The idea that there are three kinds of perfectionism isn’t a new one. The concept was first described by Paul Hewitt from the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital and Gordon Flett from York University in 1991. In the same paper, they also devised the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, which describes exactly how your neuroses manifest to keep you striving for a standard that’s impossible to reach.

Other scales have been created since then, as have remixes of the original Hewitt-Flett scale, but the basic test has remained in circulation for nearly 30 years. You can experience any of the three types in varying degrees, but they all come down to the perceived source of your perfectionism. So, do any of these ring a bell?

This is probably the closest to the layperson’s standard definition of “perfectionism.” In short, it’s the perfectionism that you require of yourself. If you struggle with this thought pattern, then you’re likely to hold yourself to a standard far beyond what you can reasonably achieve. You probably pore over every detail of every action you’ve ever taken, eager to see where you made a mistake. You probably shoulder a lot of blame when things go wrong, even things that you have no control over.

While some might question if this type of perfectionism is really so bad, Hewitt and Flett themselves had no doubts: “self-oriented perfectionism has been associated with various indices of maladjustment,” they write. These include anxiety, anorexia nervosa, and subclinical depression. They also note that the discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal self can give one a depressive affect.

Self-oriented perfectionism is when you’re your own worst critic. Other-oriented perfectionism is when you’re everybody else’s worst critic too (or maybe you think you’re just fine, and it’s everyone else that needs to shape up). If this describes you, then you have unrealistic standards for other people — family, friends, significant others, and coworkers. Hewitt and Flett point out that a person with this perfectionism type might struggle with trust, blame, and underlying hostility. However, they also point out that a person like this might just be well-suited to leadership, but they should be careful to keep their judgmental tendencies in check at home.

Socially prescribed perfectionism might just be the most insidious type of all. You could think of it as a cursed hybrid of the self- and other-oriented varieties. Basically, it’s driven by the perception (whether true or not) that others are judging you by an unrealistic standard. It leads to the belief that you are constantly letting everybody else down, that you are incapable of meeting what society requires of you, and, like other-oriented perfectionism, can lead to a breakdown in your relationships. Your sense of self-worth is determined by your perception of how others perceive you, and you’re disposed to think that others perceive you very poorly.