First, what is perfectionism, perfectionism is good
Perfectionism is a personality trait that manifests itself in attention to detail and the pursuit of perfection. In the past, people treated perfectionism as a bad personality trait, believing it would lead to frustration, depression, compulsiveness, procrastination, etc. Recent researchers have shed new light on perfectionism, advocating the division of perfectionism into adaptive and nonadaptive forms.
Adaptive perfectionism refers to setting high goals for one’s work life in order to improve one’s quality or situation, and being able to face setbacks in achieving the goals and feel satisfied once one has achieved them. This type of people, although some serious and even some paranoid, but can get along with themselves, and the environment friendly, adaptable, life is not lack of happiness and sense of achievement.
Non-adaptive perfectionism is driven by external motivation, set unrealistic and rigid high standards for work life, excessive attention to mistakes and failures, and excessive harsh self-criticism after failure, even if success does not make them feel satisfied. These people are less adaptable and often suffer from symptoms or illnesses of depression, anxiety, compulsions, and even suicidal ideation.
Therefore, non-adaptive perfectionists are the most vicious and strict to themselves in the world, the most will degrade and abuse themselves, will live a very tired, some people will also use these standards to measure their spouses and children, resulting in family discord.
Second, what is obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a type of neurological disorder with symptoms such as obsessive-compulsive ideas and compulsive behavior as its main manifestation. Although the definition is boring, it is much simpler than the official definition of perfectionism mentioned above.
OCD mostly develops in adolescence, with the average age of onset around 20 years old, with the peak age of onset in males and between 20-24 years old in females, with similar prevalence in both sexes. It occurs mostly in people of high intelligence and high social class, where excessive demands of religion and morality in the family make the patient overly perfect. They are accustomed to controlling their thoughts and desires without revealing them, so they often do not let others know after the onset of the disease and seek medical attention only after an average of about 7 years from the onset of the disease.
1. Obsessive-compulsive concepts
Compulsive ideas are thoughts, sounds or impulses that repeatedly invade the patient’s consciousness in a stereotyped form, including obsessive suspicion, obsessive memories, obsessive representations, obsessive intentions, obsessive exhaustion, obsessive retardation, etc.
(1) Obsessive suspicion
Uncertainty about what has been accomplished, such as whether the gas is turned off? Are the doors and windows closed? Did you miss a word in your greeting? After repeatedly confirming, you still feel uneasy.
(2) Compulsive memory
You can’t help but recall every detail of your past experiences until you feel that you have recalled them clearly.
(3) Obsessive-compulsive representations
A vivid and vivid image or a figurative recollection, the content of which is mostly disgusting or embarrassing, repeatedly appears in the mind.
(4) Compulsive intention
Patients feel a strong, uncontrollable intention to act, which can be either a small, insignificant action or a cruel act of throwing their child to the ground.
(5) Compulsive thoughtlessness
Repeatedly thinking about meaningless “problems” and searching for the root cause. Knowing that it is meaningless, but it is difficult to stop.
2.Compulsive behavior
It is a recurring stereotyped behavior or ritual action, or a hidden mental process to confront the compulsion, and is the result of the patient’s submission to the compulsion to reduce internal anxiety.
(1) Compulsive checking
Repeatedly check whether the gas, doors and windows are in order, and whether the account number or phone number is wrong, and in severe cases, dozens of times.
(2) Forced washing
Repeated hand washing and repeated laundry are mostly related to the anxiety caused by the compulsive view of being contaminated.
(3) Obsessive-compulsive ritualistic actions
Patients adopt specific behavioral rituals in order to alleviate anxiety caused by obsessive-compulsive ideas. The effects of the relevant behaviors are often difficult to sustain, and patients will perform repeated behaviors again or develop new ritualized behaviors, and over time, their ritualized behavioral procedures become increasingly complex.
3. Compulsive retardation
Patients apparently do not show repetition and stay in a simple action for a long time, even for several hours. The patient is thinking about the appropriateness of the action steps and waiting for the action to be executed perfectly with little anxiety.
The patient knows that all of the above is unnecessary or redundant and has difficulty fighting it despite trying to control it. When these symptoms persist for more than 3 months and interfere with the patient’s social and work life, the diagnosis of OCD is usually made.
Third, people with OCD are usually non-adaptive perfectionists
OCD sufferers are convinced that things must be perfect in order to succeed, and that failure will result in serious setbacks, and that the individual should dominate his or her thoughts, overestimating the probability of adverse consequences.
Usually people’s minds will occasionally pop up some strange ideas and impulses, but usually do not take them seriously, OCD patients as the world’s most strict on their own, of course, will not let go of this flash, will pay too much attention to this situation, excessive self-blame, and want to eliminate and control it with their own subjective will, but lead to the frequency of these thinking content, and then is more self-blame, anxiety.
For these thinking content and impulses, to do or not to do, this is a problem, and triggered more anxiety in people with OCD, anxiety like a mountain, in order to reduce anxiety, had to do it first, so we see someone walking must count poles, someone locking the door after more than a dozen times to check, someone washing their hands to wash a long time. Is it enough to compromise in this way? The effect of these behaviors will not last, and over time, their behavioral procedures become more and more complex, and the process of implementation becomes like a ritual, and once the ritualized behavior goes wrong, you have to start all over again. For example, a patient used to walk back a few times before leaving the house just to twist the door handle a few times to check if it was locked, and over time, he would have to come back and open the door and enter the room, look under the bed, look in the kitchen, re-lock the door, then knock three times, and after a while, come back and do it all over again.
So, the conclusion comes out that perfectionism is not OCD, the former is a personality trait, the latter is a disease. But there are good and bad perfectionists, adaptive perfectionists are proper winners in life, non-adaptive perfectionists are the world’s most vicious and strict with themselves, the most will degrade, abuse their own people, will live a very tired, often depression, anxiety, obsessive symptoms or disease, and even suicidal ideation. Many of our OCD patients are non-adaptive perfectionists.
So when you read this article and find yourself lying down, a person who is most vicious to himself, then it is better to learn to appreciate yourself and downgrade everything. If you find yourself with obsessive-compulsive symptoms and not light, then go to the doctor early, early to get better, take medication and psychotherapy go hand in hand, can reduce a lot of pain.