There is a group of people out there who absolutely love to do things in the “right” or “perfect” way. They are constantly and relentlessly, thinking about how to be better. They struggle when "they drop the ball" and are petrified at the very idea of making a mistake.

Thinking about these examples:

• A basketball player who practices day and night throwing the ball hundreds of times hoping for the perfect shot

• A politician who reads her speech over and over and over to make sure she has it mastered before delivering it to her audience

• Your neighbor that prepares before a date by rehearsing every step, trying to create a perfect impression

• The digital marketer who spends hours late at night in front of the screen searching for the right algorithm in Google

All of these people could be defined as “perfectionists” on some level.

Perfectionistic behaviors are transdiagnostic and core psychological processes across many presentations, whether a person meets clinical criteria or not.

Think about the client that struggles with body image concerns, the person that
strives to have the perfect social performance, the athlete who compares himself to his peers or others, the client who is overly concerned about not behaving morally or ethically, the housewife looks at her kids' behaviors as a reflection of herself or the manager who works 24/7 non-stop to prevent mistakes from happening.

Perfectionistic and high-achieving behaviors are highly correlated with depression, anxiety, eating problems, and others. On top of that, perfectionistic behaviors are socially and intrinsically reinforced. Not easy, right?

Perfectionism was thought of as part of a person's personality, and therefore something a person is stuck with. However, we now think of it differently.

We think of perfectionistic and high-achieving actions as unhelpful patterns of behaviors that are learned over time. They are behaviors that a person not only can change but can also nourish flexibly and effectively in their life.

Therefore, learning to properly assess them, understand their function, and reach workable skills is key in our work.

What if,

• You teach your clients to check whether perfectionistic behaviors are likely to make their lives better or more miserable.

• You coach them to sit with the terrible discomfort that comes with living in an imperfect world.

• You teach your clients to put into action acceptance skills to handle the internal messiness they go through when things go wrong.

• You coach your clients on how to accept themselves as they are, instead of as they wish to be.

Individuals struggling with perfectionistic behaviors often overthink, experience self-doubt, have high standards about their performance, and get hooked on evaluations; therefore, experiential exercises are key to undermining these language-based processes.

This is precisely why ACT is highly effective for these individuals, which the research literature supports (e.g. Ong 2019).

In 2023, I gave a 3-hour webinar on ACT for perfectionism to clinicians in Turkey. You can watch the recorded version of this webinar and ask me any questions about it on our platform.

• An ACT formulation of perfectionistic behaviors that fosters flexible behavior

• How to encourage flexible living when considering personal values

• Acceptance-based interventions to manage those core fears that drive striving behaviors

• Five acceptance exercises to handle those harsh, criticizing, and negative narratives that show up when dealing with perfectionistic behaviors

• Five ACT micro-skills to live in an imperfect and unpredictable world: decision-making, getting things done without losing one’s self, and finding a sustainable rhythm to do what matters