Dr. Paul Hewitt is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia. He is registered clinical psychologist and completed his clinical internship at the University of Washington, School of Medicine in Seattle, Washington.

He is a Fellow of the Canadian Psychological Association and of the Association’s Section on Clinical Psychology. Dr. Hewitt was cited as one of the top 10 Canadian clinical psychology professors for research productivity and was recently awarded the Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science by the Canadian Psychological Association. He has published over 300 research papers, books, and chapters on perfectionism, psychopathology, and psychotherapy.

Dr. Paul Hewitt’s research interest focuses primarily on personality vulnerabilities and their implications for psychological difficulties among adults, adolescents, and children. In particular, he has conducted extensive research on the construct of perfectionism as a complex maladaptive and multidimensional personality trait and interpersonal style that is related to problems such as suicide, depression, personality disorders, and relationship, achievement, and health problems. Additionally, he is conducting research on the psychotherapy of perfectionism and provides assessment and treatment for individuals with perfectionism problems and trains clinicians in the treatment of perfectionistic behaviour.

Theoretical/Clinical Orientations: Psychodynamic; Relational Psychoanalysis.

Dr. Hewitt’s secondary research area is Social/Personality.

Recent Selected:

Hewitt, P. L. (2020). Perfecting, belonging, and repairing: A dynamic-relational approach to perfectionism. Canadian Psychology, 61, 101-110.

Hewitt, P. L., Chen, C., Smith, M. M., Zhang, L., Habke, M., Flett, G. L., & Mikhail, S. F. (2020). Patient perfectionism and clinician impression formation during an initial interview. Advance online publication.

Hewitt, P. L., Smith, M. M., Deng, X., Chen, C., Ko, A., Flett, G. L., & Paterson, R. J. (2020). The perniciousness of perfectionism in group therapy for depression: A test of the perfectionism social disconnection model. Psychotherapy. Advance online publication.

Hewitt, P. L., Qiu, T., Flynn, C. A., Flett, G. L., Wiebe, S. A., Tasca, G. A., & Mikail, S. F. (2019). Dynamic-relational group treatment for perfectionism: Informant ratings of patient change. Psychotherapy. Advance online publication.

Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., Mikail, S. F., Kealy, D., & Zhang, L. (2018). Perfectionism in the Therapeutic Context: The Perfectionism Social Disconnection Model and Clinical Process and Outcome. In J. Stoeber (Ed.) The Psychology of Perfectionism: Theory, Research, Applications. New York: Routledge.

Hewitt, P. L., Mikail, S.F., Flett, G. L., & Dang, S. (2018). Specific Formulation Feedback in Dynamic-Relational Group Psychotherapy of Perfectionism. Psychotherapy, 55, 179-185.

Hewitt, P. L., Flett, G. L., & Mikail, S. F. (2017). Perfectionism: A Relational Approach to Conceptualization, Assessment and Treatment. New York: Guilford Press.

Miller, R., Hilsenroth, M. J., & Hewitt, P. L. (2017). Perfectionism and therapeutic alliance: a review of the clinical research. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology, Process and Outcome, 20(1).

Hewitt, P. L., Mikail, S. F., Flett, G. L., Tasca, G., Flynn, C.A., Deng, X., Kaldas, J., Chen, C. (2015). Psychodynamic/Interpersonal group psychotherapy of perfectionism: Evaluating a short term treatment. Psychotherapy, 52(2), 205 -217.

Flett, G. L., & Hewitt, P. L. (2014). “The perils of perfectionism in sports” revisited: Toward a broader understanding of the pressure to be perfect and its impact on athletes and dancers. International Journal of Sport Psychology,45(4), 395-407.

Hewitt, P. L., Caelian, C. F., Chen, C., & Flett, G. L. (2014). Perfectionism, stress, daily hassles, hopelessness, and suicide potential in depressed psychiatric adolescents. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 36(4), 663-674.

• Canadian Psychological Association’s Donald O. Hebb Award (2018)
• Canadian Psychological Association Fellow (2014 clinical section and 2017)