Is Perfectionism a Sign of OCD?
Do you reread an email several times before sending it because you want to make sure you said everything correctly? Or spend far longer than you planned on a work project because it still doesn’t seem good enough? What about procrastinating because you’re worried you won’t be able to do something as well as you think you should? Maybe it’s something mundane, like needing something to sound right or look right, but you just can’t leave it alone until it feels “just right.”
Does that mean you have OCD? Not necessarily.
Perfectionism and OCD can look surprisingly similar from the outside. Both can involve checking and rechecking, redoing things, procrastinating, difficulty making decisions, or spending much more time on something than other people might. The important distinction isn’t only what you’re doing, but what is happening underneath the behaviour and what is driving you to keep doing it.
In my work as a therapist specializing in OCD and anxiety in Burlington, Ontario, this is something I explore carefully with clients. Perfectionism can be part of OCD, but it can also be connected to anxiety, fear of failure, self-criticism or other patterns. Understanding what is driving the behaviour helps us determine what may actually be going on and what kind of treatment is most likely to help.
Key Takeaways:
Perfectionism by itself does not mean you have OCD.
OCD-related perfectionism is often driven by obsessional doubt, uncertainty or a feeling that something isn’t “just right.”
Checking, redoing, reassurance seeking, overthinking and even procrastination can become part of the OCD cycle.
Understanding what is driving the perfectionistic behaviour is more useful than simply asking whether you are a perfectionist.
When OCD is driving perfectionism, OCD-specific treatments such as ERP and I-CBT can help.
Perfectionism Isn’t the Same Thing as OCD
Wanting to do something well isn’t inherently unhealthy. Having high standards, working hard and caring deeply about the quality of what you do are not bad things, but they can become problematic when those standards become rigid, mistakes feel unacceptable, or your sense of worth becomes closely connected to how well you perform.
You might spend hours perfecting something that was already good enough, avoid starting because you’re afraid you won’t do it well enough, or continually compare yourself to other people and feel as though you’re falling short. Underneath this can be fears such as: What if I fail? What will people think of me? What if I disappoint someone? What if they realize I’m not actually very good at this?
Those experiences can cause significant anxiety and distress and can absolutely be worth addressing in therapy. However, they don’t automatically mean you have OCD.
So When Can Perfectionism Be Related to OCD?
With OCD, we’re looking for a particular cycle involving obsessions and compulsions. An obsession can be a thought, doubt, image, urge, sensation or feeling that creates distress or a sense that something isn’t right. A compulsion is something you do, physically or mentally, to try to resolve the distress, doubt, uncertainty or uncomfortable feeling.
Imagine, for example, that you’re writing an important email. Someone struggling with perfectionism might edit it repeatedly because they’re worried about sounding unprofessional or being judged. Someone with OCD might also repeatedly edit the email, but there may be a different process happening internally. They may feel unable to send it until they’re certain they haven’t said something inappropriate, accidentally offended someone, or made a mistake that could have consequences. They may even continue thinking about it after sending it, going back to check and recheck the sent message to make sure they didn’t make a mistake.
In other cases, there may not even be a specific feared consequence. The email simply doesn’t feel right. The person changes a sentence and reads it again, but something still feels off. They change another word, reread the email and perhaps change it back. Eventually they may send it and experience some relief, but the next email brings the same uncomfortable feeling and the process begins again.
This is something I’m interested in when I’m trying to understand whether OCD might be involved: What is keeping the behaviour going?
Sometimes OCD Is About Getting It “Just Right”
We often think of OCD as involving fears such as contamination, harm or something terrible happening, but OCD doesn’t always present that way.
Some people experience what is commonly called “Just Right” OCD. Instead of responding to a clearly defined fear, the person may experience a powerful sense that something is incomplete, uneven, incorrect or simply not right. The uncomfortable feeling itself can become very difficult to tolerate.
This might involve rewriting something until the wording feels right, repeatedly checking work even though you already know it is accurate, arranging or adjusting something until it feels balanced, repeating an action because the first attempt didn’t feel complete, mentally replaying a conversation, or having difficulty making a decision because none of the options feels completely right. Some people seek reassurance from others that they’ve done something correctly, while others start over because they can’t tolerate the feeling that something wasn’t done properly.
The person may recognize logically that another check or adjustment isn’t necessary, but knowing this doesn’t necessarily make the uncomfortable feeling disappear. Performing the compulsion can provide temporary relief, which is part of what keeps the OCD cycle going.
The Question I Find More Helpful Than “Am I a Perfectionist?”
When I’m working with someone who describes themselves as a perfectionist, I’m interested in getting much more specific about what that actually means for them. Rather than stopping at “I’m a perfectionist,” we might choose one recent situation and look closely at what happened.
What went through your mind? What felt uncomfortable? What were you worried about? What did you feel you needed to do? What happened after you did it? And importantly, what do you imagine would have happened, or how would you have felt, if you hadn’t done it?
These questions can tell us much more than the label “perfectionist.” Two people could both spend three hours working on something that reasonably could have taken one hour, but the processes keeping them there may be very different. Understanding those differences matters because it can affect how we approach treatment.
OCD Perfectionism Can Also Look Like Procrastination
One of the ways perfectionism can be misunderstood is that we tend to picture a perfectionist as someone who works endlessly, checks everything and won’t stop until something is done perfectly. But perfectionism can produce what looks like the opposite behaviour too: not starting at all.
If a task feels loaded with the possibility of making a mistake, choosing incorrectly or not being able to get something exactly right, avoiding it can provide temporary relief. You might genuinely want to write the report, send the application or make the decision, but find yourself caught up in questions about where to start, the best way to approach it, whether you’re making the right choice, or whether the end result will be good enough.
You may decide you’ll start later, when you have more time, more information, more energy or a clearer idea of exactly how to proceed. That can reduce the discomfort temporarily, but the task hasn’t disappeared. As the deadline approaches and the pressure increases, starting can feel even more difficult.
OCD can also contribute to decision paralysis. When making the wrong decision feels particularly significant, a person may continue researching, comparing, reviewing or thinking rather than choosing. This doesn’t have to involve a major life decision. It could be deciding what to buy, determining how to word a message, choosing between options at work or deciding on the “right” order in which to complete a task.
From the outside, this may look like procrastination. Internally, however, the person may be working extremely hard, thinking, evaluating, doubting and trying to reach a level of certainty that never quite arrives.
This is why, when someone tells me “I’m a procrastinator,” I’m curious about why they’re stuck. Are they avoiding the uncomfortable feelings associated with the task? Are they afraid of making a mistake? Are they trying to make the perfect decision before taking action? Are they waiting until they feel completely certain about how to proceed? Does postponing the task give them immediate relief?
If avoidance reduces discomfort, even temporarily, it can become part of the cycle. Over time, someone can find themselves moving between two extremes: doing far too much in an attempt to get something right and avoiding something because getting it right feels impossible.
When Does It Become a Problem?
One useful question to ask is: How much is this costing you?
OCD-related perfectionism can consume an enormous amount of time and mental energy. Something that should take 20 minutes might take two hours. Decisions become exhausting. Your mind continues reviewing something long after you’ve finished it, or you have difficulty being present because part of your attention is still trying to resolve whatever feels unfinished.
Eventually, the impact can spread into work, school, relationships and everyday life. You may know intellectually that something is “good enough” while still feeling unable to leave it alone. That gap between knowing you don’t need to do something and feeling as though you still have to can be important when we’re trying to understand what is happening.
Is It Perfectionism, Anxiety or OCD?
There isn’t always a simple dividing line, and if it is indeed costing you too much, you don’t need to figure it out by yourself before seeking help. Perfectionism can exist without OCD, someone with OCD can also be perfectionistic, and OCD itself can create behaviours that look very much like perfectionism.
Rather than focusing only on whether you like things done correctly or have high standards, it can be more useful to look at the whole pattern: What triggers the discomfort? What does your mind tell you? What do you do to try to make the discomfort or doubt go away? Does it give you relief? And how quickly does the doubt or uncomfortable feeling return?
Looking at that cycle gives us considerably more information about whether OCD may be involved.
Treatment Is Different When OCD Is Driving the Perfectionism
This distinction matters because simply telling someone with OCD to lower their standards, stop overthinking or accept that something is “good enough” usually doesn’t address the process maintaining the problem.
OCD treatment focuses on changing the cycle rather than repeatedly trying to resolve every doubt or uncomfortable feeling. Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) helps people gradually practise experiencing uncertainty or a “not quite right” feeling without performing the compulsion they would normally use to reduce the discomfort.
Inference-Based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (I-CBT) approaches OCD somewhat differently. It focuses on understanding how obsessional doubt is created in the first place, recognizing when OCD reasoning has pulled you into an imagined possibility, and learning to rely instead on information from your senses and the reality in front of you.
Both approaches can be used in the treatment of OCD, and understanding what is actually driving your perfectionistic behaviour can help determine what treatment approach makes the most sense for you.
If Your Perfectionism Feels Like Something You Can’t Switch Off
Getting help for perfectionism or OCD doesn’t mean you need to become careless or stop caring about doing things well. The goal isn’t to turn someone who values doing good work into someone who doesn’t care about the outcome.
The goal is to have more choice, more time, more peace.
You can care about doing something well without spending hours trying to eliminate every possible mistake. You can make a decision without obtaining absolute certainty that it’s the right one. You can notice that something doesn’t feel quite right without automatically having to fix it.
Most importantly, you can begin to recognize when you’re choosing to put time and effort into something because it genuinely matters to you, and when anxiety or OCD is making that choice for you.
If you want more choice and less fear, don’t let perfectionism get in your way. Contact me to learn more about how I work as an OCD therapist and how OCD therapy may be able to help.
About the author; Ljuba UdovcRP, BA, CYC, is a Registered Psychotherapist with 25 years experience supporting clients in Ontario. She specializes in anxiety therapy, OCD therapy provides both in-person sessions in Burlington, Ontario, or virtual sessions for individuals who live throughout Ontario. Click the button below to reach out now.
