Perfectionist personality: the downsides of perfectionism

The perfectionism refers to the belief that an individual has that perfection must be achieved in everything he does.

In all walks of life, perfectionists hold themselves to very high standards of quality, which can often lead to frustration and other psychological problems.

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Are you a perfectionist?

It might seem that being a perfectionist is going to help us achieve more things and be more successful, and in fact on many occasions this is the case, but excess perfectionism can lead to negative consequences. For example: living more tense, being more anxious, not enjoying achievements and even a feeling of failure despite doing things well.

Thus, certain forms of dysfunctional perfectionism can lead to psychological disturbances linked to anxiety and depression. This occurs especially when what is considered "perfection" is perceived as a series of imposed expectations for others and in which one must fit, and not as an ideal to be achieved in a process of self-improvement.

So, It is useful to know if you are someone who tends to the perfectionist personality and how this is reflected in your way of relating to yourself and others.

• You may be interested in: "How are perfectionism and depression related?"

Causes of perfectionism

Perfectionism is also known as "Perfectionist Syndrome", or "Anankastic Personality Disorder", and its causes can be varied. Some experts claim that there is a predisposition genetics to be a perfectionistBut regardless of an individual's genetic history, the human environment influences personality from birth. The environmental causes that can cause the development of a perfectionist personality are the following:

• Growing up in an environment where you are constantly being praised, as it can cause a extra pressure for maintaining that standard. Receiving praise is not bad, the problem arises when self-esteem depends only on external factors, such as constant praise.
• Being constantly humiliated during childhood it can cause an attempt to achieve a degree of perfection as a way of being socially accepted.
• Authoritarian parents who demand a lot from their children, they can also provoke a perfectionist personality in their descendants.
• Some kind of negative experience or trauma it can cause the person to be marked, so that they become a perfectionist to be accepted or to fill her emptiness.
• Growing up in a home with very successful parents or siblings it can cause individuals to seek to live up to what is required of them as family members.
• Children of perfectionist parents can develop a perfectionist personality because it is what they have learned at home.
• Someone who sufferslow self-esteem can work endlessly to make up for feelings of inferiority.
• Low tolerance for failure It can cause someone to overcompensate for their fear of failure.
• The highly competitive society the one we live in can cause people to obsess over perfection in order to achieve good results and stand out from the crowd.

Negative consequences of being a perfectionist

The perfectionist gets irrational goals They can create constant tension and cause eternal dissatisfaction with everything he does. This can cause the perfectionist individual to end up suffering in their day to day, but how does it affect them? Here are the negative consequences of being too much of a perfectionist:

1. Low selfsteem

Since perfectionists are never satisfied with achievements, feelings of failure can lead to the development of low self-esteem. Failure beliefs about his successes are unrealistic: when a person suffers from a perfectionist disorder, he can perform tasks with a high degree of excellence, but his perception is irrational makes you believe your work hasn't been up to par despite praise from others.

2. Guilt

Since the perfectionist person never feels good about what he does, he thinks that he has never achieved his goals. Therefore, the self-recrimination and the guilt are a habitual for thinking that he has not fulfilled the expectations of him.

3. Pessimism

Since the perfectionist sets very high goals and does not recognize his own achievements, his vision of goals is pessimistic. This forces him to fight incessantly to achieve the goals, but does not enjoy the moment, because the level of demand of him causes excessive tension.

4. Depression

The perfectionist always needs to be perfect, but that is impossible to achieve in all situations. The depression can be the cause of perfectionism on some occasions, but the negative consequences of being a perfectionist can also depress to the person who suffers from perfectionism.

5. Rigidity

Wanting to make everything perfect perfect leads the perfectionist to be a rigid person, not spontaneous and inflexible.

6. Obsession

Perfectionists are obsessive and they want to always have everything under control. The perfectionist has many difficulties to enjoy the day to day, because he is always obsessed with perfection.

7. Loss of self-confidence

Since in the end the perfectionist person thinks that he never manages to achieve his goals, his perception of self-efficacy it is affected and therefore a defenseless attitude is assumed.

Bibliographic references:

• Hewitt, P.L.; Flett, G.L. & Mikail, S.F. (2017). Perfectionism: A relational approach to conceptualization, assessment, and treatment. New York: Guilford Publications.
• Smith, M.M.; Sherry, S.B.; Chen. S.; Saklofske, D.H.; Mushquash, C.; Flett, G.L.; Hewitt, P.L. (2017). The perniciousness of perfectionism: A meta-analytic review of the perfectionism – suicide relationship. Journal of Personality. 86(3). pp. 522 - 542.
• Smith, M.M.; Sherry, S.B.; Rnic, K.; Saklofske, D.H.; Enns, M.; Gralnick, T. (2016). Are Perfectionism Dimensions Vulnerability Factors for Depressive Symptoms After Controlling for Neuroticism? A Meta ‐ analysis of 10 Longitudinal Studies. European Journal of Personality, 30 (2). pp. 201 - 212.
• Wielkiewicz, R.M.; Wonderlich, S.J. (2006). Correlations between perfectionism and coping strategies in response to researcher-selected vignettes or participant-selected events. Psychological Reports, 98 (3): pp. 745 - 755.