Cognitive-Behavioral Approaches for Reducing Perfectionism Cognitions in Athletes

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Research outside sport has shown that cognitive-behavioral approaches can help reduce perfectionism. However, research inside sport is still in its infancy. We compared three cognitive-behavioral approaches (cognitive therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, and rational emotive behavior therapy) in reducing perfectionism cognitions in an applied sport psychology context. Using a single-subject multiple-baseline design, 12 academy rugby league players ( M age = 19.1 years, SD = 0.99) received eight, one-to-one cognitive therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, or rational emotive behavior therapy sessions over 6 weeks. Measures of perfectionism cognitions and related outcomes were collected on a weekly basis, before, during, and after the intervention. The findings supported the use of all three cognitive-behavioral approaches, with acceptance and commitment therapy appearing to be particularly beneficial for reducing perfectionism cognitions. Due to the limitations of single-case research and lack of control over extraneous variables, more rigorous tests and comparisons of these interventions are now needed to confirm our findings.