I guess you could say perfectionists are also the best at feeling pain?
Chronic pain sufferers may exhibit higher levels of perfectionism and lower levels of self-compassion, says new Australian research.
According to the boffins at Perth’s Murdoch University, socially-prescribed perfectionism – that is, the need to achieve the perceived standards expected by others – has a significant negative association with self-compassion.
As everyone knows, if your chronic back pain prevents you from helping your friend move a couch, that friend will definitely secretly despise you forevermore, so it’s probably reasonable to assume that your failure to move the couch is directly correlated to your worth as a human being. This is a normal and rational response*.
The two-part study, published in Psychology and Health, involved 531 participants with chronic, non-cancerous or acute injury-related pain and 515 participants with no pain condition.
Back pain, migraine and arthritis were the three most common forms of chronic pain experienced by the cohort.
Previous research has bolstered the theory that there’s a bidirectional relationship between chronic pain and stress, whereby psychological challenges influence the perception of pain and create psychological distress.
Perfectionism is one lens through which to interpret feelings of shame, frustration or stress.
Or, as the study put it: “In other words, perfectionism results in a stronger stress response which has implications for physical and mental health”.
“Critically, for those experiencing chronic pain, self-compassion plays a crucial role in promoting positive health behaviours and coping,” the Murdoch University researchers wrote.
“A compassionate approach toward the self is associated with enhanced physical and psychological well-being and with pain-acceptance, activity engagement, and less pain catastrophising.
“For example, self-compassion training for those with low back pain may support regulation of pain through the involvement of self-referential, salience-processing, and emotion regulatory brain areas.
“Systematic reviews also suggest that self-compassion interventions may improve pain acceptance, reduce psychological stress, pain intensity, and pain interference, and lead to more positive treatment outcomes.”
Across the study cohorts, people with chronic pain consistently reported higher levels of perfectionism and lower levels of self-compassion.
The upshot, according to researchers, is that interventions which aim to enhance self-compassion and reduce stress may be beneficial.
*Not really.
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