Analysis Of The Dangerous Downsides Of Perfectionism By Amanda Ruggeri

A teenage girl wakes up and gets ready for school, making sure that each hair is in perfect position, all of her makeup is blended, and her clothes and shoes match correctly. Before leaving, she packs her bag with her color-coded binders and makes her lunch so that it fits right into her container. Once she gets to school, she takes her first three hours’ color-coded binders and heads to class. In her first hour, she has a test: chemistry. Her current grade in that class is a 99.9 and she worries that if she doesn’t get her grade up to 100 after this test, she will have failed. She studied last night for three hours. When she gets out of the test, she knows she missed at least one and she checks Powerschool ten, fifteen, twenty times in the

In the article, “The Dangerous Downsides of Perfectionism”, the author, Amanda Ruggeri quotes Katie Rasmussen, a researcher at West Virginia University, stating “As many as two in five kids and adolescents are perfectionists” (Ruggeri). This means that up to forty percent of all kids display perfectionist tendencies. Because of this growing number of children with perfectionism, rationale has been found to explain the roots of perfectionism. At a young age, there are two main reasons behind the development of perfectionist tendencies. Similar to other personality traits and disorders, perfectionism can be passed down genetically. Depending on a child’s family history, they could be born with a perfectionist mindset (Basco 30). Additionally, parents have a large impact on childhood development because children are vulnerable at young ages. If a parent expresses a belief that what his/her child has done is not “good enough” or could be better, then the child will often internalize this belief (Basco 30). Parents can also push their children to be overly successful in every sense of his/her life and when the children don’t reach their parents’ goal, the parents will show disapproval (Perfectionism). After years of hearing criticism from parents, many people will internalize the criticism and believe it, leading to internal

Many mental health issues/psychological disorders can contribute or lead to maladaptive perfectionism. People with some forms of anxiety are more likely to develop perfectionist tendencies (Regressi). Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) also has a back and forth relationship. While some people believe that all perfectionists have OCD–likely because of perfectionism’s “control freak” stereotype–this is actually not true. They have similarities and some people share both OCD and perfectionism, but not everyone who has one has the other (Perfectionism). The more alarming information, however, is the connection between perfectionists and their development of psychological disorders. In “The Dangerous Downsides of Perfectionism”, Regressi uses a quote from Sarah Egan, a researcher, who says that, "There are studies that suggest that the higher the perfectionism is, the more psychological disorders you’re going to suffer” (Regressi). As perfectionism becomes more dangerous and maladaptive, it also heightens the risk of developing disorders like anxiety, depression, and many types of eating disorders. Because of constant stress to live up to their standards, perfectionists deal with anxieties daily that may lead to anxiety disorder. Also, because of their low self worth and chronic unhappiness, depression is also common to many perfectionists. In worst case scenarios,