ABSTRACT
Many perfectionists struggle to benefit from and to participate in harmonious, satisfying, and stable interpersonal relationships. Perfectionism seems to thwart a basic human need for close interpersonal relationships. This chapter examines the interpersonal lives of self-critical and narcissistic perfectionists, highlighting how these individuals view themselves and others. It discusses the interpersonal behaviors of self-critical and narcissistic perfectionists, and considers how interpersonal problems lead to psychological distress in self-critical and narcissistic perfectionists. Self-critical perfectionism appears to be a broadband risk factor for many types of negative affect. It involves a family of traits including a tendency to be intensely self-critical, to be preoccupied with mistakes, to be doubtful about performance abilities, and to see others as demanding perfection of oneself. In contrast, narcissistic perfectionism involves a family of traits including a tendency to direct the demand for perfection outward onto others in a grandiose, entitled, and hypercritical way.
