Understanding and Minimizing the Negative Effects of Perfectionism
The science behind how to not let failure define you.
The world might have made you believe that you’re nothing if not “successful”. But is it healthy to strive for perfection in whatever you do? Recent research by a team from the University of Bergen in Norway has established that there are two types of perfectionists: the striving perfectionist and the evaluative perfectionist.
People who are striving perfectionists have an intrinsic desire to be the best. In contrast, the evaluative perfectionists consider it of utmost importance to not fail in the eyes of other people. The study established that people with evaluative concerns tended to show symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas the striving perfectionists rarely had anxiety and never depression. Research has also linked evaluative perfectionistic concerns to stress, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
“Perfectionism doesn’t make you feel perfect; it makes you feel inadequate.”
— Maria Shriver
As Brené Brown puts it in her book The Gifts of Imperfection, “Healthy striving is self-focused: How can I improve? Perfectionism is other-focused: What will they think?”
