Study shows perfectionism hurts students

Torey Ellis
the dalhousie gazette
halifax (cup) – A psychology professor at Dalhousie University has found that perfectionism may be doing some people more harm than good.
“It’s an ugly situation, where you’re striving for more but achieving less,” said Simon Sherry, one of the authors of a new study on perfectionism in the academic world.
The study surveyed approximately 1,300 professors from psychology programs throughout North America. The study suggested that professors with high levels of perfectionism tend to produce less research, and the research that is produced tends to be published in less prestigious journals.
Sherry says the findings can be applied to students as well.
“What do we know about perfectionism in academia? It’s associated with writer’s block, public speaking anxiety, fear of failure, fear of success, statistics anxiety and a range of academic problems,” said Sherry. All of these, he says, are traits to which students can relate.
Aislin Graham, a third-year psychology PhD student, can attest to that.
“It’s the same thing with undergrads. Professors are just at a more extreme level,” she said. “You’re always in this environment where you’re receiving criticism or feedback and individuals who have perfectionism on top of that; I think they kind of get stuck.”
Sean Mackinnon, another PhD student studying under Sherry, says that the first transitioning year into university is the most emotional.
“The university environment, unfortunately, is one that really pulls for perfectionism. Because theoretically, you can do perfect,” he said. “Realistically, nobody can get 100 percent.”
But David Mensink, a psychologist at Dalhousie’s counselling centre, disagrees with the idea that perfectionism could be bad.
“I don’t think you can over-strive,” he said. “What I would say is problematic is the response to not doing things perfectly.”
Mensink says the top three issues that students bring to him are anxiety, depression and relationship problems. He also runs a group for students with eating disorders. All are dysfunctions that Sherry believes result from perfectionist thinking.
But Mensink strongly disagreed that psychological dysfunctions stem from a perfectionist attitude, citing a personal example to demonstrate what he defines as perfectionism.
“I want to [perform] therapy perfectly. I do,” he said. “For every client that comes in that experiences depression, anxiety, relationship problems, I want to help them perfectly.”