# Control freak

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{{Short description|Colloquialism for a person obsessed with control}}
{{redirect|Control Freak}}

'''Control freak''' is a [colloquialism](/source/colloquialism) for a person who feels a psychological need to constantly be in charge of things and people around them. A control freak can become [distressed](/source/Distress_(medicine)) when they feel things are going out of control.<ref name="Cleveland">{{cite web |title=How to Deal with a Control Freak |url=https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-deal-with-a-control-freak/ |website=Health Essentials |date=5 May 2020 |publisher=Cleveland Clinic |access-date=5 May 2020}}</ref> The feel of the need to control is often attributed to the underlying fear of losing control over their lives.<ref>[https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-is-2020/201604/5-signs-that-you-are-dealing-with-a-control-freak 5 Signs That You Are Dealing With a Control Freak]</ref>

This expression was introduced around the 1960s and it is not a clinical one.<ref>Kristin Glaser, in ''The Radical Therapist'' (Penguin 1974) p. 246</ref>

==Characteristics==
Control freaks tend to have a psychological need to be in charge of things and people – even circumstances that cannot be controlled. The need for control, in extreme cases, stems from deeper psychological issues such as [obsessive–compulsive personality disorder](/source/obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_personality_disorder) (OCPD), [anxiety disorders](/source/anxiety_disorder), or [personality disorders](/source/personality_disorder).<ref name="Cleveland"/>

Control freaks are often insecure and [perfectionists](/source/Perfectionism_(psychology)).<ref>Michelle N. Lafrance, ''Women and Depression'' (2009) p. 89</ref> Additionally, they may even [manipulate](/source/Manipulation_(psychology)) or pressure others to change to avoid having to change themselves. They may have had an overbearing mother or father.<ref>Robin Skynner/John Cleese, ''Families and how to survive them'' (London 1994) p. 208</ref> Furthermore, control freaks sometimes have similarities to [codependents](/source/codependents), in the sense that the latter's fear of abandonment leads to attempts to control those they are dependent on.<ref>David Stafford & [Liz Hodgkinson](/source/Liz_Hodgkinson), ''Codependency'' (London 1995) p. 131</ref>

==Examples==

* '''[Steve Jobs](/source/Steve_Jobs)''' {{emdash}} Steve Jobs was a perfectionist who favored the closed system of control over all aspects of a product from start to finish — what he termed the integrated over the fragmented approach.<ref>Walter Isaacson, ''Steve Jobs'' (2011) p. 564 and p. 513</ref> As [Steve Wozniak](/source/Steve_Wozniak), his long-term collaborator and occasional critic, put it: "Apple gets you into their [playpen](/source/Closed_platform) and keeps you there".<ref>Quoted in Isaacson, p. 497</ref>
* '''[Queen Victoria](/source/Queen_Victoria)''' {{emdash}} A series of three documentary programs on [BBC2](/source/BBC2) in the UK in January 2013 called ''Queen Victoria's Children'' argued that Queen Victoria was a pathological control freak by the way she controlled the welfare of all her children.<ref>Queen Victoria's Children BBC2 January 2013</ref>

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=18em|
* [Authoritarian personality](/source/Authoritarian_personality)
* [Control (management)](/source/Control_(management))
* [Micromanagement](/source/Micromanagement)
* [Nanny state](/source/Nanny_state)
* [Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder](/source/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_personality_disorder)
* [Obsessive love](/source/Obsessive_love)
* [Pedant](/source/Pedant)
}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Control Freak}}
Category:Slang
Category:English phrases
Category:Pejorative terms for people
Category:Power (social and political)
Category:Control (social and political)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Control freak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_freak) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_freak?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.