Psychotherapy for Perfectionism

• Setting standards for yourself that you would never ask of someone else
• Replaying small mistakes long after others have forgotten them
• Putting things off because starting means risking getting them wrong
• Feeling that rest must be earned, and never quite earning it

You may be the person others rely on to notice every detail. Your care and ambition are real, but there can be a private cost: the checking, the second-guessing, the feeling that a mistake says something about who you are rather than simply what happened.

Even when something goes well, relief may last only a moment before the next expectation arrives. It can be hard to enjoy what you have achieved when your attention is already on what you could have done better.

For some women, being good, capable or easy to praise became a way of feeling accepted. For others, getting everything right helped them feel less exposed to criticism or uncertainty. Your story may be different. We make room to understand it rather than assume we already know.

Perfectionism can sit beneath anxiety, overthinking and burnout. The pressure is not always about the task itself, but about what it might mean to fall short, disappoint someone or need help.

In our sessions, you do not need to explain yourself perfectly or arrive with the right thing to say. We gently notice the expectations you carry, how you speak to yourself, and what happens when something feels unfinished or uncertain.

This work is not about asking you to care less or give up your ambition. It is about making room for the person beneath the standards, including the feelings and needs that striving may have kept out of sight.

I offer this work in person in Basingstoke, Hampshire, and online across the UK. Sessions are 50 minutes, weekly, and begin with a free initial call.