追求完美有害健康

来源:百度文库 编辑:神马文学网 时间:2024/03/29 00:28:41
   来源Being a perfectionist can take toll on health
译者skyhawks

Perfectionists, by definition, strive for the best, trying to ace exams, be meticulous at their jobs, and raise perfect children. So one might assume this drive for the ideal translates over to their health as well, with perfectionist being models for physical and mental well-being.

完美,据其定义可以描述为:争取最好、尽力考试优秀、工作一丝不苟、养育完美的孩子……所以一个人可能也会以这种完美的信念来看待他们的健康,完美主义者是身体和精神健康的典范。

But new research is revealing the disorder can bring both profits and perils.

但新的研究揭示出混乱失调状态同样有其利和弊。

Though perfection is an impossible goal, striving for it can be a boon for one’s health, causing one to stick to exercise programs to a tee, say, or follow a strict regimen for treating chronic illnesses like type 2 diabetes. But the same lofty goals can mean added mental pressure when mistakes are made and the resistance to asking for help from others in fear of revealing one's true, imperfect self.

尽管完美是一个无法企及的目标,而尽力追求完美却对个人健康有利,它会促使一个人坚持所说的锻炼过程,或者遵循严格的生活原则来治疗诸如第2型糖尿病等的慢性疾病。但当错误发生或者因为害怕揭示出自己真正的并不完美的自己而不去求助他们,这一崇高的目标可能会意味着增加自己的精神压力。

In fact studies show the personality trait of perfectionism is linked to poor physical health and an increased risk of death.

事实上研究表明完全主义的个性是和糟糕的身体状况,以及升高的死亡率联系在一起的。

Researchers are just beginning to tease apart this complex trait and its relation to health.

研究者们正开始梳理分析这一复杂的特性及其与健康的关系。

"Perfectionism is a virtue to be extolled definitely," said Prem Fry, a psychology professor at Trinity Western University in Canada. "But beyond a certain threshold, it backfires and becomes an impediment," she said.

加拿大西三一大学的心理学教授Prem Fry说:完美是人们赞扬的一种品质,但超过一定的限度之后,它却会事与愿违并变成妨碍我们。

Fry and several of her colleagues recently spoke at a symposium on perfectionism and health at the Association for Psychological Science convention in Boston.

Fry和她的几个同事最近将会在波士顿举行的心理科学协会上就完美主义与健康的关系发表题学术讨论。

What is perfectionism?

什么是完美主义?

While some might aim to be perfect in certain areas of their life — such as an athlete who must stick to a grueling workout schedule — true perfectionism comes in a generalized form.

尽管某些人可能想在他们生活的特定领域追求完美——比如一个必须坚持运动时间的运动员——而真正的完美主义者却有更广泛的形式。

"You should want to be perfect across a variety of aspects of your life," said Gordon Flett, a psychology professor at York University in Canada.

加拿大约克大学的心理学教授Gordon Flett说:你应该是想在你生活的许多方面都力求完美。

"It's natural to be perfectionistic in the thing that matters the most, like your job — if you're a surgeon, there's no room for error," Flett said. " you don’t want that same person to be going home and using those same standards to evaluate family members, which causes stress," he said. "It has to generalize."

Flett说:对一些重要的事情我们追求是很自然的,比如你的工作——如果你是一个外科医生,就绝对不允许错误的发生。但你却不希望他在家里的时候也是这个样子,也不会用相同的标准来衡量家庭成员,这只会带来压力。

Perfectionism tends to have two components: a positive side, including things like setting high standards for themselves; and a negative side, which involves more deleterious factors, such as having doubts and concerns over mistakes and feeling pressure from others to be perfect.

完美主义通常有两部分组成:积极的一面,包括为自己设定很高的标准;消极的一面,包括更多的有害的因素,比如对错误有怀疑或过于关注错误,面对那些比自己完美的人感觉有压力。

Some scientists have argued a subset of these high-achievers can be classified as "positive perfectionists," those who reap the benefits of perfectionism without falling victim to its ills. However, others say that while perfectionism might seem to be advantageous in certain situations, it always has a dark side that inevitably rears its head. For instance, a perfectionist might seem fine under normal circumstances, but lose control under stress.

一些科学家将那些有很高成就的小团体分类为“积极的完美主义者”,这些人收获了完美主义的益处却没有成为完美主义的牺牲品。然而,其他人说尽管完美主义或许在某些情况下是有益的,但它的阴暗面却不可避免的会出现。例如,在正常情况下,一个完美主义者看起来很好,但在有压力的时候就会失去控制。

While the existence of "positive perfectionists" is still debated, there's no doubt the trait can be quite counterproductive in some cases.

虽然“积极的完美主义者”仍会争论,但毫无疑问的是这一品质在某些情况下肯定会起到相反的作用。

"That, in essence is the paradox of perfectionism, that certain people have extraordinarily high standards, but objectively can often look very dysfunctional in terms of their daily functioning, their physical health, their achievement," said Patricia DiBartolo, a psychology professor at Smith College, in Northampton, Mass. "They flunk out of college, and the reason why is they're so perfectionistic they can't actually achieve any goal; as you begin the process, it's just impossible."

北安普敦马斯的史密斯学院心理学教授Patricia BiBartolo说:在本质上它是完美主义的相反面,某些人有着相当高的标准,但客观上谈到他们日常发挥、他们的身体健康状况和他们的成就时却常常显得功能失调。他们中途退出大学,而原因就是他们太追求完美以至于实际上达不到所定的目标;当你开始这一进程的时候,它就是不可能的。

Perfectionism and lifespan

完美主义和寿命

Compared with the number of studies looking at perfectionism's impact on mental health, relatively few have examined the condition's toll on physical health. Some earlier work has linked the trait with various ailments, including migraines, chronic pain and asthma.

比较众多的分析完美主义对精神健康影响的研究,很少有研究检查这种情况对身体造成的损失。早期的一些著作已经把这一品质与很多小病联系在一起了,包括偏头痛、慢性疼痛和哮喘。

Fry and her colleagues recently looked at the relationship between perfectionism and overall risk of death. The study followed 450 adults aged 65 and older for 6.5 years. The participants completed an initial questionnaire to assess their level of perfectionism and other personality traits.

Fry和她的同事最近研究完美主义与死亡整体风险之间的关系。研究跟踪调查了450个年龄在65岁及以上的成年人达6.5年之久。参与者们开始的时候通过完成一个调查问卷来来评定他们完美主义及其他个人品质的水平。

Those with high perfectionism scores, meaning they placed high expectations on themselves to be perfect, had a 51-percent increased risk of death compared to those with low scores.

那些完美主义得分较高的人意味头颅他们对自己达到完美的期望较高,与那些得分较低的人相比,他们有高于51%的死亡风险率。

The researchers suspect high levels of stress and anxiety, which are known to be linked with perfectionism, might contribute to the decrease in lifespan.

研究者们推测高度的压力和焦虑,人们知道这是跟完美主义相关的,可能是寿命缩短的原因。

Next, they reasoned that if perfectionism showed this association in a normal population, it might have an even greater impact on those with a chronic disease, which would put their bodies under even more stress.

接着,他们推断说如果完美主义在正常人群中有如此的关系的话,它将在有慢性疾病的人群中产生更为严重的影响,这将会给他们的身体带来更多的压力。

But after following 385 patients with type 2 diabetes for 6.5 years, the researchers actually saw the opposite effect. Those with high perfectionism scores had a 26-percent lower risk of death than those with low scores.

但随后的跟踪385位有第2糖尿病症状的病人6.5年之后,研究者们实际上看到了相反的效果。那些完美主义得分较高的人比那些得分较低的人死亡风险的机率要低26%。

The results suggest that in certain situations, perfectionism can have advantages. With type 2 diabetes, scrupulous attention to blood sugar levels and strict adherence to dietary rules can have payoffs in terms of reducing disease severity, the researchers suspect.

研究结果表明,在特定的情况下,完美主义是有益处的。研究者们推测说患有第2型糖尿病的人,他们小心谨慎关注血糖的含量,严格遵守饮食规定会有助于他们降低疾病的严重程度。

"[Perfectionists] are very self-critical, they are not satisfied ever with their performance," Fry said.

Fry说:完美主义者是十分律已的,他们从不满足于自己的表现。

"In this particular study on diabetes, those kinds of perfectionistic attitudes, normally we would regard them to be dysfunctional attitudes, but in the case of the diabetic sample, they turned out to be very positive traits," she said. "These individuals were highly self-critical, they worked harder than the average person to adhere to the instructions of the physician or the attending doctor in staying with all the do's and dont’s of diabetic diet constraints."

她说:在糖尿病这一特殊的研究中,这一完美主义的态度,正常情况下我们会认为他们是功能有障碍的态度,但在糖尿病的例子中,他们却成为了十分积极的品质。这些个人十分律己,他们比普通人更努力的遵守医师的指导来遵从糖尿病人应该注意的饮食约束。

"So they ended up taking better care of themselves through self-management than people who were sort of more easygoing and lax," she said.

她说:所以他们通过自我管理,比那些有些随意和松懈的人更注重照顾他们自己。

Who expects perfection?

谁会期望完美呢?

Some studies suggest the role of perfectionism on health might depend on who’s imposing the high standards.

一些研究表明完美主义在健康方面的作用取决于那些强加于身上的高标准。

In 2006, Danielle Molnar, of Brock University in Canada, examined the perfectionism-health link in nearly 500 Canadian adults between the ages of 24 and 35.

加拿大布鲁克大学的Danielle Molnar在2006年的时候,通过调查约500位加拿大24--35岁的成年人来研究完美主义和健康之间的关系。

The study assessed participants for three different dimensions of perfectionism: self-oriented perfectionism, in which individuals impose high standards on themselves; socially prescribed perfectionism, where individuals feel others expect them to be perfect; and other-oriented, in which individuals place high standards on others.

研究根据三种不同的完美主义尺度评估了参与者:自我导向型完美主义,这些人把高标准强加于已身;社会定向型完美主义者,这时个人认为是其他人期望他们是完美的;他人取向型完美主义,这种情况下个人会把高标准强加在其他人身上。

People experience these perfectionist traits to varying degrees. One person might score high on all three, or they might fall into one extreme or another such as self-oriented perfectionism.

人们会经历各种不同程度的完美主义者的品质。一个人可能在三个方面得分都高,或者他们在某个方面达到极端,比如自我导向型完美主义。

The researchers found socially prescribed perfectionism was associated with poorer physical health, which in this case meant individuals experienced more symptoms of health problems, had more doctors visits, took more days off work, and gave themselves low scores when asked to rate their health.

研究者们发现社会定向型完美主义者往往跟差的身体健康状况联系在一起,也就是说这种情况下的人经历更多症状的健康问题、更频繁的看医生、更多的请假,并且当问到他们健康问题的时候给自己的评分很低。

On the other hand, self-oriented perfectionism was associated with better physical health.

另一方面,自我导向型完美主义的身体健康状况较好。

So what’s behind this relationship?

那么其中的关系是什么呢?

One factor could be the degree to which people feel happy or sad, known in psychology as positive or negative affect. The 2006 paper showed general negative feelings, including feeling anxious and upset, could partially explain the relationship they saw between socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer health. And feelings of happiness explained self-oriented perfection's link with better health.

一个因素可能是人们感觉到幸福或悲伤的程度,在心理学上被看作积极的或负面的影响。2006年的论文表明了普通的消极情绪,包括焦虑和心烦,会部分地解释他们发现的社会定向型完美主义与糟糕的健康状况之间的关系。而幸福的感觉解释了自我导向型完美主义是与好的健康状况联系在一起的。

However, the pathway that connects perfectionism to health is likely more complex.

然而,连接完美主义与健康的道路却可能更加复杂。

For instance, in more recent research, Molnar found self-imposed perfectionism conferred pros and cons with regard to health that canceled each other out.

举例来说,在最近的研究中,Molnar发现自我导向型完美主义对健康有利有弊,并且能相互抵消。

"On one hand it was related to higher levels of stress in students, which was related to lower levels of health," Molnar said. "On the other hand it had a protective factor, because it was also related to lower levels of high risk behavior," which includes things such as smoking and drinking.

Molnar说:一方面,在学生当中它是与高度的压力相联系的,这进一步又与糟糕的健康水平相关。另一方面,它还有一种保护的因素,因为它还与较低水平的高风险行为相联系,比如吸烟和酗酒。

"You really have to look at the mechanism, not just looking at how perfectionism is directly related to health, but what pathways link it to health?" Molnar said. "Unless you look at the mechanism, a lot of the time [the effect] washes itself out because it will have opposing relationships."

Molnar说:你真的需要去研究下它的机理,而不仅仅是研究完美主义是如何与健康直接相关的,要去研究通过什么途径它与健康相边。除非你去研究其原理,不然的话就是浪费大量的时间,因为它将会表现出对立的关系。

Other factors

其他因素

Those who feel others expect them to be perfect might also experience declines in health as a result of distancing themselves from other people, and any support from friends and family.

那些感觉别人期望他们完美的人可能会经历健康状况的衰退,因为他们远离其他人,朋友及家人的支持。

"We know social support is a huge indicator of physical health. If you tend to have strong bonds with people, good family life, good friendships, you tend to be healthier," Molnar said. "And we know socially prescribed perfectionists, they tend to have this sense of disconnection with other people, so it would make sense that one of the ways they would experience poorer health is because of this sense of social disconnection from others."

Molnar说:我们知道社会支持是健康状况的一个重大指标。如果你有牢固的人际关系、美妙的家庭生活、深厚的友情,你也会更加健康。我们知道社会定向型完美主义者,他们倾向于与其他人断开联系,也正因为与其他人之间的关系断裂,所以这将会使他们经历糟糕的健康状况。

Even if others reach out to help, socially prescribed perfectionists may view the kind actions as critical.

即使他人提供帮助,社会定向型完美主义者们可能也会视这种友善的行为是一种批评和嘲讽。

"Even when the levels of received support, so the support they're actually getting, is the same, there's been some work showing that perfectionists will actually appraise it differently," Molnar said. "They don’t see it as nurturing and supportive, but that people are being critical of them, and they're interfering, they're perceiving that people aren’t there for them," she said.

Molnar说:即使是接受帮助的程度,就是他们实际上得到的支持也是一样的,在完美主义者中表现出来的效用也会得到不同的评定。他们不会认为那是培育和支持,而认为人们是在批判他们,他们是在多管闲事,他们感觉人们不是为了帮他们才出现在那儿的。

Other perfectionists might hold off on asking for help altogether, because they don't want to let on that there's anything wrong, or that they're imperfect in some way.

其他的完美主义者可能总是不停的推迟寻求帮助,因为他们不想被人知道有什么错误的地方,或者他们在某些方面并不完美。

"If you have to ask someone for help, well that means you're flawed, that means you're weak, right? And so I think there's also that presentation of not wanting to seem like you need help from others," said Fuschia Sirois, of the University of Windsor in Canada.

加拿大温莎大学的Fuschia Sirois 说:如果你需要寻求帮助,那就意味着你是有缺陷的,意味着你是弱者,对吗?所以我想也会有不想让别人看到自己好像需要别人的帮助似的相关的描述。

Poor health could also be the result of perfectionists leaving little time to care for themselves, while spending every minute striving for perfection, Sirois said.

Sirois 说:因为没有太多的时间关心自己,所以完美主义者的健康状况不好,他们把每一分钟都花在追求完美上了。

Future work

未来的工作

More work is needed to untangle the intricate relationship between perfectionism and health.

要理清完美主义和健康之间复杂的关系还有很多的工作要做。

For instance, few studies have examined perfectionismin older adults, which might be due to the incorrect notion that perfectionism eases with age, Fry said.

Fry说:例如,很少有研究调查老年人中的完美主义,这可能是因为人们不正确的观念,认为完美主义会随着年龄的增长而有所缓和。

"We've gone along with the misconception that if people are perfectionistic in their earlier stages of life, that in late life their perfectionism sort of automatically tapers off, but it doesn’t tapper off," she said.

她说:我们会产生这样的误解,如果人们在他们年轻时追求完美的话,那么他们晚年时他们追求完美的性格会稍微自动的减弱,但实际上它并没有。

Perfectionism in the elderly is of particular concern because, although they still have the same high expectations, they are unable to perform as well, which could ultimately lead to greater depression and anxiety, Fry said.

Fry说:晚年时的完美主义更要给予特别的关注,尽管他们仍是有很高的期望,但他们不能执行的如此好了,这会最终导致更大的失望和焦虑。

Researchers should also focus on understanding exactly why perfectionism is associated with poorer health or better health, depending on the situation.

研究者们还应该聚焦于精确地理解为何完美主义根据不同的情境会和好的或坏的健康状况联系在一起。

"Without knowing the whys we can't intervene, we can't help these people," Molnar said. "These people are walking around with incredibly unrealistic expectations … they're not just striving for excellence, they're striving for absolute perfection, which of course is impossible. So they're setting themselves up for more failure experiences," she said.

Molnar说:如果不知道原因,我们就不能进行干预,就不能帮助这些人。这些人带着非常不切实际的期望…他们不仅仅努力追求卓越,他们追求绝对的完美,而这是绝对不可能的。所以他们自己陷入在了更多失败经历的困境之中。

"We have to start understanding what's going on in the middle so how can we help these people."

我们已经开始理解其中发生的事情来帮助这些追求完美的人们。