SAN MARCOS – Academic perfectionism poses various physical and psychological health risks for many Texas State students, especially during finals season. Rates of perfectionism are rising among college students and while Texas State offers some interventions and education on perfectionism, challenges such as misconceptions surrounding perfectionism contribute to difficulty in students accessing care.
The cultural values of American society have shifted over time to now emphasize competitiveness, individualism and high self-oriented standards. While a desire to achieve high grades in college can be a seemingly positive attribute to have, it can slip into unhealthy territory if students develop perfectionism as a maladaptive coping strategy.
Maladaptive thinking can lead to often self-imposed unrealistic standards as well as excessive self-critique and deep shame when said standards are not met. These thought patterns can make perfectionism very dangerous to students’ mental health and overall well-being.
According to Dr. Alyssa Fernandez, a clinical psychologist and the perfectionism group therapy leader at Texas State’s Counseling Center, perfectionism is unique in that it can thrive on external validation in comparison to other maladaptive coping strategies that people might choose to hide from others due to shame.
“We’re socially rewarded for perfectionism in a way that we wouldn’t be rewarded for other maladaptive coping skills,” Fernandez said. “Perfectionism is really hard to combat when we are told that it’s a good thing…perfectionism can go from ‘I have standards for myself, I want to do the best that I can’ to ‘now I need to do that because I really liked the way that it felt when somebody told me I did well.’”
Elevated levels of stress and anxiety from academic perfectionism can cause students to develop avoidant coping strategies and procrastination. Increased levels of anxiety are correlated with a decreased ability to properly concentrate, so students who struggle with academic perfectionism might have difficulty focusing in classes which could result in their academic success being negatively impacted.
Finals season is a time in the college semester that can affect the health of many college students, as a healthy diet, sleep and social outings are commonly set aside in favor of studying. However, these largely normalized behaviors could be especially detrimental for students with perfectionism as they are at higher risk for developing serious conditions such as eating disorders, anxiety and depression.
Alicia Rosas, health promotion specialist at Texas State University and supervisor for the Healthy Cats peer education group on campus, says that it’s very important for people who work with students and students, alike, to remember that students are still people.
“That’s one of the things that we do here in Health Promotion Services,” Rosas said. “We really remind students that they need to take care of their bodies, take care of their brains, take care of the unit before they can do the other things.”
Health Promotion Services is a resource within Texas State’s University Health Services that has the goal of supporting student success by providing accessible health and wellness services. Health Promotion Services offers a variety of preventative and educational resources covering topics that could be impacting students struggling with perfectionism, including stress and time management.
Along with the peer health education of Healthy Cats, faculty and staff from University Health Services also partners with the Counseling Center on NOW CATS, a team of mindfulness instructors trained by the Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults (MIEA) that work to provide students with skills for lowering stress and anxiety as well as improve sleep, attention and self-compassion.
Despite the significant psychopathological burden high levels of perfectionism can pose to college students, it is not officially recognized as a distinct psychological disorder. Dr. Anthony Robinson, clinical psychologist and pre-faculty fellow in the department of psychology at Wayne State University, says that this lack of recognition can create barriers to students with perfectionism receiving the proper interventions needed.
“It can also create a lot of challenges for mental health providers,” Robinson said. “Oftentimes, because perfectionism isn’t recognized as its own issue, it can be overlooked in assessments even though it is often a major factor in things like anxiety, depression, eating disorders, OCD.”
When it comes to resources available to Texas State students as they work through finals, the Counseling Center offers individual counseling as well as interventions specifically targeting perfectionism including group counseling, workshops, webinars and TimelyCare mobile app modules. For graduate students, Fernandez also works with the Graduate College to conduct Shop Talk presentations on perfectionism each semester and there is a recorded webinar available on the Texas State website for students.
