The colloquialism control freak usually describes a person with an obsession with getting things done a certain way. A control freak can become distressed when someone causes a deviation in the way they prefer to do things.
Control freak can also describe a person who tries to make others do things the way that they want, even if the other people prefer to do it another way, and even if the initial person has no good reason for interfering.
This expression first appeared around the 1970s.
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, stem from deeper psychological issues such as
obsessive–compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general ...
(OCD), anxiety disorders or personality disorders.
Control freaks are often
perfectionists. They may
manipulate or pressure others to change so as to avoid having to change themselves.
Control freaks sometimes have similarities to
codependents, in the sense that the latters' fear of abandonment leads to attempts to control those they are dependent on.
Examples
*
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...
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. As
Steve Wozniak
Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname "Woz", is an American electronics engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, inventor, and entrepreneur, technology entrepreneur. In 1976, with business partner Steve ...
, his long-term collaborator and occasional critic, put it: "Apple gets you into their playpen and keeps you there".
*
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
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.
[Queen Victoria's Children BBC2 January 2013]
See also
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Control Freak
Slang
English phrases
Pejorative terms for people
Control (social and political)