Can cognitive restructuring reduce the disruption associated with perfectionistic concerns?

Abstract

We investigated the utility of a brief cognitive restructuring intervention in inoculating perfectionists from their typical negative responses to evaluative threat. In particular, we wanted to examine whether cognitive restructuring could reduce perfectionists' negative affect and cognitions about a speech task. We were also interested in analyzing the pattern of within-session change across a variety of affective and cognitive measures as a function of this cognitive intervention. Sixty female undergraduate students delivered a speech before a small audience. We used a 2 (Group) × 2 (Condition) design to investigate the effects of perfectionism and intervention type on subjects' negative affect and cognitions related to the evaluative task. Participants high and low in perfectionistic concern over mistakes (CM; group) were randomly assigned to receive either a cognitive restructuring or distraction intervention (Condition) prior to the speech task. Individuals high in CM reported significantly more negative cognitive and affective responses to the evaluative task than low CM subjects; however, cognitive restructuring was successful in reducing cost and probability estimates for all subjects' most feared predictions for the impending speech. Moreover, these cognitive changes were associated with lower ratings of self-reported anxiety in comparison to subjects in the distraction condition. Interestingly, cognitive restructuring did not affect subjects' more global ratings of negative affect or negative thoughts about the speech. Our results provide some preliminary but encouraging implications for the effectiveness of cognitive restructuring in the treatment of perfectionism.