Dr. Simon Sherry’s research occurs at the intersection of personality, social and clinical psychology. He researches the relationship between personality and mental health, with an emphasis on understanding the contribution of perfectionism to the onset and course of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, relationship problems and suicide. He also researches alcohol problems. Dr. Sherry conducts research in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University, where he directs a thriving laboratory known as the Personality Research Team.

Dr. Sherry has disseminated more than 160 peer-reviewed publications and more than 275 scholarly presentations. Much of his work is available on ResearchGate, and his CV is available here. Dr. Sherry’s publications are cited more than 10,000 times.

Dr. Sherry and his research team are responsible for making critical advancements in our understanding of perfectionism. His research includes knowledge generation (original studies), knowledge synthesis (meta-analytic reviews) and knowledge translation (scientific outreach).

Generating knowledge

Dr. Sherry’s research builds on a longstanding idea: perfectionism is a destructive personality trait that places people at risk for depression, anxiety, eating disorders and suicide. Dr. Sherry’s original studies test if, when and why perfectionism is linked to mental health problems. His research uses cutting-edge methods and provides compelling evidence that perfectionism is a destructive personality trait.

Synthesizing knowledge

Dr. Simon Sherry’s research also involves synthesizing important topic areas. Using meta-analysis, he has summarized available evidence on perfectionism in relation to depression, anxiety, eating disorders, suicide, neuroticism and narcissism. Through this work, Dr. Sherry aims to bring greater coherence to perfectionism research, resolve limitations of past work and chart future research directions.

Translating knowledge

Dr. Sherry regularly works with the media to educate the public about mental health problems in a scientific, non-sensationalized way. Through public lectures and media interviews, he advocates for the science and practice of psychology, ensuring his work reaches audiences beyond academic settings. Dr. Sherry also offers continuing education workshops for health professionals, directly translating his research into practice.