Unrealistically high standards, a preoccupation with mistakes, and excessive self-criticism are all identifying features of heightened perfectionism. This has long been investigated as a process related to various psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and compulsive behaviors. The goal was to assess whether perfectionism has a contributing role in the development of symptoms, but also its influence in how psychological disorders progress, including the course the disorder takes when symptoms are already present and treatment has begun.
 

Research has so far suggested that particularly pronounced perfectionism can hinder psychotherapeutic treatment. Fear of making mistakes can manifest itself in perfectionistic patients through putting off or avoiding exercises, dissatisfaction with slow treatment progress, or a reluctance to share their insecurities with a therapist. This can ultimately lead to a lack of treatment results or discontinuation of therapy altogether. There is a need for treatment that addresses perfectionism.
 

New Treatment Approach for Patients Struggling with Perfectionism
 

The Psychotherapeutic University Outpatient Services over the Lifespan (PULS) has been working on creating a new treatment approach for perfectionism since it began operations at the end of 2025. A four-week group therapy is specifically designed to ensure that patients don’t succumb to the fear of mistakes, but practice learning to react to the challenges of everyday life with more flexibility and self-compassion. The associated research project will investigate whether and how this compact group treatment can contribute to patients’ psychological wellbeing. If the group setting proves successful, a next step could be to examine whether patients have better chances of benefitting from a long-term individual treatment after undergoing group therapy.
 

The group will take place as part of primary care group psychotherapeutic treatment, which can be billed to public health insurances without much bureaucracy and therefore is a more accessible form of therapy. However, it has rarely been used by psychotherapists so far, since there are no scientifically tested therapy approaches for this specific format. The project aims to help close this gap in psychotherapeutic treatment.
 

The project will begin in March of 2026 and is set to run for three years. It will receive 72,000 euros from the Christoph Dornier Foundation for Clinical Psychology as part of their postdoctoral funding. Recruitment for the first perfectionism groups is expected to begin in fall 2026.
 

Further Information:
 

/ambulanz-puls (in German only) 

www.uni-bremen.de/en/klipse

Contact:
 

Dr. Nathalie Claus
Department of Clinical Psychology and Adult Psychotherapy
Faculty of Human and Health Sciences
University of Bremen
Phone: +49 421 218 68548
Email: nclausprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de