Clinical perfectionism has been implicated as a transdiagnostic construct involved in the aetiology, maintenance, and course of a wide range of Axis I disorders. Typically characterised by the setting of unrealistically high standards for performance, perfectionism has been suggested to be associated with a number of negative psychological outcomes. Moreover, it has been suggested that the process in which perfectionists set and strive for their high performance standards, including the way in which they revaluate such standards, may be maintained by a number of maladaptive cognitive, affective, and behavioural constructs. However, how such factors may differ across adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism remains unclear. This article reviews the adaptive and maladaptive conceptualisations of perfectionism and critically examines the empirical literature pertaining to the cognitive-behavioural model of clinical perfectionism. In addition, we also review outcomes of intervention studies that have focused on altering dysfunctional cognitions when treating clinical perfectionism. Clinical implications of these findings and directions for future research are also explored.

A cognitive-behavioural analysis of clinical perfectionism has recently been proposed. The aim of this study was to explore the phenomenology of clinical perfectionism and its putative maintaining mechanisms. Of the 21 participants, 15 were judged to have the core psychopathology of clinical perfectionism. The data obtained were largely consistent with the model. In particular, self-imposed dysfunctional standards, continual striving and adverse consequences appeared to be highly salient features of those people who had the core psychopathology of clinical perfectionism but not of those without. A number of other possible maintaining factors not originally described in the model were also identified.