Functional and dysfunctional perfectionists: are they different on compulsive-like behaviors?

Both perfectionism and excessive responsibility have been linked to obsessi ve compulsive disorder (OCD). Up to now however, a greater number of studie s have focused on the role of responsibility. The present study compared co mpulsive-like behavior of people with different styles of perfectionism. Si r;teen functional perfectionists (FP) and 16 dysfunctional perfectionists ( DP) were compared on three different tasks in order to explore OC type beha vior such as doubting, checking and intrusions. Results show that DP partic ipants, compared to FP participants, scored higher on an OC behavior scale, took significantly more time to complete a precision task and precipitated their decision when confronted with ambiguity. The two groups also tended to differ in their intrusive thoughts following an unsolved problem; FP par ticipants were more preoccupied about solving the problem than about the qu ality of their performance, contrary to DP subjects. Results are discussed according to theoretical models of OCD. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.