What Is Perfectionism? What Are The Types And Causes?

Perfectionism is a personality trait that aims for perfection, has high standards, and is generally associated with success. However, this feature may not always produce positive results. Perfectionism refers to the state of having extremely high expectations for oneself, others, and situations, and intense concern about reaching these expectations. This can cause a person to be overly critical of himself and attribute greater significance to his mistakes.

Perfectionism usually develops as a result of one’s own expectations or the high expectations of society and family. This can cause the person to experience fear of failure, lack of self-confidence, and a constant feeling of inadequacy. Additionally, perfectionism disease can negatively affect a person’s social life, work performance and quality of life.

However, perfectionism should not always be seen as a negative trait. When managed correctly, perfectionism can enable a person to achieve their goals, work to high standards, and continually improve themselves. The important thing is that perfectionism is managed in a healthy way and that the person has realistic expectations for himself and others. Understanding and managing your own level of perfectionism can help you live a healthier, more balanced life.

What is a Perfectionist Personality?

A perfectionist personality is often described as a personality trait that aims for high standards and perfection. However, underneath these traits, perfectionist personalities often tend to have excessive expectations of themselves and others and to be intensely concerned about achieving these expectations. This tendency means that perfectionist personalities are often overly critical of themselves and attribute more meaning to their mistakes than they really are.

Perfectionist personalities are usually shaped in line with one’s own high goals or the expectations of society and family. At the same time, this means that individuals with this personality trait often face fear of failure, lack of self-confidence, and a constant feeling of inadequacy. Additionally, perfectionism can negatively impact a person’s social connections, performance at work, and overall quality of life. This can make people’s lives complicated and challenging.

There is a method used to determine this disorder. The perfectionism scale is used to determine individuals’ perfectionism levels. These scales are often used in psychological assessments and help determine individuals’ perfectionism tendencies, whether these tendencies are healthy or unhealthy, and the impact of these tendencies on the individual’s overall psychological state.

Types of Perfectionism

Perfectionism often cannot be put into a single mold. Each individual’s understanding of perfectionism and how they experience this situation may differ. Therefore, to better understand perfectionism, it may be useful to examine different types of this personality trait.

Self-Oriented Perfectionism

Self-oriented perfectionism refers to having excessively high expectations for one’s own performance and abilities. These types of perfectionists often constantly raise their goals and feel intense pressure to perform flawlessly. Self-oriented perfectionism is associated with stress, anxiety and lack of self-confidence. People with this personality style believe that everything should be perfect, and this causes them to put excessive pressure on themselves in every aspect of their lives.

Perfectionism Towards Others

Other-oriented perfectionism refers to the state of having excessively high expectations for the performance and abilities of others. Such perfectionists tend to criticize others’ mistakes and shortcomings. This results in tension and conflict in relationships. As a result of the difficulties experienced, the person encounters negative situations in his social life and general quality of life.

Perfectionism Directed by Others

Perfectionism directed by others refers to the situation in which a person internalizes the excessively high expectations of others towards himself. These types of perfectionists feel intense pressure to gain the approval of others and meet their expectations. This often results in lack of self-confidence, stress and anxiety. Additionally, this type of perfectionism causes the person to constantly compare themselves to others and to be in a constant effort to meet others’ expectations. This can lead a person to ignore their own abilities and achievements and constantly seek the approval of others.

Causes of Perfectionism

The causes of perfectionism often depend on a person’s past experiences, environment and personality traits. This situation can cause the person to feel the need to be perfect in every aspect of their life and to be under constant stress due to the fear of making mistakes. As a result, the person constantly criticizes themselves and others, causing them to feel like nothing is ever enough. Here are the most common causes of perfectionism:

• Perfectionism is fueled by internal pressures such as avoiding failure or fear of harsh criticism, and raises one’s expectations of oneself and others.
  ●Social factors such as greater academic and professional competition and the proliferation of social media are seen as the reason for the significant increase in perfectionism tendencies among young people in the last 30 years.
  ●Families’ high expectations from their children and children setting high standards for themselves to meet their families’ expectations may trigger this situation.
  ●Setting high goals for oneself and making intense efforts to achieve these goals can feed perfectionist tendencies.
  ●Fear of failure can cause a person to be overly critical of their mistakes and exaggerate the possibility of failure.
  ●Lack of self-confidence can cause a person to be overly critical of themselves and overestimate the possibility of failure.
  ●Society’s expectation of high performance can lead a person to set high standards for himself and exaggerate the possibility of failure.
  ●Past experiences of failure can increase a person’s perfectionist tendencies. These experiences can cause a person to be overly critical of their mistakes and overestimate the likelihood of failure.
  ●Some personality traits, such as a high sense of conscientiousness or thoughtfulness, can increase perfectionisttendencies.

These reasons illustrate the complex nature of perfectionism. Perfectionism often results from a combination of factors, and these factors vary from person to person. Therefore, understanding the causes of perfectionism can help a person manage perfectionism tendencies and live a healthier life.

What are the symptoms of perfectionism?

The most common symptoms of perfectionism are; It is known as anxiety , stress and dissatisfaction. These symptoms reduce the person’s quality of life and create a constant state of fatigue. This may cause the person to miss learning and development opportunities. These symptoms can be a starting point for combating perfectionism and can help the person show more understanding and compassion for themselves.

Difficulty Making Decisions

Perfectionists often seem lost in a maze when deciding which option to choose to achieve the best result. He wants to evaluate every option in detail and consider even the slightest possibility of making a mistake. This can reduce a person’s quality of life and cause stress, anxiety, and feelings of anxiety.

Don’t Be Overly Organized

The world of perfectionists is generally based on order. Having everything under control and doing things perfectly prevents chaos in their world. However, this excessive regularity can cause the person to lose flexibility and have difficulty adapting to unexpected situations.

Don’t Be Planned

Perfectionists plan everything. In their opinion, this is necessary to determine the most effective way to achieve their goals and avoid encountering any setbacks. However, this excessive planning limits a person’s ability to be spontaneous and prevents them from quickly adapting to unexpected situations.

Dissatisfaction

Perfectionists are not satisfied even when they achieve their goals. This occurs due to the desire to achieve higher goals and constantly improve themselves. However, this prevents the person from enjoying life and creates a constant feeling of dissatisfaction.

Feeling of Worthlessness

Perfectionists feel worthless when they cannot achieve their goals. This often occurs due to overly high expectations of oneself. This situation lowers the person’s self-confidence and causes him to be overly critical of himself.

Anxiety About Failure

Perfectionists feel intense anxiety about the possibility of failure. This occurs because a person greatly exaggerates the possibility of not achieving his or her goals. Due to this, the person’s quality of life decreases and he experiences a constant state of stress and anxiety.

Don’t Be Afraid of Making Mistakes

Perfectionists are afraid of making mistakes. They experience this fear because they see their mistakes as failures and are overly critical of themselves. This may cause the person to miss learning and development opportunities.

Overloading Yourself

Perfectionists are overloaded on themselves. This situation occurs because the person makes excessive efforts to achieve his goals and has extremely high expectations of himself. As a result, the person’s quality of life decreases and a constant feeling of stress and fatigue occurs.

These symptoms demonstrate the complex nature of perfectionism. Perfectionism often results from a combination of factors, and these factors vary from person to person. Therefore, understanding the symptoms of perfectionism can help a person manage perfectionism tendencies and live a healthier life. These symptoms can be a starting point for combating perfectionism and can help the person show more understanding and compassion for themselves.

Diseases Accompanying Perfectionism

Perfectionism can negatively affect a person’s quality of life and lead to various health problems. This disorder accompanies emotional health problems such as anxiety and depression. Perfectionist individuals experience extreme stress and anxiety when they fail to achieve their goals or make mistakes. This situation can create a constant state of anxiety and reduce the person’s overall quality of life.

Additionally, perfectionism is also associated with depression. When a person constantly strives to achieve high standards, failure to achieve these goals can damage his or her self-confidence and make him or her feel worthless. Perfectionism is also closely related to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Individuals with this disease often want everything to be perfect, and this can lead to obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.

In addition, perfectionism can also lead to some physical health problems. For example, fibromyalgia is often seen in people who are perfectionists and workaholics. Fibromyalgia manifests itself with symptoms such as chronic pain and fatigue and negatively affects the person’s quality of life.

Perfectionism, beyond being a personality trait, can also be a sign of various health problems. If you are a perfectionist and this negatively affects your quality of life, you should consider consulting a specialist. Remember, perfectionism is a manageable condition, and with appropriate help and support, you can improve your quality of life.

Characteristics of Perfectionists

Although perfectionism may seem like a positive quality at first glance, it becomes more pronounced in individuals with certain characteristics. Knowing perfectionist personality traits allows us to understand these individuals’ thought and behavior patterns more deeply.

High Personal Standards

Perfectionists have high personal standards. These high standards they set for themselves enable them to always strive to do more and be better. However, this can cause them to experience disappointment and stress when they cannot achieve their goals.

Don’t Be Overly Critical

Perfectionists are overly critical of themselves and others. They constantly review their own mistakes and shortcomings and always find something to criticize them excessively.

Fear of Failure

Perfectionists often have a fear of failure. The possibility of not achieving their own goals constantly worries them and increases their stress and anxiety levels.

Unrealistic Goals

Perfectionists often set unrealistic goals. They raise their own expectations excessively, set goals they cannot achieve, and feel disappointed when they fail.

Focus on Results

Perfectionists focus on results. They are results-oriented rather than the process of achieving their own goals. This situation can lead to extreme stress and failure in every job they undertake.

Self Defense

They exhibit a defensive attitude towards criticism. They do not accept their own mistakes and shortcomings. Instead, he always makes an excuse for what the other party says.

Low Self-Esteem

Perfectionists have very low self-esteem. They constantly review their own mistakes and shortcomings. As a result of this, their self-esteem is damaged along with their self-confidence.

Examples of Perfectionism

Perfectionism can be encountered in all areas of life, and sometimes we can observe clear examples of this situation. For example, academic perfectionism is the tendency for students to constantly hold their own achievements to the highest standards. Aiming to get perfect grades in exams, perfecting assignments down to the smallest detail, and sometimes even aiming to exceed teachers’ expectations are obvious examples of this. However, this results in extreme stress, anxiety and dissatisfaction. Because perfectionist students constantly criticize their own success and are extremely harsh on themselves.

Perfectionism is also a common situation in business life. Employees’ tendency to do their jobs perfectly manifests itself in perfecting projects, minimizing errors, and consistently delivering top performance. However, this understanding can result in excessive stress, burnout and disruption of work life balance. Perfectionist employees constantly criticize their work and are extremely hard on themselves.

Perfectionism in personal relationships is the tendency of individuals to make their relationships perfect. Aiming to be perfect towards your partner, always making the relationship harmonious, and sometimes even aiming to exceed your partner’s expectations are obvious examples of this situation. However, dissatisfaction is the most important consequence of this trend.

What Can Be Done to Reduce Perfectionism?

The first step in reducing perfectionism is to become aware of this situation. There are tests on the internet called perfectionism tests . Although these tests do not have a scientific basis, they can make the person aware of this situation. We can list the things that need to be done to reduce this discomfort as follows:

• Substituting realistic thoughts for perfectionist thoughts can alleviate the impact of negative criticism.
  ●Since perfectionists look at things from a single perspective, it is important to take another person’s perspective and evaluate the situation from a different perspective.
  ●Since perfectionists get lost in details, it is healthier to focus on the overall picture and focus on general goals instead of small details.
  ●Perfectionism is associated with the idea that “everything is either black or white”; However, to reduce perfectionism, it is important to be more flexible and lower standards a bit.
  ●Since perfectionist people have a great fear of making mistakes, facing situations where there is a possibility of making mistakes is an effective method to reduce this feeling.
  ●Overcoming the habit of procrastination and completing tasks on time is one of the ways to overcome perfectionism.