Perfectionism, with its harshly negative self-talk, is felt to be a burden by most people who experience it. Despite this, a body of literature asserts that some perfectionism is healthy, even though a critical review of this literature finds no factual or theoretical basis for such a claim. The commonly asserted belief in a dichotomy between healthy and dysfunctional perfectionism is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of perfectionism, in part confusing the concept with striving for excellence, and has apparently arisen from uncritical acceptance of early work on the subject. Perfectionism is discussed as an interpersonal and intersubjective phenomenon, involving the perfectionist's experience of other people's expectations and judgments. Implications for treatment are discussed.

crucial for her personal and career development.In summary, Marsh and Hau (2003) should be commended for their painstaking effort to put together this very impressive multinational study. However, to further this line of research, the theoretical basis of the BFLPE needs to be broadened in light of the extant social comparison literature. Specifically, it needs to take into account the complexity and multifaceted nature of social comparison and self-appraisal processes; the active, self-regulatory role individuals play; and the ensuing positive as well as negative consequences. The authors are prudent in pointing out that this single study, with its methodological limitations, should be interpreted in a broader context of the research literature along this line of inquiry. It also appears that the practical significance of the model will remain unclear until the question of for whom and under what conditions the BFLPE will outweigh the benefits of attending a selective school is addressed. Keeping a big fish in a little pond is not the optimal solution, at least for many.

Research on perfectionism has generally left unanswered the questions of its developmental history and its meaning in lived experience. A clinical vignette illustrates a contemporary psychodynamic approach used to answer these questions and a therapeutic approach used to overcome perfectionism and its burdensome effects on individuals and intimate relationships. Theoretical developments in contemporary relational psychology, along with the author's clinical experience as a psychotherapist and parent educator, provide source material. Perfectionism is understood as a desire for perfection, a fear of imperfection, the equating of error to personal defectiveness, and the emotional conviction that perfection is the route to personal acceptability.

Within our competitive culture, some perfectionistic students do well, whereas others are overwhelmed. The personal characteristics of these perfectionistic students should not be construed as positive or adaptive perfectionism. A distinction is made between perfectionism and the pursuit of excellence. The intensity of the anxiety at the core of perfectionism is destined to have negative emotional, relational, and even performance consequences. Clinical observations over a 35-year practice of psychotherapy provide data for understanding the developmental trajectory of perfectionism and its psychological roots in particular attachment relationships, modes of affect regulation, and meanings ascribed to mistakes. A clinical vignette illustrates these constitutive factors and suggests an approach for school psychologists and other mental health professionals for launching and supporting a process of recovery. Perfectionism is a self-esteem issue, involving a desire to be perfect, a fear of imperfections being seen as evidence of personal defects, and an emotional conviction that such imperfections make one personally unacceptable. Because perfectionism arises in a relational environment of conditional acceptance, an antidote is something that counteracts this. Creating an environment of acceptance, described here, can provide such an antidote. The potential power and inevitable limitations of the school psychologist's role are also illustrated. C 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.We live in a perfectionistic culture. The individualistic, competitive side of us contributes to an environment in which second best-the Silver Medal-is considered to be a kind of failure. Tightened economic circumstances have intensified fears that we will lose out if we are not constantly pushing to do better. Our children should only go to the best schools, graduate from the best colleges, and get the best jobs and careers. We worry that failure to be the best, even at preschool age, spells doom for the future. Too often, the result of all of this is that people are valued for their achievements rather than for their character. We create a dilemma: We worry that our children will not be successful, and we worry that the pressure for success is destructive. Anxiety abounds.This article does not make an argument against competition or against achievement. Rather, it is a closer examination of the effects of this competitive atmosphere and other, more intimate family contexts on certain young people: Those who have determined that the only way to be fully acceptable as a person is to make sure that no mistakes mar their records. My goal is to describe a point of view about why people become perfectionistic and what this tells us about how psychologists and other school-based mental health professionals can help loosen the ultimately debilitating grip of perfectionism and its attendant anxiety.I will describe perfectionism as a self-esteem issue, arising not in a vacuum within an individual, but rather in certain relational contexts involving those...

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