Treating Perfectionism
A Shame-Informed, Integrative Approach to Help Clients Recover from Emotional Avoidance, Self-Sabotage, and Overachievement
- Author:
- Megan Bruneau, MA Psych
- Copyright:
-
2027
- Publication Date:
- Jan 19, 2027
- Publisher:
- PESI Publishing
- Product Code:
- PUB180155
- ISBN10:
- 1683738705
- ISBN13:
- 9781683738701
- Format:
- Paperback
- Number of Pages:
- 336
- Media Type:
- Book
Description
Perfectionism isn’t really about high standards—it’s about avoiding shame.
Perfectionism doesn’t always look like overachievement—it can also manifest as self-sabotage, anger, procrastination, addiction, and more. But beneath each of these patterns lies the same fear: you don’t belong as you are.
In this integrative guide, therapist and executive coach Megan Bruneau offers a radical new conceptualization of perfectionism, reframing it as a protective strategy against core shame. By blending Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic approaches, attachment theory, and exposure therapy, she provides a framework for treating perfectionism at its root.
Filled with worksheets, assessments, and case studies, this book will teach you how to:
- Recognize nontraditional presentations of perfectionism
- Map the cycle of emotional avoidance that underlies all perfectionist presentations
- Guide clients to connect with their authentic inner voice and values
- Build self-compassion, flexible thinking, and shame resilience
- Support mind-body awareness and nervous system regulation
Perfectionism might be shame’s most sophisticated disguise, but Bruneau’s compassionate, clinically informed approach will allow you to unmask that shame and move clients toward authenticity.
Credit
Author
Megan Bruneau, MA Psych Related seminars and products
Megan Bruneau, MA Psych, has nearly two decades of experience providing therapy and coaching in both clinical and organizational settings. She is a regular contributor to Forbes, and her writing and expertise have appeared in The New York Times, Psychology Today, Quartz, Mindbodygreen, and countless more. She is the host of The Failure Factor podcast, the creator of the Audible Original How to Manage Stress at Work, and the author of How to Be Alone (and Together): 72 Lessons on Being at Peace with Yourself.
Additional Info
Endorsement“Perfectionism is not simply a matter of setting standards too high. What matters is what our striving is in the service of and what thoughts, feelings, and vulnerabilities we are trying not to have along the way. Megan Bruneau brings this insight to life with warmth, clinical wisdom, and an impressive range of practical tools. Rather than asking people to give up caring or achieving, Treating Perfectionism shows how we can loosen the grip of avoidance and shame so that striving becomes more flexible, compassionate, and connected to what truly matters. This is a thoughtful, well-written, and engaging guide for clinicians and the people they serve.”
—Steven C. Hayes, PhD, Foundation Professor of Psychology Emeritus, University of Nevada, Reno; originator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy; and author of A Liberated Mind
“Megan Bruneau has a rare gift for making complex psychological patterns feel both deeply understandable and genuinely changeable. In Treating Perfectionism, she offers clinicians a compassionate, shame-informed framework for understanding perfectionism not simply as the pursuit of high standards, but as a powerful strategy for avoiding difficult emotions—and provides practical, integrative tools to help clients finally step out of that cycle and into a more authentic life.”
—Terri Cole, psychotherapist and author of Boundary Boss, Too Much, and Father Wound
“Megan Bruneau completely changes the conversation around perfectionism by showing us that underneath the striving, controlling, procrastinating, and people-pleasing is often a fear that who we are isn’t enough. Treating Perfectionism doesn’t just tell us to lower our standards or quiet our inner critic, but shows us how to get underneath the behavior and work with the shame, attachment wounds, and emotional avoidance driving it. This is the kind of book that will make therapists better at what they do while also making them quietly examine all the ways they’re still trying to earn their own worth.”
—John Kim, LMFT, therapist and author of Single On Purpose
Reviews
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