Pandemic eating and perfectionism

New research from the Curtin School of Population Health is examining how an obsession with perfectionism is affecting teenage mental health, and whether online treatment can reduce the risk of eating disorders in teens using self-help based cognitive behavioural therapy.


Lead researcher and PhD student, Amy O’Brien, said that there is a strong link between perfectionistic standards and eating disorders, which greatly increased in prevalence during the pandemic as teens were forced online to socialise and study.

“Perfectionism often underlies a lot of disorders like depression, anxiety and eating disorders, where we feel that we can manage our anxiety if we just achieve high enough,” Ms O’Brien said.

“What we’re trying to show, and what other studies have given us reason to believe will happen, is when we treat that perfectionism, not only do we see reductions in perfectionistic symptoms, but we also see reductions in depression and anxiety, and eating disorders as well.

“We’re hoping that we can actually get a really good global effect just by treating this one underlying condition.”

Stresses associated with academic pressures and body image are known to have a greater impact on young women, and the rise of online influencers, pushing products, systems and lifestyle choices, is further blurring teenagers’ self-expectations.

“I think teens have it pretty hard these days with social media: online communication is such a blessing in many ways but then we also can see the downsides, the research that comes out that shows that Facebook knows that its algorithms are unhealthy, and that Instagram is a really unhealthy platform,” Ms O’Brien said.

“The fact that we’re using a lot of those social media sites to replace that face-to-face communication, when we haven’t been able to have it, means we’re probably going to see more and more of these rates of unhappiness with our body and with our lives coming from those unrealistic, unattainable standards.”

“We have these new obsessions with clean eating or different diets, such as paleo or other kinds of dietary habits, and they’re not just becoming a habit in the way of eating healthy, but one of adopting an inflexible standard – and that’s where it becomes unhealthy, when we’ve got no flexibility in our approach to our lifestyle,” she explained.

“Having high standards in itself isn’t a problem, that’s a fantastic thing and we want to encourage that. But it’s a problem if we derive our whole self-worth based on our achievement of arbitrary standards.

“We know that if we measure our whole self-worth based on those standards, then we’re more likely to engage in those unhealthy coping mechanisms which contribute to the feeling that we’re not adequate.”

The study is actively recruiting young women between the ages of 13 to 18 and suitable participants will have the opportunity to take part in the Overcoming Perfectionism self-help program.

The program is purely online and lasts for one month, with two weekly sessions including light readings, hands on activities, videos, audio clips, and some simple questionnaires.  Each module is designed to take between 30 to 60 minutes.

Teenagers interested in participating can visits https://youthperfectionism.org/ to express their interest in the study.