Description, assessment, and counseling of the perfectionistic procrastinator

There is little doubt that readers of this volume will reach the conclusion that procrastination is a complex phenomenon and that there is substantial heterogeneity among procrastinators. Clearly, not all procrastinators are alike. The purpose of the current chapter is to focus on one particular type of procrastinator – the perfectionistic procrastinator. The first segment of our chapter examines descriptions and accounts of perfectionistic procrastinators. The second segment examines how different dimensions of perfectionism relate to indexes of procrastination. The final segment of the chapter discusses issues involved in the counseling of perfectionistic procrastinators, along with an analysis of factors that may make it difficult to provide effective counseling to clients who are perfectionistic procrastinators.