This study looked at 345 people with chronic facial and TMJ pain and they interestingly found that this population scored significantly higher in perfectionism than those in the control group who had no pain.
Even after factoring in anxiety and depression, perfectionism still stood out as the greatest predictor of chronic pain.
When the nervous system is stuck in a loop of fear, pressure, performance anxiety, people-pleasing and the expectation of being perfect, it’s harder for the brain to shift out of danger mode… therefore pain can persist, be it in the spine, the knee or the TMJ!