Key points

Socially prescribed perfectionists feel significant pressure to conform to others' perceived expectations.

Perfectionists often deeply fear loss, especially losing their place in some social hierarchy.

Winnicott argued that maturity entails the desire and ability to stand apart from others in a meaningful way.

Socially prescribed perfectionism and people-pleasing are closely related, both based on the intense fear of rejection and exclusion. Socially prescribed perfectionism is the sense that significant others demand perfection from you in significant areas. This individual then internalizes these demands in the sense that they become a significant part of one’s habits and associated expectations of oneself. People-pleasing, on the other hand, is the tendency to put one’s

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