New research sheds light on the relationship between perfectionism and depression. The study, published in Journal of Research in Personality, indicates that perfectionism leads to depressive symptoms by generating stress and social disconnection.
“I believe that the destructiveness of perfectionism is severely misunderstood, underestimated, and underappreciated. Moreover, research suggests we are currently facing an epidemic of perfectionism. As such, I felt it was important to shed light on this important issue,” said study author Martin M. Smith (@Martin_M_Smith), a lecturer at York St. John University.
The researchers were particularly interested in how two aspects of perfectionism — perfectionistic concerns (the perception that others are demanding perfection) and perfectionistic strivings (demanding perfection of oneself) — were related to depressive symptoms. To better understand this relationship, they conducted a meta-analysis of 18 longitudinal studies, which included 5,568 participants in total.
Smith and his colleagues found that greater perfectionistic concerns and perfectionistic strivings both predicted future increases in depressive symptoms.
“Perfectionism is neither healthy, positive, adaptive, or functional. Rather it is a serious issue that can cause profound psychological harm. As such, if a reader is struggling with perfectionism I encourage them to speak to a mental health professional,” Smith told PsyPost. “There is no pill that can treat perfectionism. That said, there is compelling evidence that perfectionism is treatable, especially in the context of long term psychotherapies.”
The researchers also found evidence that stress and social disconnection partially explained the link between perfectionism and depression. Greater perfectionistic concerns were associated with heightened stress and social disconnection, while greater perfectionistic strivings were associated with heightened social disconnection but not stress.
The findings indicate that “people high in perfectionistic concerns appear to think, feel, and behave in ways that increase the likelihood of experiencing and eliciting stressful events, leaving them vulnerable to depressive symptoms,” the researchers explained.
In addition, “establishing meaningful connections with others is often difficult for people high in perfectionistic concerns, as others’ approval, acceptance, and love are judged as forthcoming only if they achieve perfect outcomes. Likewise, people high in perfectionistic strivings frequently pursue agentic goals, at the expense of collective goals, which we speculate causes them to miss or ignore chances for participating in meaningful relationships, which, in turn, leads to depressive symptoms.”
“Though our understanding of perfectionism has improved, there is still much to learn about how it develops,” Smith added.
The study, “Why does perfectionism confer risk for depressive symptoms? A meta-analytic test of the mediating role of stress and social disconnection”, was authored by Martin M. Smith, Simon B. Sherry, Vanja Vidovic, Paul L. Hewitt, and Gordon L. Flett.