The Perfectionism Paradox
Thursday, January 5, 2012Many people – including me – consider their perfectionism to be one of their most valuable attributes and critical for success in achieving one’s life goals. As a perfectionist you likely bring attention to detail, organization, a…
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Protecting Your Potential
Thursday, December 22, 2011How do you want others to see you? How do you try to present yourself to them? When I ask perfectionists this question, responses include wanting to be known as someone who is competent, intelligent, independent, and autonomous. In…
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Managing a Perfectionist
Thursday, December 15, 2011Having a perfectionist on your team can be an asset. Perfectionists are driven to succeed, work hard to avoid mistakes, and are always striving to improve. Yet it can be a challenge to manage someone who needs everything to be…
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Healthy perfectionism: an asset, not a liability
Thursday, December 8, 2011I’m a perfectionist. In fact, I consider my perfectionism to be one of my most valuable attributes. Books like Overcoming Perfectionism and Perfecting Ourselves to Death tell me I should stop trying to be a perfectionist. As a…
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Trouble Finding the Right Employee? Is Perfectionism Getting in the Way?
Thursday, December 1, 2011Article originally appeared here on Monster.com. When I went house shopping a few years ago I experienced a recurring process in my head. Enroute to each open house I would already begin evaluating the neighborhood. As soon as I…
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OCD in the Media
Wednesday, August 17, 2011There were a lot of reality shows in the media last year about OCD and hoarding. These joined the ranks of portrayals of OCD in movies and on television. In fact, last year at the International OCD Foundation, we were repeatedly asked…
Read More Compulsions in OCD
Friday, August 12, 2011When a person with OCD tries to do something to reduce the anxiety from obsessions we call this a compulsion. The tricky thing to remember about compulsions is that they can be behaviors that you can see (hand washing) or can be done…
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Common Obsessions in OCD
Thursday, August 11, 2011In my previous blog post I described the diagnostic criteria for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). A person diagnosed with OCD experiences obsessions (thoughts, images, or impulses that occur over and over again and feel out of the…
Read More What is OCD?
Monday, August 8, 2011Here is one way to think about what having obsessive compulsive disorder or OCD is like: Imagine that your mind got stuck on a certain thought or image… Then this thought or image got replayed in your mind…
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The D in OCD
Friday, August 5, 2011“You are so OCD!” is a fairly common phrase these days. When I hear someone use it – though I cringe a little inside – I rarely have the feeling that this is a deliberate attempt to make light of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Quite…
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