Psychodynamic/interpersonal group psychotherapy for perfectionism: Evaluating the effectiveness of a short-term treatment.

Abstract

This study sought to determine whether clinically significant improvement could be obtained using a psychodynamic/interpersonal group treatment based on a comprehensive conceptualization of perfectionism. A sample of 71 community-recruited perfectionistic individuals participated in the University of British Columbia Perfectionism Treatment Study. Eighteen of these participants were initially nonrandomly assigned to a waitlist control condition. All participants completed measures of perfectionism traits, perfectionistic self-presentation, and automatic perfectionistic thoughts, as well as measures of distress including depression, anxiety, and interpersonal problems at pretreatment, posttreatment, and at a 4-month follow-up. Multilevel modeling demonstrated that perfectionism levels decreased with large effect sizes and that these decreases were associated with reductions in distress measures. Clinically significant decreases were found in all perfectionism components, and posttreatment scores on most variables were significantly lower in the treatment condition versus the waitlist control condition. The findings suggest that psychodynamic/interpersonal group treatment is effective in treating components of perfectionism.

The perniciousness of perfectionism in group therapy for depression: A test of the perfectionism social disconnection model.

“…We also speculate disrupted friendships placed patients with elevated self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism at risk for a poorer treatment outcome, due, in part, to a lack of support and encouragement for the improvements experienced throughout therapy (see . Additionally, results align with Hewitt et al (2015Hewitt et al ( , 2017 who underscored the importance of relational elements in their treatment of perfectionism and have demonstrated strong support for their Even so, contrary to hypotheses, when we examined romantic love, friendships, and familial love as parallel mediators, only the perceived quality of friendships was significant.…”

Never good enough: The relation between the impostor phenomenon and multidimensional perfectionism

“…In order to make such relational dynamics more flexible, the interpersonal, psychodynamic approach according to Hewitt et al (2017a) focuses on insight into the causes of perfectionist behavior in early relationship experiences, their interpersonal impact (e.g., alienation), and underlying relational needs (e.g., security, belonging, caring from others). Since these aspects are particularly susceptible to being updated and processed in a group as a social microcosm and rich field of transference, application in group settings (Hewitt et al 2015) could represent a particularly effective intervention.…”

Assessing Anaclitic and Introjective Characteristics Using the SWAP‐200 Q‐Sort: Concurrent Validity with the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Circumplex Scales

“…Despite being very concerned with status and achievement, he also actively attempts to avoid the disapproval of others, making it likely that he varies his dominance behavior, so that it is appropriate for a given setting. Introjective-Self-Critical individuals may best fit Kopala-Sibley et al's (2013) conceptualization that Introjective individuals vary both their Dominance and Affiliation behavior in order to succeed at their goals, as the working adults in Kopala-Sibley et al's study were also presumably higher functioning (See also Hewitt, Mikail, Flett, Tasca, Flynn, Deng, Kaldas, & Chen, 2015;Rice, Sauer, Richardson, Roberts, & Garrison, 2015).…”