Practitioner perfectionism: relationship to ambiguity tolerance and work satisfaction.
Perfectionism among psychological practitioners is a common phenomenon, but a neglected topic in the research literature. This article presents data indicating that perfectionism is negatively related to both tolerance of ambiguity and satisfaction of conducting psychotherapy in a sample of 197 doctoral-level, private-practice psychologists. Results demonstrated that high, socially prescribed perfectionism and low tolerance of ambiguity are associated with reduced enjoyment of conducting psychotherapy. Several methods to self-evaluate and moderate perfectionism in clinicians are offered.
Wittenberg
K J
KJ
California Graduate Institute, USA. kevinwitt@aol.com
Norcross
J C
JC
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011361:Professional Competence; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000592:standards*; D012649:Self Concept; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D000078329:Workforce