ACT skills for perfectionism: a process-based, compassionate, and flexible approach for high-achieving, perfectionistic, and striving behaviors
Master Clinician 1 - ACT Skills for Perfectionism: A Process-based, Compassionate, and Flexible Approach for High-achieving, Perfectionistic, and Striving Behaviors
Thursday, June 25, 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM PDT
Location: Yerba Buena Salon 14, B3 Level
Earn 2 Credit
Keywords: Fear, ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy), Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate Recommended Readings: Zurita Ona, P. (2021). Acceptance and commitment skills for perfectionism and high-achieving behaviors: do things your way, be yourself, and live a purposeful life. Routledge., Ong, C., Lee, E., Krafft, J., Terry, C., Barrett, T., Levin, M., & Twohig, M. (2019). A randomized controlled trial of acceptance and commitment therapy for clinical perfectionism. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders, 22, 100444. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jocrd.2019.100444, Stoddard, J. A. (2023). Imposter no more: Overcome self-doubt and imposterism to cultivate a successful career. Balance., ,
Clients are told often that their perfectionistic, high-achieving and striving behaviors need to change because they are harmful to their relationships, health, and overall well-being. But, people persist with this behavioral pattern despite long-term negative consequences (Curran, T, and A.P. Hill (2019); Ruggeri, A. (February, 21, 2018)
Many clinicians are too familiar with scenarios like this: A client sets high standards for themselves; spend too much time trying to get things exactly right; constantly think about how to be better, struggle when dropping the ball, are petrified at the idea of making mistakes, and judge others by the same stringent standards to which they hold themselves. Think of the basketball player who throws the ball hundreds of times hoping for the perfect shot; your neighbor who goes on a date and rehearses the steps to create a good impression; or the digital marketer that spends hours in front of the screen searching for the right algorithm in google; all of these people are “perfectionists” on some level.
These clients meet their standards for a while until they eventually feel that no matter how hard they work, it’s never enough. This is a pattern of socially and self-reinforced behaviors (Frost, Heimberg, Holt, Mattia, & Neubauer, 1993; Mackinnon & Sherry, 2012; Rice, Ashby, & Slaney, 1998); and it could be present in every aspect of a person’s life (Cohen, 2019), leading to decision-paralysis, procrastination, self-criticism, rumination, depression, and others. (Smith, M. M., D. H. Saklofske, G. Yan, and S. B. Sherry. 2017)
Instead of asking clients to let go of perfectionistic behaviors, clinicians can target the key psychological processes behind high-achieving actions while teaching clients skills to harness the power of perfectionistic actions without losing themselves. (Ong, C., Lee, E., Krafft, J., Terry, C., Barrett, T., Levin, M., Twohig, M. (2019).
Participants will learn specific ACT skills to work with these clients including assessment of core processes that drive perfectionistic behaviors; mapping of rigid thoughts; self-compassion when facing tough choices; acceptance of the fear of failure; flexible versus rigid responding, and other skills to move from rigid striving toward values-guided living (Zurita Ona, 2022)
Learning Objectives:
Assess perfectionistic behaviors from a contextual and functional perspective.
Deliver acceptance-based interventions to manage psychological processes driving striving behaviors.
Implement four ACT skills to help clients build psychological flexibility.
