If I don’t leave so early I’d arrive late
and it would be terrible and they’d
Arriving early to appointments (by
leaving 30 minutes before I need to)
Leave only 15 minutes before I need
to and see if I get arrive on time
If I delegate the tasks to the
secretary, she might get the pages of
the report in the wrong order
Staying late to do the photocopying
because I don’t trust the secretary
Delegate the photocopying, the day
before I need the report, so I can
look it over and see if the pages are
I believe that any weight gain will ruin
my day
Weigh myself once a day and make a
note of this. At the end of the day
make a note of my mood, on a 1-10
score. See if there’s any connection.
If they don’t say they like my cooking,
it means they hate it
Needing everyone to compliment my
meal
Ask them not to give me any
compliments, and then ask them to
rate the meal on a scale of 1-10.
I might choose a restaurant that is
terrible
Finding it so hard to choose a
restaurant that I never get out
Write a short-list of possible
restaurants and stick a pin in one.
Try it to see if I like it.
I will fail on any ‘healthy eating plan’
because there’s always a party or a
dinner and I’ll overeat
Delaying starting a ‘healthy eating
plan’
Develop a healthy eating plan which
allows for exceptions such as parties
Guidelines
Here are some guidelines on how to complete a Behavioural Experiment. Overleaf you will find examples
of a ‘Doing’ Behavioural Experiment and an ‘Avoiding’ Behavioural Experiment (Peter’s). On Page 9 there is
a blank Behavioural Experiment sheet for you to practise on.
You will first be asked to Identify Your Belief. First you need to choose an unhelpful belief or thought
that you are willing to test. Make a prediction; ask yourself: “What will happen if my belief is true?” and rate
the strength of this belief between 0 and 100%.
You will then be ready to Conduct the Experiment to test out the belief. How will you test the
accuracy of your prediction? You will need to plan an experiment, thinking of the specific things you will do
to test your prediction. Carry out the experiment and record what happened. Describe what actually
happened. Rate your distress before, during and after carrying out the experiment (0-10).
The last step is to Develop a Balanced Belief. Reflect on your experiment. Compare your prediction
with what actually happened and think about what you have learned. As a result, develop a more balanced
belief, which is more helpful than your old fear.
It is important to note that not everything we think is inaccurate, or has no grain of truth to it. However,
we often blindly believe our attitudes, thoughts, and expectations even when they are unhelpful to us. We
rarely step back to question our predictions or test them out. This is a habit that is important to break.
However, should your predictions be partially supported, which may happen at times, it will be important
to ask yourself some questions about this. Ask yourself: Is there another explanation for what happened?
What else was happening at that time? Are there other ways of viewing what happened? What could I learn from
the experience to improve or change things in the future?
Now, it’s time for you to do an experiment. Look at the examples on the next two pages to help you plan
an experiment, and use the worksheet on Page 9 to test your perfectionistic beliefs in order to see how
accurate your predictions really are. You can use this blank worksheet to carry out several Behavioural
Experiments. You can do an experiment on each of the steps you identified on Page 4.
Page 6
• Psychotherapy • Research • Training
C
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Module 5: Reducing my Perfectionism Behaviours