Perfectionism: Who They Really Are

Practice may make perfect, but perfectionism makes for reduced job performance, depression, and illness -- not to mention alienated colleagues.

So reports psychologist J. Clayton Lafferty, Ph.D., who looked at the lifestyles and personalities of 9,211 managers and professionals. His conclusion: Striving for perfection is likely to harm employees and companies alike.

"Perfectionism has nothing to do with actually trying to perfect anything." Lafferty says. "It is about illusion, the desire to look good." Because they equate their self-worth with flawless performance, perfectionists often get hung up on meaningless details and spend more time on projects than is necessary. Ultimately, productivity suffers.

Another problem is that perfectionists may cover up errors in an attempt to maintain a superhuman image. That's why, contrary to expectations, perfectionists are ill-suited to working in risky environments like nuclear reactors or high-tech fighter planes, where mistakes must be shared at once to avoid catastrophe. Indeed, a study of pilots found that accidents and perfectionism often go hand-in-hand.

Disaster can also ensue when perfectionism pervades corporate culture. "The ability to make the distinction between what is achievable and what isn't is highly associated with business effectiveness." says Lafferty, of Human Synergistics International, a Michigan consulting firm. He cites one major company that nearly engineered its own demise by setting sales goals so high that it failed to meet them for 16 consecutive years.

While working under such conditions takes its toll on employees, it is the perfectionists themselves who suffer most from their compulsions. Their self-induced stress leads to a cornucopia of health problems, from headaches and chest pains to depression and impotence. "Achievement acts as an insulation against physical illness," notes Lafferty, "while perfectionism seems almost to conduct it."

Understanding Procrastination

At the age of 37, Jared, a would-be professor in New York state, should be on tenure track at a university, perhaps publishing his second or third book. Instead, he's working on a dissertation in sociology that he'd planned to complete a decade ago. He's blown two "drop-dead" deadlines and is worried about missing a third. His girlfriend is losing patience. No one can understand why a guy they consider brilliant doesn't "just do it." Nor, for that matter, can Jared: "If I could change it, believe me, I would," he swears.

Jared is among the one in five people who chronically procrastinate, jeopardizing careers and jettisoning peace of mind, all the while repeating the mantra: "I should be doing something else right now."

Procrastination is not just an issue of time management or laziness. It's about feeling paralyzed and guilty as you channel surf, knowing you should be cracking the books or reconfiguring your investment strategy. Why the gap between incentive and action? Psychologists now believe it is a combination of anxiety and false beliefs about productivity.

Tim Pychyl, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, tracked students with procrastination problems in the final week before a project was due. Students first reported anxiety and guilt because they had not started their projects. "They were telling themselves 'I work better under pressure' or 'this isn't important,'" says Pychyl. But once they began to work, they reported more positive emotions; they no longer lamented wasted time, nor claimed that pressure helped. The results of this study will be presented at the Third International Conference on Counseling the Procrastinator in Academic Settings in August. Psychologists have focused on procrastination among students because the problem is rampant in academic settings; some 70 percent of college students report problems with overdue papers and delayed studying, according to Joseph Ferrari, associate professor of psychology at Chicago's DePaul University.

Pychyl also found that procrastination is detrimental to physical health. College students who procrastinate have higher levels of drinking, smoking, insomnia, stomach problems, colds and flu.

So why can't people just buckle down and get the job done?

False beliefs

Many procrastinators are convinced that they work better under pressure, or they'll feel better about tackling the work later. But tomorrow never comes and last-minute work is often low quality. In spite of what they may believe, "Procrastinators generally don't do well under pressure," says Ferrari. The idea that time pressure improves performance is perhaps the most common myth among procrastinators.

Fear of failure

"The main reason people procrastinate is fear," says Neil Fiore, Ph.D., author of The Now Habit. Procrastinators fear they'll fall short because they don't have the requisite talent or skills. "They get overwhelmed and they're afraid they'll look stupid." According to Ferrari, "Procrastinators would rather be seen as lacking in effort than lacking in ability." If you flunk a calculus exam, better to loudly blame it on the half-hour study blitz, than admit to yourself that you could have used a tutor the entire semester.

Perfectionism

Procrastinators tend to be perfectionists--and they're in overdrive because they're insecure. People who do their best because they want to win don't procrastinate; but those who feel they must be perfect to please others often put things off. These people fret that "No one will love me if everything I do isn't utter genius." Such perfectionism is at the heart of many an unfinished novel.

Self-control

Impulsivity may seem diametrically opposed to procrastination, but both can be part of a larger problem: self-control. People who are impulsive may not be able to prioritize intentions, says Pychyl. So, while writing a term paper you break for a snack and see a spill in the refrigerator, which leads to cleaning the entire kitchen.

Punitive parenting

Children of authoritarian parents are prone to procrastinate. Pychyl speculates that children with such parents postpone choices because their decisions are so frequently criticized--or made for them. Alternatively, the child may procrastinate as a form of rebellion. Refusing to study can be an angry--if self-defeating--message to Mom and Dad.

Thrill-seeking

Some procrastinators enjoy the adrenaline "rush." These people find perverse satisfaction when they finish their taxes minutes before midnight on April 15 and dash to the post office just before it closes.

Task-related anxieties

Procrastination can be associated with specific situations. "Humans avoid the difficult and boring," says Fiore. Even the least procrastination-prone individuals put off taxes and visits to the dentist.

Unclear expectations

Ambiguous directions and vague priorities increase procrastination. The boss who asserts that everything is high priority and due yesterday is more likely to be kept waiting. Supervisors who insist on "prioritizing the Jones project and using the Smith plan as a model" see greater productivity.

Depression

The blues can lead to or exacerbate procrastination--and vice versa. Several symptoms of depression feed procrastination. Decision-making is another problem. Because depressed people can't feel much pleasure, all options seem equally bleak, which makes getting started difficult and pointless.

Maia Szalavitz is a freelance science writer and co-author of Recovery Options: The Complete Guide: How You and Your Loved Ones Can Understand and Treat Alcohol and Other Drug Problems.

Extracted from psychologytoday.com

Depression: Source of Inspiration?

When Kurt Cobain shot himself in the head at his Seattle, Washington, home in 1994, his band, Nirvana, was a chart-topping rock act on the brink of superstardom. Feelings of depression, cynicism and withdrawal infiltrated Cobain's lyrics, and 11 years after his death, rock fans around the world immortalize him more than ever.

Although Prozac was readily available during the years leading up to Cobain's death, the people behind some of history's most famous works of art did not have the option of taking medication for their condition. Had Prozac existed hundreds of years ago, perhaps William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, would not have been created.

Although historically, depression has been romanticized, in recent years the condition has become increasing viewed as a disease for purposes of health care. But depression is also a source of inspiration and enlightenment and thus should not necessarily be written off as an illness that must be treated with medication and therapy.

In his new book, Against Depression, psychiatrist Peter Kramer writes about how some of his depressed patients feel about their condition: To be depressed -- even quite gravely -- is to be in touch with what matters most in life, its finitude and brevity, its absurdity and arbitrariness. To be depressed is to adopt the posture of a rebel and social critic. Feeling depressed provides many people with insight. It's a source of creativity and inspiration.

Kramer, who also wrote the 1993 best-seller Listening To Prozac, points to the tradition of heroic melancholy as the reason why depression isn't considered a typical illness. Shakespeare's Hamlet, for example, was crippled by paralysis -- the inability to sort through his anxious mind and take action. But audiences applauded his suicidal thoughts, passivity and alienation. Characters like Hamlet made melancholy fashionable. Depressive thoughts became admirable.

Today, more people than ever are depressed. According to the National Institute of Mental Health approximately 18.8 million American adults -- or 9.5% of people older than 18 -- have a depressive disorder. But three out of four depressed people do not seek treatment.

Doctors attribute the dismal treatment rate to the fact that many depressed people do not recognize their symptoms. But perhaps many people leave their condition untreated because they find something positive in their feelings of depression.

The debate as to whether depression is more of an emotion that provides inspiration or a pervasive illness is not over. Nor does it have a simple resolution. But in deciding whether depression is worthy of decisive treatment, it is important to think about all of the astounding works of art that might never be created if doctors around the world provide medication to every depressed patient.

Right now, the next Shakespeare might be popping in his morning dose of Prozac.

Extracted from psychologytoday.com

Hikkomori Syndrome

A syndrome known as hikikomori, in which the outside world is shunned, is wreaking havoc on young people in Japan, a country known for its communal values. And an older generation -- the very bastion of those old-fashioned values -- may be to blame.

Hikikomori (the term refers to the behavior itself and to those who suffer from it) was first recognized in the early 1990s. One million Japanese, or almost 1 percent of the population, are estimated to suffer from hikikomori, defined as a withdrawal from friends and family for months or even years. Some 40 percent of hikikomori are below the age of 21.

Western psychologists compare hikikomori with social anxiety and agoraphobia, a fear of open places. The affliction has also been likened to Asperger's syndrome, a mild variant of autism. But these theories carry little weight in Japan, where the disorder is considered culturally unique and is linked to violence.

Yuichi Hattori, M.A., a psychologist currently treating 18 patients with the disorder, believes that hikikomori is caused by emotionally neglectful parenting. Hattori argues that none of his patients had been sexually or physically abused, yet they all show signs of posttraumatic stress disorder.

As the cultural gap between Japan's youth and elders widens, some young Japanese may view their parents as too stony-faced and reserved. Hattori speaks of Japanese society's deep-rooted division between hone and tatemae -- one's true feelings and one's actions -- to illustrate the frustration his patients express toward aloof parents.

"Patients tell me their mothers have no emotions," says Hattori. "Six patients have called their parents zombies."

Hattori's findings are reminiscent of the now-discredited theory of the "refrigerator mother," which attributed autism to a detached style of parenting.

"Hikikomori looks more to me like an extreme case of social anxiety," says David Kupfer, Ph.D., a psychologist with a private practice in Virginia. Emotionally unresponsive parents are only one of the factors involved in the development of this disorder, says Kupfer, who points out that "in Japan, the pressure to succeed is a unique cultural source of trauma."

For now, Eastern and Western psychologists agree only that hikikomori is unique to Japan and has serious ramifications for both generations.

Extracted from psychologytoday.com

Supertasters: Are they at RISK?

Important clues to your health may be on your tongue. Research suggests that the 25 percent of the population who are most sensitive to a bitter chemical called PROP - so-called supertasters - may face a higher risk of some cancers, possibly because they don't like the taste of vitamin-packed veggies.

In a study of 200 veterans, Linda Bartoshuk, professor at the Yale University School of Medicine, found that sensitivity to bitter tastes was correlated to the number of cancerous colon polyps in the subjects.

But having sensitive taste buds may not be completely bad news. Supertasters are also overpowered by sweet and high-fat foods, decreasing their risk for obesity and probably heart disease too. Bartoshuk's latest study found supertasters experience greater "oral burn" from alcohol. She hypothesized that they were less likely to become alcoholics as a result. Thomas Joiner, a psychology professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee, recently confirmed the theory, but only for men - for reasons that are unclear.

The aversion to alcohol may help explain another of Joiner's observations - that supertasters are less likely to have family histories of depression. "Alcohol avoidance may play a role in that," he says. "But we also think that supertasters have a greater ability to experience pleasure, and that may offer a protective effect against depression."

Extracted from psychologytoday.com