Perfectionism as a Transdiagnostic Process for Psychopathology

Researchers

Barbara Cludius, Nathalie Claus, Keisuke Takano, Thomas Ehring

Collaborators

Karina Limburg, Roz Shafran (University College London), Sarah Egan (Curtin University Perth)

Third-Party Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)

Description

We are interested in the role of perfectionism as a risk and maintaining factor across different mental disorders. In a current research project, we test the causality and specificity of possible pathways from perfectionism to psychopathology (i.e., OCD and eating disorders). Studies include (a) a longitudinal assessment of perfectionism, possible moderators, and symptoms over the course of 12 months, to understand the role of perfectionism as a risk factor across disorders while accounting for moderating variables; and (b) experimental studies which induce moderators (responsibility and body dissatisfaction) to test causality and determine why one type of pathology develops over another.

Background

Across disorders, perfectionism has been implicated as a construct that is important in both etiology and maintenance. It has been found to be associated with different types of symptoms, including those indicative of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and eating disorders – conditions that are frequently comorbid and assumed to share etiological relationships. Perfectionism has been shown to predict symptoms of both disorders, suggesting that perfectionism might serve as a transdiagnostic process. This would make perfectionism a risk and/or maintaining factor across different disorders.
Transdiagnostic approaches aim to understand core processes underlying multiple psychopathologies and have gained increasing attention. They enable the development of models and treatments for processes instead of single disorders. While perfectionism has been suggested as one such transdiagnostic process, the causality between perfectionism and psychopathology is relatively understudied. So far, it is unclear (a) in which ways perfectionism increases a general risk for psychopathology, and (b) how perfectionism can lead to different specific disorders (e.g., OCD in one person and bulimia in another). Thus, we are interested in investigating possible moderators between the transdiagnostic risk factor perfectionism and symptoms of OCD or eating disorders. To this end, studies must examine multiple moderators and disorders simultaneously. Evidence suggests inflated responsibility as a moderator specific to OCD and body dissatisfaction as a moderator specific to eating disorders.

Publications

Roth, I., Cludius, B., Egan, S. J., & Limburg, K. (2021). Evaluation of the factor structure and psychometric properties of the german version of the clinical perfectionism questionnaire: The CPQ-D. Clinical Psychology in Europe, 3(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.32872/CPE.3623