My therapist brought up the concept of perfectionism. I never had considered this in my ocd but wow was he right. I see it as I reflect. I thought I was strictly pure o (HOCD, SOCD). What’s everyone know about the manifestation of perfectionism in OCD?

I think it’s spot on for a lot of us!! At least I know it is for me!!

My therapist always tells me I have “all or nothing” thinking. It’s either perfect or a disaster, no in between

Totally! I never thought of myself as a perfectionist but looking back after my therapist pointed it out, holy cow. Always caring so much about doing well and receiving praise and affirmation and everyone liking me. Which I think is related to my “reassurance seeking” compulsions. I need constant reassurance that I’m smart, likable, successful, and I get that reassurance from getting good grades (back in the day), or doing well at work, pleasing my parents, and people liking me- basically being a perfectionist. And it’s not about trying to be perfect all the time, because I don’t try to be perfect all the time. But there’s a definite sense of self loathing or disappointment in myself when I’m not. I’m getting better at it though.

How do we work thru perfectionism? What does ERP look like for this?

@roxacres Wow, I do that all the time. My boyfriend always says “you don’t have to be liked by everyone”, “you can say no”, “it’s okay to mess up” and stuff like that. When we get into a fight, even a little argument, I feel I need to fix it right away because he’s going to stop loving me or something. I always seek approval through others like teachers, parents, friends, my boyfriend, and God. I had no idea this was perfectionism.

Perfectionism is definitely a part of OCD for some people. There’s a concept of “maladaptive perfectionism” which means that you are too perfectionist.