Editing Control freak

{{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>

==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]] (OCPD), [[anxiety disorder|anxiety disorders]], or [[personality disorder|personality disorders]].<ref name="Cleveland"/>

Control freaks are often insecure and [[Perfectionism (psychology)|perfectionists]].<ref>Michelle N. Lafrance, ''Women and Depression'' (2009) p. 89</ref> Additionally, they may even [[Manipulation (psychology)|manipulate]] 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]], 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]], ''Codependency'' (London 1995) p. 131</ref>

==Examples==

* '''[[Steve Jobs#Management style |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]], his long-term collaborator and occasional critic, put it: "Apple gets you into their [[Closed platform|playpen]] and keeps you there".<ref>Quoted in Isaacson, p. 497</ref>
* '''[[Queen Victoria]]''' {{emdash}} A series of three documentary programs on [[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]]
* [[Control (management)]]
* [[Micromanagement]]
* [[Nanny state]]
* [[Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder]]
* [[Pedant]]
}}

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

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[[Category:Slang]]
[[Category:English phrases]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for people]]
[[Category:Power (social and political)]]
[[Category:Control (social and political)]]