Is your drive to be flawless really high standards, or anxiety in disguise? On RECOVERable, host Terry McGuire and licensed therapist Marc Azoulay answer your top questions about perfectionism, burnout, and the all-or-nothing trap.
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Host Terry McGuire sits down with licensed psychotherapist Marc Azoulay, who runs Men's Therapy Online and studied Buddhist psychology at Naropa. Marc explains perfectionism as a coping strategy driven by anxiety and fear that ties your worth to your performance, and how it differs from healthy high standards. In a myth-or-fact round and beyond, they cover procrastination as the other side of the perfectionism coin and how chronic stress affects the body. They also look at how parenting, Western culture, and social media feed perfectionism, how it relates to anxiety and OCD, and why it can lead to depression that feels like emptiness rather than sadness.
Instead of telling you to just chill out, Marc explains how to overcome perfectionism by fixing the "hole in the bucket," which means facing the core insecurity underneath. He compares CBT, which helps you cope and quiet the inner critic, with deeper psychodynamic therapy. He also explains why you need a support system and why you don't have to wait for rock bottom to start therapy.
Whether you are a high achiever who felt nothing after a big promotion or a procrastinator waiting for the perfect moment, this conversation offers a way to keep your ambition without burning out.
Subscribe to RECOVERable for more expert insights on mental health recovery, leave your questions in the comments below, and share this video with someone who is exhausted from trying to be perfect.
Chapters:
00:00 – Intro
01:40 – Perfectionism Myths vs. Facts
11:40 – What Is Perfectionism?
14:20 – What Causes Perfectionism? Parenting, Culture & Social Media
18:40 – Is Perfectionism a Mental Illness? Anxiety & OCD
24:40 – Does Perfectionism Cause Depression?
30:00 – How Perfectionism Shows Up as Procrastination
33:20 – How to Overcome Perfectionism: Fixing the Hole in the Bucket
43:20 – CBT vs. Psychodynamic Therapy for Perfectionism
50:20 – High Standards or Perfectionism? The Takeaway
Questions the Video Answers:
- What is perfectionism?
- What is the difference between perfectionism and having high standards?
- Is perfectionism a mental illness?
- What causes perfectionism?
- Can parenting cause perfectionism in children?
- How does social media fuel perfectionism?
- What is the difference between perfectionism, anxiety, and OCD?
- Does perfectionism cause depression?
- How does perfectionism show up as procrastination?
- Can perfectionism affect your physical health?
- Are you born a perfectionist or can you unlearn it?
- How do I overcome perfectionism?
- Is CBT effective for treating perfectionism?
- Will I lose my edge if I stop being a perfectionist?
#Perfectionism #HighFunctioningAnxiety #MentalHealth
