Each of us probably knows at least one person who could be called a perfectionist: a friend who incessantly dedicates himself to study or sports, a colleague who seems to have made work his reason for life... Perfectionism can be expressed in virtually any area of life.
Likewise, we not only find perfectionism in the fields of study or work, but also in employment. free time, health care or physical appearance, ethics or respect for rules. In this Psychology-Online article we will address the issue to discover together the different types of perfectionism.
Index
- what is perfectionism
- self-oriented perfectionism
- Other-oriented perfectionism
- socially imposed perfectionism
- pathological perfectionism
- Perfectionism as a result of a rigorous education
- Perfectionism as a reaction to a sense of inadequacy
- Perfectionism as a reaction to emotional deprivation
What is perfectionism.
What is perfectionism in psychology? perfectionism is a personality trait, generally understood as the tendency to reject any imperfection.
The definition of perfectionism tends to be confused with the philosophical concept of perfectionism, considered in its meaning of moral worth as the will to achieve the optimum quality of life spiritually, mentally, physically and material. In this sense, the perfectionist person does not believe that a perfect life can be achieved, but that the perseverance of perfectionist practices can make you achieve the best life possible.
In psychology, however, perfectionism is often regarded as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder of personality. In this sense, it can be attributed more specifically to those whose standards of behavior are unreasonable and are far above their means and who strive relentlessly and obsessively to achieve goals impossible. Likewise, today theories have been advanced that see a set of determining factors of the psychic disorder at the origin of pathological perfectionism.
On the other hand, there is no single type of perfectionism, since it can manifest itself differently in each person and area. Next we will see what the types of perfectionism are and how to distinguish them:
Self-oriented perfectionism.
Perfectionism can be self-oriented (or self-oriented) when the person self-imposes overly strict standards associated with the inability to accept their own mistakes. In the case of particularly negative events, this attitude can also lead to depression problems.
The characteristics that this type of perfectionists have are:
- Personal standards impossible to achieve, the result of self-imposition.
- Tendency to excessive severity towards oneself.
- Strong feeling of frustration, which can lead to depression.
Other-oriented perfectionism.
Other-oriented perfectionism occurs when the person imposes the demand for total adaptation of others to their own standards of behavior Individuals with this type of perfectionism frequently experience intense anger, aggressiveness, and the consequent relational difficulties:
- Expect a complete adaptation by others to their own standards of perfectionism.
- Inability to delegate tasks to other people.
- Difficulty controlling one's own aggressiveness towards others and problems relating to others.
Socially imposed perfectionism.
There is talk of socially imposed perfectionism when the perfectionist mistakenly believes that others may have exaggerated expectations of them. Furthermore, individuals with this type of perfectionism believe that meeting these expectations is the only way to gain their approval.
This attitude can lead to extreme irritability, depression and social phobia due to fear of being judged negatively for others. Other consequences of socially imposed perfectionism are:
- Perception of performance standards imposed by the outside.
- Feeling that others have exaggerated expectations and that you need to meet them to gain approval.
- extreme irritability To whom is demanding.
- Tendency to depression and social phobia due to the impossibility of meeting expectations.
Pathological perfectionism.
Pathological perfectionism can be distinguished from functional perfectionism by the following characteristics:
- Unrealistically high expectations and standards of behavior.
- Investment of a large amount of energy to achieve them.
- Expectations so unreasonable that they often jeopardize individual performance.
- Interpretation of the error as a rate of failure.
- Severe self-assessments based on all-or-nothing thinking.
- Lack of confidence in one's own abilities.
- Give too much importance to the expectations of others.
- Fear of judgment.
Clearly, the more rigid and difficult to question a person's convictions, the greater the likelihood that he or she can cause trouble. Pathological perfectionism, in many cases, can be the basis of psychological disorders, such as social anxiety or generalized, depressive disorders, experiences of anger and aggression, sleep disorders, relationship difficulties, obsessions, compulsions and dysfunctional eating behaviors, among others.
Similarly, this type of perfectionism can be considered a personality trait that can play a major role in detecting personality disorders. In particular, in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, perfectionist traits related to the fear of making mistakes and being judged negatively stand out. However, patients with other personality disorders, like narcissistic disorder, can also have very high levels of perfectionism.
Perfectionism as a result of a rigorous education.
During growth, each person develops within himself a "part" that contains moral standards and behavior, rules about oneself, about others and convictions about how one should or should not show oneself same. In psychology, this part is known as "internalized adult", formed from the example of parents and other reference figures, such as school teachers, sports coaches, and so on.
Throughout life, the internalized adult helps guide our behaviors and makes us feel guilty or inadequate when we break these rules. If one or more of our reference figures acted on the basis of high, severe, or rigid standards, it is possible that our internalized adult contains those same standards. In this case, perfectionism would simply be a repetition of rules learned in the family and it could be summed up as follows: "I have to be perfect because these were my parents' rules."
Perfectionism as a reaction to the sense of inadequacy.
Perfectionism doesn't always come from learning high standards. Sometimes it is a reaction to perceived inadequacy and therefore it is a way to remedy it. There are many reasons why a sense of inadequacy is learned, such as having received a critical education or that one or more of the reference figures have exercised excessive care over us, preventing the development of skills and autonomy.
The perception of inadequacy, in some cases, may also depend on systematic hypercritical treatment by a school-age teacher. Whatever the reason we have developed the belief that we are inadequate, we are likely to try to remedy it. One of the typical strategies, although dysfunctional, is to develop perfectionism.
Perfectionism as a reaction to emotional deprivation.
This type of perfectionism has to do with emotional deprivation on the part of one or more reference figures. We understand 'emotional deprivation' as a lack of attention (affection and companionship), empathy (listening, understanding and intimacy) or protection (guidance, limits and authoritative advice).
Emotional deprivation generates feeling of not being loved and protected, feelings that, as in the case of inadequacy, can be remedied with perfectionism. In this sense, being a perfectionist could be an attempt to recover the love of those who have not loved us. given ("If I'm perfect, I'll be loved") or to eliminate that need ("If I'm perfect I won't need anyone anymore"). no one").
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to types of perfectionism, we recommend that you enter our category of Personality.
Bibliography
- Calderon, G. (2022). Perfetti non si nace. It caused and conseguenze him of perfectionism. Recovered from: http://www.psicologo-parma-reggioemilia.com/perfezionismo_ansia_cause.html
- Melli, G. (2020). Excessive or pathological perfectionism. Recovered from: https://www.ipsico.it/sintomi-cura/perfezionismo/
