17 August 2019 | New Scientist | 3PERFECTIONISM is often admired and
celebrated. The drive and athleticism of
Serena Williams or Roger Federer on the
tennis court; the poise and attention to
detail of Judi Dench or Helen Mirren on
stage and screen.
There’s no harm in celebrating great
achievement. But not everyone can
always be at the top of their game – and
perfectionism as a pathological trait,
the demanding of impossible standards
from ourselves and others, is on the rise
(see page 34). Psychologists point to a
swirl of contributing and amplifying
factors: the rise of social media and
its stylised, cropped versions of other
people’s lives, tumultuous job markets,
an unpredictable economy, standardised
school testing at an early age.
Impossible is a key word here. As a
society, we are coy about perfectionism,identifying the trait in ourselves as
a faux-modest way of signalling our
conscientiousness or attention to detail.
Yet we aren’t talking about striving for
perfect in the hope of attaining good.
For people with true perfectionism, for
whom nothing short of impeccable is
acceptable, success becomes ever harder
to achieve, and failure so devastating
that it is hardly worth trying at all.
That reality is what makes this upward
trend so worrisome. Perfectionism canlead to mental health problems,
including eating disorders, depression,
anxiety and even suicide.
We all bear some responsibility to turn
off the heat by recognising that no one
is perfect and we have no right to expect
anyone to be. That starts at the top, with
our salacious delight when role models
fall from grace – at the outbursts of
Williams, for example. But it extends
to all those around us as well, to family,
friends and colleagues.
It isn’t just about our mental health.
Perfectionism’s pernicious pathology
increasingly extends to public life, too –
just witness the inability of the sides
in the UK’s Brexit debate to reach
agreement. A word to the wise:
unrealistic demands ultimately mean
we are less likely to get things done at
all, let alone done well. ❚Perfect: the enemy of good
Our obsession with the ideal is less than ideal for individuals and society
Serena Williams
has spoken of her
struggles with
perfectionismJEAN^ CAT
UFFE/GETT
YThe leader
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