Perfectionism often plays a significant role in the development of an eating disorder. It is a personality trait that involves extremely harsh self-critical thoughts and judgments. Those who struggle with perfectionism often pursue an unreasonable level of perfection in nearly all areas of their life.
When someone wants to recover from an eating disorder, it is typically a critical part of treatment to address their perfectionism.
The Perfectionism-Eating Disorder Connection
Perfectionism is not always negative. It can bring helpful motivation to pursue challenges and achieve one’s goals. However, it often gets very skewed, leading to distorted thoughts, such as black and white thinking and catastrophizing.
As it takes over one’s perspective of their lives, it can lead to mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. For example, the desire to have the perfect body, combined with the harsh self-criticism, can create a toxic cycle of disordered eating and exercise.
People with eating disorders often set unrealistically high standards for themselves, especially regarding body weight and shape. When these standards aren’t met, they experience intense feelings of failure and shame.
To deal with these emotions, they will turn to behaviors such as restrictive dieting, binge eating, or purging. These behaviors do provide temporary relief from the painful thoughts but continue the cycle of perfectionism and eating disorder behaviors.
Addressing Perfectionism in Therapy
When one begins to work on their recovery, it will always involve how their thoughts impact their behaviors. Recognizing how much their perfectionism influences their eating disorder is an important step toward healing.
Common signs of perfectionism:
- All-or-Nothing Thinking: Viewing situations in black-and-white terms, such as believing that anything less than perfect is a failure.
- Overemphasis on Appearance: Placing an excessive importance on physical appearance and believing that one’s worth is tied to achieving an ideal body image.
- Self-Criticism: Engaging in harsh self-criticism and negative self-talk, especially regarding body shape, weight, and eating habits.
- Fear of Failure: An intense fear of failure or making mistakes, leading to extreme measures to avoid perceived imperfections.
- Rigid Rules: Adhering to strict and inflexible rules about eating, exercise, and body weight.
Healing Perfectionism
Healing from perfectionism and eating disorders is a complex but achievable process. It involves a few approaches and tools to help one shift their problematic thoughts. In therapy, there are specific approaches that have been found to support one in recognizing and changing their thought patterns.
Therapeutic Interventions:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT helps individuals identify and challenge perfectionistic thoughts and behaviors, replacing them with healthier, more balanced perspectives.
- Mindfulness Practices: Practicing mindfulness can help individuals become more aware of their thoughts and feelings without judgment. Techniques such as meditation and deep breathing can reduce stress and promote self-acceptance.
- Self-Compassion: Cultivating self-compassion involves treating oneself with kindness and understanding, especially in the face of perceived failures or imperfections. This shift in mindset can reduce the harsh self-criticism that fuels both perfectionism and eating disorders.
- Setting Realistic Goals: Learning to set realistic, achievable goals instead of striving for perfection can alleviate the pressure that leads to disordered eating behaviors. This includes setting small, incremental goals related to both eating habits and overall well-being.
Healing Negative Body Image
Perfectionism will almost always influence ones view of their body. And, often for someone with an eating disorder, the goals will continuously change so that the ‘perfect body’ will never actually be reached. Or for some, they live in fear that their body will change in a way that will become out of their control.
To have a balanced perspective on body image, one must acknowledge how dysfunctional their body image is. Then, in order to develop a more balanced and realistic perspective on body image, they’ll need to challenge societal standards of beauty. This is no easy task. What is helpful is to truly consider their values and recognize their own intrinsic value beyond appearance. This shift can diminish the need to achieve a perfect body.
Support
Breaking free of these intense, problematic thoughts can feel like a full-time job. Therapy will definitely help, but it is key to keep the support going outside of sessions. When you are able to build a support network, you’ll feel less alone and get quicker reality checks when negative thoughts creep in.
Building a strong support network of friends, family, and peers via a support group can provide the encouragement and understanding needed to overcome perfectionism and eating disorders. Sharing experiences and receiving support can be incredibly validating and motivating.
If you’d like to learn more about working with an Evolve clinician, reach out to us today!
