Perfectionism refers to the belief that an individual has that perfection must be achieved in everything that is done.
Are you a perfectionist?
Being a perfectionist might seem to help us achieve more things and be more successful, but excess perfectionism can cause negative consequences, for example living tenser, being more distressed, not enjoying achievements and even feeling of failure despite doing things right.
Causes of perfectionism
Perfectionism is also known as “Perfectionist Syndrome,” or “Ananastic Personality Disorder,” and its causes can be varied. Some experts claim that there is a genetic predisposition to be a perfectionist, but regardless of the genetic history of an individual, the human environment exerts influence on the personality from birth. The environmental causes that can cause the development of a perfectionist personality are the following:
- Growing up in an environment where praise is constantly received, as it can cause extra pressure to maintain that standard. Receiving compliments is not bad, the problem arises when self-esteem depends only on external factors, such as constant praise.
- Being constantly humiliated during childhood 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 can also cause a perfectionist personality in their descendants.
- Some type of negative experience or trauma can cause the person to be marked so that he becomes a perfectionist to be accepted or to fill his emptiness.
- Growing up in a home with very successful parents or siblings can cause individuals to seek to live up to what is required of them as family members.
- The children of perfectionist parents can develop a perfectionist personality because that is what they have learned at home.
- Someone who suffers from low self-esteem can work endlessly to compensate for feelings of inferiority.
- Poor tolerance for failure can cause someone to overstate their fear of failure.
- The highly competitive society in which we live can cause people to become obsessed with perfection to achieve good results and stand out above others.
- Negative consequences of being a perfectionist
- The perfectionist sets irrational goals that can create constant tension and cause eternal dissatisfaction for everything he does. This can cause the perfectionist individual to end up suffering in his day to day life, but how does it affect him? Below are the negative consequences of being too perfectionist:
- Low self-esteem
Since perfectionists never feel satisfied with their achievements, feelings of failure can lead to the development of low self-esteem. Failure beliefs about their successes are not realistic: when a person suffers a perfectionist disorder, he can perform tasks with a high degree of excellence, but his irrational perception makes him believe that his work has not been up to par despite praise. of others. - Blame
Since the perfectionist never feels good about what he does, he thinks he has never achieved his goals. Therefore, self-discrimination and guilt are common because they think they have not met their expectations. - Pessimism
Since the perfectionist sets very high goals and does not recognize his own achievements, his vision of the goals is pessimistic. This forces him to fight incessantly to achieve the goals, but he does not enjoy the moment since his level of demand causes him excessive tension.
- Depression
The perfectionist always needs to be perfect, but that is impossible to achieve in all situations. Depression can be the cause of perfectionism on some occasions, but the negative consequences of being a perfectionist can also depress the person suffering from perfectionism. - Rigidity
Wanting to do everything perfectly leads the perfectionist to be a rigid, not spontaneous and inflexible person. - Obsession
Perfectionists are obsessive and want to always have everything under control. The perfectionist has many difficulties to enjoy every day because he is always obsessed with perfection. - Loss of self-confidence
Since in the end, the perfectionist thinks that he never manages to achieve his goals, his perception of self-efficacy is affected.