What Is Perfectionism?

Take our Perfectionism Test

Find a therapist near me

A significant portion of women struggle with maladaptive perfectionism.

Some perfectionists believe others need them to be perfect and overly rely on them for self-esteem.

Validation is nice but isn't always necessary to appreciate who you are and what you contribute.

Up to 72% of women exhibit perfectionistic traits, with 63% of those traits being considered maladaptive, or largely harmful to one’s well-being (Muscemi et al. 2022). This means that many women are extremely afraid of failing or making mistakes, procrastinate due to immense internal pressure to produce perfect work, and internalize the belief that significant others may demand perfection from them (this is known as socially prescribed perfectionism).

From this, codependent relationships may develop. In treatment, a patient may say, for example, “He stopped telling me I’m beautiful, so I stopped feeling beautiful.” To unpack this: A married woman, who’s devoted both to her husband and her work, chronically struggles to feel competent in either her marriage or her career. She possesses what she believes are objective blueprints for becoming the best wife and employee, again, believing that others expect and demand that of her. She spends an inordinate amount of time both learning her craft and on becoming more attuned to her husband’s desires, including reaching his standard for female beauty.

The........

© Psychology Today