Package Description

Presented by Lynne Siqueland, Ph.D. 

Perfectionism is strongly enforced and even valued in our culture. Many children and teens are defining themselves by their accomplishments and often impossible standards. Perfectionism is transdiagnostic and appears in a number of disorders.  Perfectionism also frequently has a significant impact on their physical and mental health and difficulties in leading a valued life.

This workshop will discuss how to help the child/adolescent and family assess and evaluate the impact of perfectionism.  Cognitive behavioral strategies for perfectionism that includes OCD will be discussed and differentiated from anxiety with high standards and critical self-evaluation.  Exposure and behavioral experiments for both types of disorders will be discussed.  Lastly, we will review strategies for parent involvement in terms of helping set healthy behaviors.  The goal is for both children and adolescent to be able to live value driven lives. Multiple case examples will be used to illustrate interventions and obstacles to treatment

Learning Objectives

• Identify the ways in which perfectionism presents in youth with various anxiety disorders and to develop an understanding of the ways in which perfectionism impacts quality of life.
• Engaging children and adolescents in motivation for treatment by understanding personal and societal pros and cons of perfectionism and addressing clinical dilemmas
•  Apply 3 cognitive interventions and exposure exercises, and behavioral experiments to challenge beliefs about the value of perfectionistic standards with youth across a broad age-range.
• Summarize family based interventions strategies to address parental perfectionism if present or how parents can support focus on health and values.