Perfectionist personality: the disadvantages of perfectionism

The perfectionism It 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 the excess of perfectionism can cause negative consequences , for example: live more tense, be more distressed, not enjoy the achievements and even a feeling of failure despite doing things well.

Causes of perfectionism

Perfectionism is also known as "Perfectionist Syndrome," or "Ananstastic Disorder of Personality," and its causes can be varied. Some experts say 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 in which constant praise is received because it can cause 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.
• Be humiliated constantly during childhood It can cause you to try to achieve a degree of perfection as a way of being accepted socially.
• 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 he becomes a perfectionist to be accepted or to fill his void.
• 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 suffers Low self-esteem can work endlessly to compensate for feelings of inferiority.
• The low tolerance to failure It can cause someone to try to compensate in an exaggerated way their fear of failure.
• The highly competitive society in which we live can cause people to become obsessed with perfection in order to achieve good results and stand out from others.

Negative consequences of being a perfectionist

The perfectionist gets irrational goals They can create constant tension and cause an eternal dissatisfaction for everything they do. This can cause the perfectionist individual to end up suffering in their day to day life but, how does it affect them? Below are the negative consequences of being too perfectionist:

1. Low self-esteem

Since perfectionists are never 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 lived up to the praise of others .

2. Fault

Since the perfectionist never feels good about what he does, he thinks he has never achieved his goals. Therefore, the self-discrimination And the fault is a habitual one for thinking that it has not fulfilled its expectations.

3. 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 without ceasing to achieve the goals, but do not enjoy the moment , because his level of demand causes him excessive tension.

4. 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 to the person who suffers perfectionism.

5. Rigidity

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

6. Obsession

The perfectionists are obsessive and they want to have everything always 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 thinks that he never achieves his goals, his perception of self-efficacy is affected.

The Problem With Perfectionism (April 2024).