Dysfunctional perfectionism: causes, symptoms and treatment

Is it difficult for you to enjoy doing nothing?Do you feel guilty for not having done what, according to you, you should have done? Do you think you should always be able to do things better?

Have you never been satisfied with the things you do? When you achieve something that you have proposed, are you only capable of enjoy it for a short period of time? Do you criticize yourself if you do not reach the goal you have set for yourself? too much in your mistakes? Do you feel like a failure if you don't get what you set out to do? Do you tend to leave things for tomorrow or for him? last day?

If you have answered yes to most of these questions, it is very possible that this article will interest you, since you could have fallen into dysfunctional perfectionism. A phenomenon that, despite not being a mental disorder in itself, can lead to serious headaches.

• Related article: "Perfectionist Personality: The Disadvantages of Perfectionism"

What is dysfunctional perfectionism?

Dysfunctional perfectionism (in English, "maladaptative perfectionism"), is the establishment and effort to meet quality standards that are too demanding

(high goals) for oneself, which are self-imposed and relentlessly pursued despite the suffering they generate.

It consists of focusing on the errors rather than the process and progress of the task, being overly self-critical when the goals (including calling the achievement a failure) and assessing the achievement of goals in all-or-nothing terms (things are done either "well" or "wrong"). Furthermore, the perfectionist persists despite the occurrence of adverse consequences (social isolation, insomnia, depression ...).

Finally, it is a matter of basing the self-esteem one almost exclusively on how well these lofty goals are pursued or achieved. This means that the self-esteem of these people is very fragile and changing: one day they may feel competent and happy for having achieved their goals, and the next day feel inept or failures and think they are "not worth it".

Areas of life in which one can be a perfectionist

Perfectionism can be present in every aspect of life. Some people will only be perfectionists in one area, such as work, but the most common is to have several vital focuses in which perfectionism comes to light.

Let's see some examples, in which perhaps you can feel identified:

• Work and / or studies: not make any mistakes at work, pretend to be the best, know everything, spend a lot of time on tasks so that they are as perfect as possible ...
• Sport and exercise: get a determined body (slim, slender, muscular ...), dedicate superhuman efforts to achieve it, go to the gym every day religiously to achieve that goal, swim at least X kilometers per day...
• Physical appearance and / or weight: dedicate a lot of effort to taking care of your physical appearance, weighing less than “X” kilos, always being the latest in fashion, being perfectly groomed and made up ...
• Personal hygiene: always be pristine and at all costs.
• Friendships and social relationships: being the best friend, always being there unconditionally despite your own problems or obligations, always being “interesting and fun”.
• Music and other hobbies: spending hours and hours trying to compose the best music song of the last century, discarding what has been composed because "it is not good enough."
• Appearance of a person's house: excessive worry when guests come to the house, having the house totally tidy and clean, worrying about what the guests may think ...
• Child care: concern and efforts to be the best father or mother in the world.
• Intellect: pretending to know everything perfectly, forcing yourself to read about particularly complex topics ...

In short, any area that is important to that person. When dysfunctional perfectionism affects a hobby, such as music, it can become a source of anxiety rather than pleasure. From the moment the activity is carried out to achieve a very demanding objective (and in many cases, little realistic) and the process itself is not enjoyed, the activity may lose the playful and pleasant connotation that initially I had.

Most important components of dysfunctional perfectionism

According to Shafran, Egan and Wade (2010), the essential components of dysfunctional perfectionism are:

• Very high quality standards, demanding and self-critical
• Efforts to meet high standards despite negative effects on the person (suffering)
• Base self-evaluation on the achievement or approach to these standards
• Low tolerance for failure and / or errors, with corresponding excessive self-criticism
• Cognitive rigidity
• Attentional bias towards the negative: they identify all the details that have done wrong or that have moved them away from the high standard. When the perfectionist goal is reached, it is usually not taken into account or it tends to be minimized
• They often call themselves "fraud" or "failure as a person"

What are high goals or standards?

The establishment of objectives and goals in life is something totally natural, and even adaptive, but in the case of perfectionists it can be a problem. It should be considered this way because by not achieving these goals, perfectionists can criticize themselves very unfairly, as if they live a life of penance and self-flagellation, and persist in their efforts despite the suffering. The concept of "high goal" is very relative, since what may be demanding for one may not be so for another (p. For example, for one, swimming 4 kilometers a day can be very demanding and demanding, but for Mireia Belmonte it can be a piece of cake). What should be clear is that a standard is high when it is self-imposed by the person with perfectionism, is perceived as demanding (requires a lot of effort and sacrifice) and is pursued in a rigid. But, If I set high standards for myself, does that mean I tend to dysfunctional perfectionism? It is important to clarify that it is not enough that there are personally demanding standards to speak of dysfunctional perfectionism; a person can feel satisfaction in working towards these standards and allow themselves to be flexible with their goals when the situation calls for it (Shafran, Cooper, & Fairburn, 2002).

Negative consequences of dysfunctional perfectionism

Next we are going to detail the most frequent negative consequences:

• Emotional: depression (sadness, low mood in general) and anxiety (restlessness and stress).
• Social: social isolation, loss of friends, competitiveness to be the best.
• Limited interest: focused almost solely on one task (p. g., focused on work and not leaving time to socialize) and limit pleasant activities because they do not allow you to pursue lofty goals (eg. g., never read or watch a series for no other purpose than to enjoy).
• Physical: exhaustion, muscle tension, digestive problems.
• Cognitive: rumination is frequent (thinking about mistakes made over and over again, reviewing them, criticizing oneself for not having corrected them in time), low concentration.
• Behavioral: checks to detect errors, repetition of tasks, excessive time to do something, procrastination ...

One of the global consequences that is most appreciated is low self-esteem. In other words, perfectionism is not the cause of low self-esteem, but rather "feeds" it. A person with low self-esteem is more likely to take refuge in perfectionism to stand out in something and thus be valued positively by himself and by others.

Relationship with procrastination or postponement

Procrastination, the habit of procrastinating Until the last moment, it is a very common behavior among perfectionists. The reasons why it is postponed are several:

• Worry and fear of being wrong or doing it wrong.
• Thinking that the activity will require a lot of time due to our self-demand.
• Worry about not being able to do things perfectly.
• If things don't go your way, one can always fall back on the old "I've done it. left for the last moment, that's why it hasn't turned out as well as I would like capable".

Is there treatment?

Keep in mind that dysfunctional perfectionism is not a disorder and, therefore, there is no specific treatment to manage it. However, it is possible to speak of psychological intervention aimed at modifying the habits and beliefs on which it is based.

As each person has their own reasons for falling into extreme perfectionism, a personalized attention that allows modifying the way in which we relate to our expectations; in this sense, intervention based on cognitive-behavioral models It is usually the most frequently used option, since it influences both internalized ideas and observable day-to-day acts.

Bibliographic references:

• Shafran, R., Cooper, Z. and Fairburn, C.G. (2002). Clinical perfectionism: a cognitive-behavioral analysis. Behavior Research and Therapy, 40, 773-791.
• Shafran, R., Egan, S. and Wade, T. (2010). Overcoming perfectionism: A self-help manual using cognitive-behavioral techniques. London: Robinson.
• Egan, S.J., Wade, T.D., Shafran, R. and Antony, M.M. (2014). Cognitive-behavioral treatment of perfectionism. New York: Guilford.