Help clients explore and understand how discounting achievements perpetuates perfectionism and leads to increasingly demanding standards (known as the ratchet effect).
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
An editable Microsoft PowerPoint version of the resource.
When individuals with perfectionism successfully meet their demanding standards, these accomplishments are often discounted as “easy to do,” “no big deal,” or having “scope for improvement.” As a result, there is a little satisfaction in these achievements. This reinforces the need to strive and achieve in order to maintain positive self-evaluation, which leads individuals to set even higher standards for themselves. Consequently, individuals with perfectionism are likely to set ever-more demanding standards. In engineering, ratchets are useful devices which allow forward movement, but not backwards. The Discounting In Perfectionism - The Ratchet Effect handout illustrates the bias of discounting with reference to a ratchet metaphor.
Understanding and addressing the cognitive biases that underpin perfectionism can lead to more effective interventions. This resource serves as a starting point for:
Individuals who strive to met to demanding standards.
Perfectionistic striving may feature in disorders like obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and some eating disorders.
Initiate a conversation with clients about their high standards and how they assess their achievements.
Use the ratchet metaphor to illustrate how discounting perpetuates perfectionism.
Help clients explore the costs and benefits of 'ratcheting up' their standards.
Explore how the client might break out of the ratchet effect.
People with perfectionism strive to meet extremely high standards, despite this having negative consequences for them. For many individuals with perfectionism, their feelings of self-worth are dependent upon striving for and achieving these demanding standards.
The cognitive behavioral model of perfectionism identifies several factors which maintain perfectionism (Egan et al., 2014; Shafran et al., 2010; Shafran et al., 2014). One critical maintenance factor in perfectionism is a form of cognitive bias called discounting. When individuals with perfectionism successfully meet their demanding standards, these accomplishments are often discounted as “easy to do,” “no big deal,” or having “scope for improvement.” As a result, there is a little satisfaction in these achievements.
This reinforces the need to strive and achieve in order to maintain positive self-evaluation, which leads individuals to set even higher standards for themselves. Consequently, individuals with perfectionism are likely to set evermore demanding standards. Ultimately, this increases the impossibility of meeting these demanding standards and the likelihood of failure.
In engineering, ratchets are useful devices which allow forward movement, but not backwards. They are found in tools like sockets wrenches, which allow fasteners to be tightened. The Discounting In Perfectionism – The Ratchet Effect handout illustrates the bias of discounting with reference to a ratchet metaphor.
Therapists benefit from an understandable metaphor that helps unpack the dynamics of perfectionism with clients, laying the foundation for positive change.
