Can Psychological Interventions Reduce Perfectionism? A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

There is some support that it is possible to significantly reduce perfectionism in individuals with clinical disorders associated with perfectionism and/or clinical levels of perfectionism. There is also some evidence that such interventions are associated with decreases in anxiety, depression, eating disorder and obsessive compulsive symptoms. Further research is needed in order to investigate the optimal dosage and format of such interventions as well as into specific disorders where there is a lack of evidence for their effectiveness.

Personality and perfectionism as predictors of life satisfaction: The unique contribution of having high standards for others

“…This strategy is appropriate for individuals without mental illness who want to add meaningfulness and satisfaction to their lives. In contrast, for individuals with a mental illness (e.g., depression or anxiety), reduction of maladaptive perfectionism dimensions is an evidence-based treatment that has shown to be effective in reducing the symptoms of these illnesses (Handley et al 2015;Lloyd et al 2015). Thus, our results have implications for the broader population of typical community dwellers, whereas previous research has tended to focus on a narrow band of individuals with mental illness.…”

“…In particular, a recent meta-analysis (Lloyd et al 2015) showed that interventions designed to reduce maladaptive perfectionistic tendencies produced decreases in anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive symptomology. Handley et al (2015) also reported decreases in psychopathologies following group cognitive behavioural therapy for perfectionism.…”

Mental contamination: Relationship with psychopathology and transdiagnostic processes

“…This was to avoid the inclusion of the doubts over actions subscale which may have potentially confounded the results (as this subscale was taken from the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory; Hodgson & Rachman, 1977) and followed the protocol of previous randomised controlled trials investigating the treatment of perfectionism (Egan et al, 2014;Lloyd, Schmidt, Khondoker, & Tchanturia, 2014). However, future research should consider using the full FMPS to ensure that all aspects of multi-dimensional perfectionism are represented.…”

The relationship between perfectionistic self-presentation and reactions to impairment and disability following spinal cord injury

“…Thereafter, challenging and changing the irrational beliefs underpinning PSP may offer a means of promoting psychosocial adaptation to SCI and also help prevent the extreme psychological difficulties associated with PSP (e.g., depression and suicide ideation). We believe interventions aimed at managing and treating trait perfectionism, including flexible, nonintrusive self-help strategies, provide a useful starting point in this regard (see Lloyd, Schmidt, Khondoker, & Tchanturia, 2015), and will be especially effective if informed by existing programmes aimed at improving adaptation to SCI (see Mehta et al, 2011).…”