Employers may feel like being a perfectionist is a great quality to have in an employee since it shows you are determined to get the job and will not settle for less. Being a maladaptive perfectionist, on the other hand, can lead to developing anxiety or depression if you try to hard to be perfect and it does not turn out that way. It is important to make realistic goals and to accept that being human means making mistakes.

Being a maladaptive perfectionist can mean accepting nothing but flawlessness. You could be spending hours on a task and continue to miss the deadline because you do not think it is perfect enough. It can also mean having extreme anxiety whenever you have a presentation or are out with friends in never feeling your skills will be good enough. You can also be afraid of being the center of attention because of the fears of looking dumb or stupid in front of your peers.

If you are not outstanding in everything you do, you feel you will not be loved or respected as much. The problem is that your fear of failure can stop you from living life to the fullest. It can mean not trying anything new unless you are confident that you will be perfect at it. Being a perfectionist can also mean avoiding people who will call you out on your imperfections because you find it as someone attacking you. This can also mean that you do not tell people when you are worried about something or what mistakes you mean to keep up that perfect image.

If you do not do anything to treat yourself from being a perfectionist, you will never feel like you are good enough which can lead to anxiety and depression. The first step towards treatment is admitting to yourself that being human means making mistakes. We need to make mistakes in order to learn from them. Going to cognitive behavioral therapy will help challenge your self-talk in why you will not allow yourself to make mistakes and to change your worries into positive thoughts. Create realistic goals for yourself to avoid attempting what is impossible. Make sure to get plenty of sleep and take up hobbies to better relax and recharge. It is important to be the best you that you can be and to accept what you can and cannot do.

Located in Tacoma, Washington, Bayview Center’s mission is to offer clinically-driven programs and services to treat a number of substance abuse disorders along with anxiety and depression using cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, trauma therapy, yoga therapy, and more for a successful recovery. For more information, please call us 888 570 7154 at as we are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.