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Control freak
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<h2 id="characteristics">Characteristics</h2> <p>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 <a href="/facts/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_personality_disorder/eUeW1Ryv">obsessive–compulsive personality disorder</a> (OCPD), <a href="/facts/Anxiety_disorder/wh9zFH1V">anxiety disorders</a>, or <a href="/facts/Personality_disorder/SxFnlSEW">personality disorders</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> </p><p>Control freaks are often insecure and <a href="/facts/Perfectionism_(psychology)/XEp1CVWU">perfectionists</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> Additionally, they may even <a href="/facts/Manipulation_(psychology)/RLqHuGzV">manipulate</a> or pressure others to change to avoid having to change themselves. They may have had an overbearing mother or father.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> Furthermore, control freaks sometimes have similarities to <a href="/facts/Codependents/Y73ekSEf">codependents</a>, in the sense that the latter's fear of abandonment leads to attempts to control those they are dependent on.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="examples">Examples</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Steve_Jobs/fQpja1hx">Steve Jobs</a> — 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.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> As <a href="/facts/Steve_Wozniak/qSHwIrMz">Steve Wozniak</a>, his long-term collaborator and occasional critic, put it: "Apple gets you into their <a href="/facts/Playpen/9alrSaD2">playpen</a> and keeps you there".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Queen_Victoria/CgxSlQ4g">Queen Victoria</a> — A series of three documentary programs on <a href="/facts/BBC2/TErpjSD4">BBC2</a> in the UK in January 2013 called <i>Queen Victoria's Children</i> argued that Queen Victoria was a pathological control freak by the way she controlled the welfare of all her children.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10"><sup>10</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Authoritarian_personality/zH0b0Vgp">Authoritarian personality</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Control_(management)/egCL7mvK">Control (management)</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Micromanagement/WaGHKypl">Micromanagement</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Nanny_state/seAl6bY4">Nanny state</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Obsessive%E2%80%93compulsive_personality_disorder/eUeW1Ryv">Obsessive–compulsive personality disorder</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Pedant/TcEeR953">Pedant</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"How to Deal with a Control Freak". Health Essentials. Cleveland Clinic. 5 May 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020. <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-deal-with-a-control-freak/" target="_blank">https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-deal-with-a-control-freak/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>5 Signs That You Are Dealing With a Control Freak <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-is-2020/201604/5-signs-that-you-are-dealing-with-a-control-freak" target="_blank">https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/insight-is-2020/201604/5-signs-that-you-are-dealing-with-a-control-freak</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Kristin Glaser, in The Radical Therapist (Penguin 1974) p. 246 <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"How to Deal with a Control Freak". Health Essentials. Cleveland Clinic. 5 May 2020. Retrieved 5 May 2020. <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-deal-with-a-control-freak/" target="_blank">https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-deal-with-a-control-freak/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Michelle N. Lafrance, Women and Depression (2009) p. 89 <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Robin Skynner/John Cleese, Families and how to survive them (London 1994) p. 208 <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>David Stafford & Liz Hodgkinson, Codependency (London 1995) p. 131 <a href="/wiki/Liz_Hodgkinson" target="_blank">/wiki/Liz_Hodgkinson</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs (2011) p. 564 and p. 513 <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Quoted in Isaacson, p. 497 <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:10"><p>Queen Victoria's Children BBC2 January 2013 <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>