Understanding Perfectionism

Striving to achieve your goals and ambitions can be satisfying and help you grow as an individual, but it can also become a problem. If you set demanding standards for yourself (such as how you should behave, or how much you should achieve), there’s a risk you won’t meet them. If you base your self-worth on achieving those standards, or if trying to meet them causes you a lot of trouble, you may be struggling with perfectionism. By itself, perfectionism can be a serious problem, but it can also contribute to other mental health difficulties, including anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. The good news is that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective psychological treatment for perfectionism. This guide will help you to understand:

• What perfectionism is.
• Why perfectionism might not get better by itself.
• Treatments for perfectionism.

Our ‘Understanding…’ series is designed to support your clients:

• Scaffold knowledge. The guides are perfect during early stages of therapy to help your clients understand how their symptoms fit together and make sense.
• Reassure and encourage optimism. Many clients find it hugely reassuring to know there is a name for what they are experiencing, and that there are evidence-based psychological models and treatments specifically designed to help.
• De-mystify the therapy process. To increase your client’s knowledge of the therapy process and the ingredients that it is likely to involve. If you can help your clients to understand why an intervention is important (think exposure!) it can help encourage them to engage.
• Signposting. If you’re just seeing a client briefly for assessment, or you have a curious client who wants to know more, these resources can be a helpful part of guiding them to the right service.
• Waiting time not

• Smith, M. M., Hewitt, P. L., Sherry, S. B., Flett, L. G., & Ray, C. (2022). Parenting behaviors and trait perfectionism: A meta-analytic test of the social expectations and social learning models. Journal of Research in Personality, 96, 104180.
• Maloney, G. K., Egan, S. J., Kane, R. T., & Rees, C. (2014). An etiological model of perfectionism. PloS one, 9, e94757,
• Strickier, J., Buecker, S., Schnieder, M., & Preckel, F. (2019). Multidimensional perfectionism and the Big Five personality traits: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Personality, 33, 176-196. 
• Limburg, K., Watson, H. J., Hagger, M. S., & Egan, S. J. (2017). The relationship between perfectionism and psychopathology: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 73, 1301-1326. 
• Smith, M. M., Sherry, S. B., Ray, C., Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (2021). Is perfectionism a vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms, a complication of depressive symptoms, or both? A meta-analytic