If you are the kind of a person who seeks perfection in everything you do, you might want to reconsider your approach. New research shows that perfectionists are at greater risk of suicide.
Researchers at the York University explained that physicians, lawyers and architects who are mostly precision seekers, and also those in leadership roles, are at higher risk of suicide due to this trait.
"Perfectionism is a bigger risk factor in suicide than we may think," psychology professor Gordon Flett from York University said in a press release.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that more than one million people commit suicide annually in the United States.
Flett along with professor Paul Hewitt of University of British Columbia and professor Marnin Heisel of Western University said that recent cases of prominent perfectionists who have committed suicide also shed light on the matter.
The team explained how facing persistent demands to be perfect – a concept they refer to as socially prescribed perfectionism – is constantly associated with hopelessness and suicide.
Researchers say self-presentation and self-concealment carry through to a perfectionism about the act of suicide where these troubled perfectionists are masters of concealing any hint of their life-ending plans and carry them out with precision. "Clinical guidelines should include perfectionism as a separate factor for suicide risk assessment and intervention," Flett noted.
"There is an urgent need for looking at perfectionism with a person-centred approach as an individual and societal risk factor, when formulating clinical guidelines for suicide risk assessment and intervention, as well as public health approaches to suicide prevention," he said.
The study was published in the journal Review of General Psychology.
