps Bulimia Going?
Information handouts
What Keeps Perfectionism Going?
Information handouts
Assessment
- Multidimensional perfectionism scale | Hewitt, Flett | 1990
- Scale download archived copy
- The Almost Perfect Scale – Revised (APS-R) | Slaney, Mobley, Trippi, Ashby, Johnson | 1996
- Scale download archived copy
- Website link
- Slaney, R. B., Mobley, M., Trippi, J., Ashby, J. S., & Johnson, D. G. (1996). The Almost Perfect Scale–Revised. Unpublished manuscript, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park.
- Slaney, R. B., Rice, K. G., Mobley, M., Trippi, J., & Ashby, J. S. (2001). The revised Almost Perfect Scale. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 34, 130–145.
- Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory | Flett, Hewitt, Blankstein, Gray | 1998
- Scale download archived copy
- Scoring download archived copy
- Flett, G. L., Hewitt, P. L., Blankstein, K. R., & Gray, L. (1998). Psychological distress and the frequency of perfectionistic thinking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(5), 1363-1381.
Information Handouts
- Perfectionism: A guide for when striving for perfection becomes unhealthy | Roz Shafran download archived copy
Center For Clinical Interventions
- What is perfectionism? download archived copy
- What maintains perfectionism? download archived copy
- Reducing perfectionistic behaviors download archived copy
- Challenging perfectionistic thinking download archived copy
- Perfectionism rules and assumptions download archived copy
- Re-evaluating the importance of achieving download archived copy
York St John University
- Coaches guide to perfectionism download archived copy
- Parents guide to perfectionism download archived copy
- Teachers guide to perfectionism download archived copy
- Perfectionism vs. doing things well download archived copy
- The three flavors of perfectionism download archived copy
- Perfectionistic thoughts, feelings, and behaviors download archived copy
- Measure of perfectionism download archived copy
Self-Help Programmes
- What is perfectionism? download archived copy
- Understanding perfectionism download archived copy
- What keeps perfectionism going? download archived copy
- Changing perfectionism download archived copy
- Reducing my perfectionist behavior download archived copy
- Challenging my perfectionist thinking download archived copy
- Adjusting unhelpful rules and assumptions download archived copy
- Re-evaluating the importance of achieving download archived copy
- Putting it all together download archived copy
Presentations
- Comprehensive treatment of perfectionism | Martin Antony | 2013 download archived copy
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy for perfectionism | Martin Antony | 2015 download archived copy
- OCD and perfectionism | Roz Shafran | 2011
downloadarchived copy
Recommended Reading
- Egan, S. J., Wade, T. D., & Shafran, R. (2011). Perfectionism as a transdiagnostic process: A clinical review. Clinical psychology review, 31(2), 203-212
downloadarchived copy - Shafran, R., Coughtrey, A., & Kothari, R. (2016). New frontiers in the treatment of perfectionism. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 9(2), 156-170. download archived copy
What Is Perfectionism?
Disorders That Are Associated with Perfectionism, or in Which Perfectionism Is Elevated
Perfectionism is thought to contribute to be associated with or elevated in:
- obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
- social anxiety disorder
- panic disorder
- generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
- post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- body dysmorphic disorder (BDD)
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- eating disorders
- depression
- bipolar disorder
- suicidal ideation and behavior
Helpful Questions for Assessing Perfectionism
Some helpful questions for assessing perfectionism:
- Have you ever kept trying to meet your standards, even if this has meant that you have missed out on things?
- What sorts of situations trigger feelings of distress when your standards are not met?
- What do you think of people who do just enough to get by?
- Do you ever feel a failure as a person because you haven’t met your goals?
- Have you ever been told that your standards are too high?
- In what ways do you compare yourself to others? How do you typically feel?
- What kinds of domains must you be perfect in?
- Are there any ways that perfectionism has been rewarded or praised in your life?
Treatment Approaches That Target Perfectionism
Shafran, Egan, and Wade (2010) published a cognitive behavioral model of perfectionism in which an individual’s self-worth is overly dependent on striving and achievement. They propose that this is maintained by both (1) revision of standards as insufficiently demanding when they are met, and (2) counterproductive behaviors and self-criticism when they are not met. There have been a number of small published studies that have examined the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of perfectionism, which show promisingly large effect sizes (e.g., Riley, Lee, Cooper, Fairburn, & Shafran, 2007; Steele & Wade, 2008).
References
- Burns, D. D. (1980). The perfectionist script for self-defeat. Psychology Today, November, 34–52.
- Frost, R. O., Marten, P., Lahart, C., & Rosenblate, R. (1990). The dimensions of perfectionism. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 14(5), 449–468.
- Riley, C., Lee, M., Cooper, Z., Fairburn, C. G., & Shafran, R. (2007). A randomised controlled trial of cognitive-behaviour therapy for clinical perfectionism: A preliminary study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45(9), 2221–2231.
- Shafran, R., Cooper, Z., & Fairburn, C. G. (2002). Clinical perfectionism: A cognitive–behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40(7), 773-791.
- Shafran, R., Coughtrey, A., & Kothari, R. (2016). New frontiers in the treatment of perfectionism. International Journal of Cognitive Therapy, 9(2), 156-170.
- Shafran, R., Egan, S., & Wade, T. (2018). Overcoming perfectionism: A self-help guide using scientifically supported cognitive behaviouraltechniques(2nd ed.). London: Robinson.
- Steele, A. L., & Wade, T. D. (2008). A randomised trial investigating guided self-help to reduce perfectionism and its impact on bulimia nervosa: A pilot study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46(12), 1316–1323.