What to Know About Atelophobia (Fear of Imperfection)

Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsDo I Have Atelophobia?Why Do I Have Atelophobia?Is It a Mental Illness?Atelophobia vs. PerfectionismDiagnosisTreatmentCoping

Table of ContentsView All

View All

Table of Contents

Do I Have Atelophobia?

Why Do I Have Atelophobia?

Is It a Mental Illness?

Atelophobia vs. Perfectionism

Diagnosis

Treatment

Coping

Atelophobiais an intense and excessive fear of being imperfect or making mistakes, saysAimee Daramus, PsyD, a licensed clinical psychologist.

Everyone feels like theycan’t get anything rightfrom time to time. For most people, this feeling is infrequent and fleeting. However, some people have an intense fear of imperfection that can interfere with their ability to live their life.

In this article, we explore the symptoms and causes of atelophobia, as well as some treatment options and coping strategies that might be helpful.

How Do I Know If I Have Atelophobia?

These are some of the characteristics of atelophobia:

Atelophobia can cause you to put a lot of pressure on yourself to be perfect, which can affect yourself-esteem, make it hard for you to achieve personal satisfaction, and lead to increased risk of depression, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and suicide.

These are some of the potential causes of atelophobia, according to Dr. Daramus:

5 Common Effects of Phobias on Your Emotions and Personality

Is Atelophobia a Mental Illness?

Atelophobia is a mental health condition. It is a type of anxiety disorder that is classified as aspecific phobia, i.e. an intense, irrational fear of something that doesn’t pose any threat to you.

Is Atelophobia a Form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder?

Atelophobia can be a feature that is present in some people withobsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)orobsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), says Dr. Daramus.

Here’s how these conditions may interact:

The 3 Main Theories of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

While atelophobia is similar toperfectionismin some ways, it’s not exactly the same thing. These are some of the differences:

Mental health condition

Fear of making a mistake or being imperfect

Physical and emotional symptoms of anxiety and panic

Interferes with daily functioning

Personality trait

Tendency to strive for flawlessness

Not as debilitating and all-consuming as atelophobia

Not as severe in intensity as atelophobia

How Can I Forgive Myself? A Therapist Explains

Diagnosing Atelophobia

The diagnostic process may involve:

Treatment for Atelophobia

Treatment for atelophobia can involve therapy, and in more severe cases, medication.

Therapy

These are some of the types of therapy that can help, according to Dr. Daramus:

Medication

If you experience debilitating symptoms of anxiety or depression, your healthcare provider may prescribe medications such asantidepressants, anti-anxiety medications, or sedatives to help.

How to Cope With Atelophobia

Dr. Daramus suggests some coping strategies that can help you cope with atelophobia:

What Treatments for Phobias Work Best?

12 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Mental Health.Anxiety disorders.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Phobias.Kelly JD 4th.Your best life: perfectionism, the bane of happiness.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2015;473(10):3108-3111. doi:10.1007/s11999-015-4279-9Sawyers C, Ollendick T, Brotman MA, et al.The genetic and environmental structure of fear and anxiety in juvenile twins.Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2019;180(3):204-212. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32714National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.National Institutes of Mental Health.Obsessive-compulsive disorder.Guazzini A, Gursesli MC, Serritella E, Tani M, Duradoni M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) types and social media: Are social media important and impactful for OCD people?Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2022;12(8):1108-1120. doi:10.3390/ejihpe12080078National Library of Medicine.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.Cleveland Clinic.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD).Thng CEW, Lim-Ashworth NSJ, Poh BZQ, Lim CG.Recent developments in the intervention of specific phobia among adults: a rapid review.F1000Res. 2020;9:F1000 Faculty Rev-195. doi:10.12688/f1000research.20082.1Kaczkurkin AN, Foa EB.Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: an update on the empirical evidence.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015;17(3):337-346. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.3/akaczkurkinJaiswal S, Muggleton NG, Juan CH, Liang WK.Indices of association between anxiety and mindfulness: a guide for future mindfulness studies.Personal Neurosci. 2019;2:e9. doi:10.1017/pen.2019.12

12 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.National Institute of Mental Health.Anxiety disorders.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Phobias.Kelly JD 4th.Your best life: perfectionism, the bane of happiness.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2015;473(10):3108-3111. doi:10.1007/s11999-015-4279-9Sawyers C, Ollendick T, Brotman MA, et al.The genetic and environmental structure of fear and anxiety in juvenile twins.Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2019;180(3):204-212. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32714National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.National Institutes of Mental Health.Obsessive-compulsive disorder.Guazzini A, Gursesli MC, Serritella E, Tani M, Duradoni M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) types and social media: Are social media important and impactful for OCD people?Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2022;12(8):1108-1120. doi:10.3390/ejihpe12080078National Library of Medicine.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.Cleveland Clinic.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD).Thng CEW, Lim-Ashworth NSJ, Poh BZQ, Lim CG.Recent developments in the intervention of specific phobia among adults: a rapid review.F1000Res. 2020;9:F1000 Faculty Rev-195. doi:10.12688/f1000research.20082.1Kaczkurkin AN, Foa EB.Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: an update on the empirical evidence.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015;17(3):337-346. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.3/akaczkurkinJaiswal S, Muggleton NG, Juan CH, Liang WK.Indices of association between anxiety and mindfulness: a guide for future mindfulness studies.Personal Neurosci. 2019;2:e9. doi:10.1017/pen.2019.12

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

National Institute of Mental Health.Anxiety disorders.U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Phobias.Kelly JD 4th.Your best life: perfectionism, the bane of happiness.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2015;473(10):3108-3111. doi:10.1007/s11999-015-4279-9Sawyers C, Ollendick T, Brotman MA, et al.The genetic and environmental structure of fear and anxiety in juvenile twins.Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2019;180(3):204-212. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32714National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.National Institutes of Mental Health.Obsessive-compulsive disorder.Guazzini A, Gursesli MC, Serritella E, Tani M, Duradoni M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) types and social media: Are social media important and impactful for OCD people?Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2022;12(8):1108-1120. doi:10.3390/ejihpe12080078National Library of Medicine.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.Cleveland Clinic.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD).Thng CEW, Lim-Ashworth NSJ, Poh BZQ, Lim CG.Recent developments in the intervention of specific phobia among adults: a rapid review.F1000Res. 2020;9:F1000 Faculty Rev-195. doi:10.12688/f1000research.20082.1Kaczkurkin AN, Foa EB.Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: an update on the empirical evidence.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015;17(3):337-346. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.3/akaczkurkinJaiswal S, Muggleton NG, Juan CH, Liang WK.Indices of association between anxiety and mindfulness: a guide for future mindfulness studies.Personal Neurosci. 2019;2:e9. doi:10.1017/pen.2019.12

National Institute of Mental Health.Anxiety disorders.

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.Phobias.

Kelly JD 4th.Your best life: perfectionism, the bane of happiness.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2015;473(10):3108-3111. doi:10.1007/s11999-015-4279-9

Sawyers C, Ollendick T, Brotman MA, et al.The genetic and environmental structure of fear and anxiety in juvenile twins.Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet. 2019;180(3):204-212. doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.32714

National Institute of Mental Health.Specific phobia.

National Institutes of Mental Health.Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Guazzini A, Gursesli MC, Serritella E, Tani M, Duradoni M.Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) types and social media: Are social media important and impactful for OCD people?Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2022;12(8):1108-1120. doi:10.3390/ejihpe12080078

National Library of Medicine.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Cleveland Clinic.Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD).

Thng CEW, Lim-Ashworth NSJ, Poh BZQ, Lim CG.Recent developments in the intervention of specific phobia among adults: a rapid review.F1000Res. 2020;9:F1000 Faculty Rev-195. doi:10.12688/f1000research.20082.1

Kaczkurkin AN, Foa EB.Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: an update on the empirical evidence.Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2015;17(3):337-346. doi:10.31887/DCNS.2015.17.3/akaczkurkin

Jaiswal S, Muggleton NG, Juan CH, Liang WK.Indices of association between anxiety and mindfulness: a guide for future mindfulness studies.Personal Neurosci. 2019;2:e9. doi:10.1017/pen.2019.12

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