PhD candidate, lecturer and trained actor, Julia Grieshofer, researches actors’ mental health at UCL. From June 2021/22, she joins the UCL MSc in Performing Arts Medicine team to lead the Psychology module on this programme. Recently, she was invited as a speaker on the BAPAM webinar to talk about Perfectionism in Performing Artists.

Here, she tells us more about her insights on Perfectionism in Performing Artists, why it can be problematic and what can be done about it:  

 

“This is not good enough!” – who has not said this to themselves, when working on an important project? If I randomly asked several artists about this, almost everyone would confirm that they have had thoughts of not having done well enough on projects in the past. Specifically, when working with something as personal as sharing art with an audience, we are judgmental of ourselves because we are sharing our creation. But what is the difference between not being sufficiently good or well-prepared and a more delusional perception of perfection that surpasses all normal standards of high quality? 

  

In Mental Health Awareness week, we at BAPAM decided to discuss perfectionism in this blog post as it commonly arises as a health issue in performing artists, causing significant problems which can be managed if handled appropriately. 

 

What is Perfectionism?

To understand when perfectionism tips over into a pathological manifestation, we first ought to clarify what we mean by the term perfectionism. Perfectionism is a curious concept, even among clinicians and specialists some disagreement exists on what it is and how it can be defined clinically. The current consensus is that clinically significant perfectionism is defined as an ‘overdependence of self-evaluation on … self-imposed personally demanding standards’ where more attention is paid to failures than to successes. While perfection can be a component of several types of personality disorders, within the DSM 5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorder 5), perfectionism is not mentioned as a separate personality disorder but is categorised as a facet of compulsive traits described within Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorders.  

  

To make sense of this theoretical framework, it is useful to think about a person who fails to complete tasks because of his or her own overly strict self-imposed standards. For example, an employee is given the task of writing a project report, but due to the struggle of living up to their self-imposed standards they fail to complete the written report on time or to finish it at all. In fact, perfectionism may often result in avoidance behaviour such as procrastination and in general may cause significant dysfunction and distress. To come back to our initial question of when healthy perfectionism tips over into a more pathological manifestation, this largely depends on the extent of distress experienced by the patient and their surroundings.  

 

How does perfectionism affect us?

Certainly, everyone can be a perfectionist and to some extent those with a relatively strong manifestation of that trait pride themselves in this description. As with every other clinical characteristic, how the trait affects the individual is majorly dependent on your personality and environmental influences. To simplify things, I find it helpful to imagine our psyche as a line with many different dots. Every dot represents a psychological trait and where the dot for perfectionism, for instance, falls on the spectrum from dormant to very dominant, will define how this trait may manifest itself in a clinical sense within the individual. However, environmental influences also have a considerable influence on how and when it may manifest clinically. 

  

Even having a strong perfectionistic trait does not categorically mean that one will have clinical problems as a result. Stoeber and Otto (2006) discovered that having an internal motivation to do well can lead to rather advantageous manifestations of perfectionism, such as lower levels of depression, anxiety, self-doubt, and procrastination. However, individuals who feel perfectionistic standards are imposed on them, tend to develop more problematic manifestations of perfectionism, such as greater psychological distress and risk of injury. To explain this a bit better, it may be helpful to divide perfectionism into three aspects: 

  • one’s opinion about the oneself (e.g. I impose strict standards on myself), 
  • opinions that one has about others (e.g. my colleagues work is not good enough because they do not live up to my standards) 
  • opinions that one thinks others have about them (e.g. I assume that I will not manage to live up to the high standards my parents expect of me).  

 

While the first self-orientated trait is generally associated with more beneficial outcomes the latter is linked to more problematic manifestations of the trait. 

 

Why does it affect artists?

Unfortunately, artists lifestyle and their circumstances do not provide the most favourable environment for perfectionists. In fact, continuous exposure to an unfavourable environment may be one reason for the high level of perfectionism in performing artists. It is not unknown that artists often struggle financially, for instance BBC (2018) reported that only one in 50 actors earns more than £20,000 per annum. While, generally speaking, this has less to do with their talent or skills and more with the job market within the industry itself, these financial struggles may be experienced as a personal failure to achieve financial goals leading to more failures regarding reaching social milestones (e.g. living independently) and can, for instance, manifest in attempts of shifting attention from the outside world to their own body which seems more controllable. As a result, anorexia nervous is a rather common clinical manifestation of perfectionism, as are depression, social anxiety, and anger issues.  

 

What can I do about it?

CBT and other psychodynamic psychotherapies can address and work with these issues. Introducing the concept of a “Structured Day” into your daily routine can be helpful in dealing with your own perfectionistic traits. This includes scheduling a time and space for exercise (preferably aerobic), mental calming (like mediation), a calming pastime (such as caring for plants), engaging with friends, working on a good diet and stable sleep routine every day. This way the focus of your performance is shifted away from factors that cannot be controlled and is substituted by a routine that will benefit your mental health on the long term. 

  

To come back to our original question, I would strongly suggest that asking ‘How much perfectionism is advantageous and what is too much? is unhelpful. This is because by doing so, the focus is placed on your performance. Once perfectionism causes personal distress and has a significant negative impact on your life, this is the point to consider seeking professional help.  

 

(1)Shafran, R., Cooper, Z., Fairburn, C.G. (2002) Clinical Perfectionism: a cognitive behavioural analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 40.773-791