Editing Control freak (section)

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

'''Control freak''' is a [[colloquialism]] that is usually employed to describe a person who feel a psychological need to be in charge of things and people around them. A control freak can become [[Distress (medicine)|distressed]] 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>