Ikaneng Yingwane, fourth-year medical student, shares his story of navigating perfectionism during his healthcare education.

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Perfectionism, the relentless pursuit of flawless and setting excessively high standards, which is often perceived as a virtue in academic settings. However, this characteristic can have significant repercussion on one’s well-being. Understanding the nuance of perfectionism and its psychological repercussions is crucial for fostering a healthier learning environment.

Perfectionism is a multifaceted concept involving insanely high personal standards, critical self-evaluations, and a tendency to view mistakes as unacceptable. It is commonly categorized into two: adaptive and maladaptive. Adaptive perfectionism refers to setting high, yet achievable goal and striving for excellence. Whereas, maladaptive often leads to distress and harsh self-criticism. In academic settings, we tend to strive to excel, achieve high grades, outperform our peers and hone our clinical skills. This competitive nature tends to foster perfectionistic tendencies, while some can thrive under pressure, others tend crumble beneath it, consequentially developing maladaptive perfectionism.

It can impact one’s mental well-being leading to burnout, impaired academic performance, low self-esteem, and potential psychological disorders such as anxiety and depression. Burnout can result from the constant need for perfection when one prioritizes their academic aspect of life whilst neglecting the others that are essential for optimal functioning. Overtime, the relentless pursuit can lead to complete mental and physical exhaustion. Impaired academic performance may be a consequence of perfectionism as it harbours fear of failure which can lead to procrastination, where one can avoid tasks where there is a risk of not meeting their high standards. Sometimes a perfectionist ties their self-worth to their achievements. As a result, any perceived failure can significantly impact one’s self-esteem, and this depending on external validation can lead to a fragile sense of self, which is easily shattered by setbacks.

The social implications of perfectionism include self-isolation with the aim of avoiding instances where one’s imperfections may be exposed, while trying to maintain a flawless image. This could lead to a lack of social support, loneliness and the worsening of mental well-being. Moreover, perfectionistic tendencies can strain relationships as one may be overly critical of others and become reluctant to collaborate academically with them.

Given the harmful effects of perfectionism, it is important that educational institutions proactively address this issue. Although lecturers are not actively involved in the students’ academic life and how they progress, it would be beneficial if they were to encourage students to have a growth mindset whereby focusing on learning and improvement than excellence. It can be beneficial for students to adopt a perspective of viewing challenges as an opportunity for growth instead of a threat to their self-esteem. The institutions should forge a supportive non-judgemental environment that accepts mistakes as part of the learning process. Stress management workshops and readily available counselling services where they could get assisted in addressing their perfectionistic tendencies.

While striving for excellence is a commendable feat, the pressure to achieve perfection can have catastrophic consequences for students’ mental well-being. By recognising the signs of maladaptive perfectionism and implementing strategies to mitigate its effects, the lecturers and institution at large can assist students develop healthier attitudes towards achievement and well-being. Creating an environment that values growth, effort, and balance over flawless performance is essential for fostering resilient and mentally healthy students.

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