Overcoming Perfectionism by Roz Shafran Sarah Egan & Tracey Wade

Author:Roz Shafran, Sarah Egan & Tracey Wade
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472140555
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

All or nothing thinking

This thinking style, which is particularly prominent in perfectionism, is described as follows:

All or nothing thinking involves judging standards in two categories and viewing things in extremes, for example: ‘good or bad’, ‘failed or achieved’, ‘complete or incomplete’, ‘always or never’, ‘totally or not at all’.

All or nothing thinking is also referred to as ‘dichotomous thinking’. Dichotomous thinking was identified as a central part of what keeps perfectionism going at Oxford University, and a research study by Sarah Egan and her colleagues at Curtin University in Australia found that it was one important factor that distinguished between positive striving for achievement and unhelpful perfectionism. So if you judge whether you meet your standards using all or nothing thinking, it is likely to lead to problems.

The problem with all or nothing thinking is that it leaves no room for the middle ground or shades of grey. Judging your own performance using all or nothing thinking means that there is no place for ‘average’ performance between these categories of having failed or achieved a standard. Some examples of all or nothing thinking can be seen in Box 7.5.1.

BOX 7.5.1 EXAMPLES OF ALL OR NOTHING THINKING IN AREAS OF PERFECTIONISM

Area

Example of all or nothing thinking

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