What Keeps Perfectionism Going?

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. Signs of unhelpful or problematic perfectionism include:

• Having high standards which are difficult to achieve or maintain over time. 
• Harshly criticizing yourself when you don’t meet your standards.
• Judging your self-worth mainly in terms of your successes and achievements in life. 
• Discounting achievements you see as less than perfect.
• Avoiding or postponing tasks where there’s a risk you might fail.
• Sacrificing your interests, relationships, or rest to strive and achieve.
• Pushing yourself to the point of feeling depressed, overwhelmed, or

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• Shafran, R., Cooper, Z., & Fairburn, C. (2002). Clinical perfectionism: A cognitive behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 773-791. 
• Shafran, R., Egan, S. J., & Wade, T. (2010). Overcoming perfectionism: A self-help guide using cognitive-behavioural techniques. Constable and Robinson.
• Suh, H., Sohn, H., Kim, T., & Lee, D. G. (2019). A review and meta-analysis of perfectionism interventions: Comparing face-to-face with online modalities. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 66, 473.