Document resource
Clinical perfectionism is characterised by setting excessively high standards and being overly critical of one’s behaviour. While perfectionistic traits can be advantageous in some fields, maladaptive perfectionism is linked to mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and eating disorders. If untreated, it can contribute to both the onset and persistence of these disorders, negatively affecting therapeutic relationships and maternity outcomes. Research on perfectionism is limited, especially regarding gender and perinatal factors. Mothers face additional societal pressures of perfection, which may affect their mental health and parent infant relationship, with impossible high expectations of being the ‘perfect mother’.This literature review aims to explore the neurobiological basis of clinical perfectionism and OCD in the perinatal period. While there is some understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings, limited research focuses on these conditions during pregnancy and the postpartum period. The review seeks to identify studies on the neurobiological origins of OCD and perfectionism in perinatal women and assess how these differ from the general population. The goal is to improve the identification, diagnosis, and understanding of these traits during maternity care and parent-infant interactions.The search retrieved 1059 articles, and after screening highlighted 3 papers discussing the neurobiological aspects of clinical perfectionism and OCD in the perinatal period. Despite the recognised role of perfectionism in perinatal mental health, no studies have specifically addressed its neurobiological underpinnings. The review welcomes further research to complement existing psycho-social research on gender roles in motherhood and guide clinical management of perfectionism related expectations in maternity care and mental health settings. Specifically, further understanding in the neurobiological basis of OCD and related disorders in pregnancy and the perinatal period (both new onset and pre-existing diagnoses) is needed, with further inter-disciplinary research combining the neuroscientific, psychodynamic and socio-cultural nuances of the emerging field of matrescence and affectonomics, inclusive of the rich tapestry of social and feminist literature on motherhood.