Link Between Addiction and Perfectionism

While living a life of addiction is far from perfect, there’s a strong link between perfectionism and addiction. For many, perfectionism may have even played a role in drinking or drug use in the first place. 

For instance, you may have notoriously set unattainable goals for yourself and turned to drugs or alcohol to mask feelings of failure or self-criticism. Or, you may have used these substances to simply escape or take yourself out of your perfectionism. 

Perfectionism, defined as a propensity for being displeased with anything that’s not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards, can certainly take a toll on your psyche. People who are so-called perfectionists typically share the following character traits: 

• Have an inner need to strive for flawlessness.
• Set excessively high performance standards for themselves.
• Act overly critical of their performance on tasks.
• Are concerned about the appraisals of other people.

For those in recovery, perfectionism can also prevent you from getting proper treatment and/or doing the hard work required of life-long sobriety. Here’s a look why: 

• Perfectionists may think they play by different rules than others, so for example, they don’t need help or they can handle just one drink.
• Perfectionists expect to get it right the first time around. This leaves little room for the learning process of rehab and can easily lead to impatience with the recovery process. What’s more, this type of thinking can make it that much harder to recover from any slip-ups along the way. 
• Perfectionists are just as tough on others as they are on themselves. The result: isolation loneliness and mistrust. 

Help for Perfectionism and Addiction
Don’t let perfectionism get in the way of your lasting sobriety. At Complete Harmony, it’s our goal to provide clients with the tools and strategies needed for early recovery and beyond. To learn more about our cutting edge treatments, call today: 866-930-4673.

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