Control freak

The colloquialism control freak usually describes a person obsessed with performing tasks in a way they perceive as correct. A control freak can become distressed when someone causes a deviation in the way they prefer to perform tasks. Someone who tries to control how other people perform tasks, even with no good reason for interfering, can also be considered a control freak.

This expression was introduced around the 1960s.

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 disorders or personality disorders.

Control freaks are often insecure and perfectionists. Additionally, they may even manipulate or pressure others to change to avoid having to change themselves. They may have had an overbearing mother or father. 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.

Examples

 * Steve Jobs 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, his long-term collaborator and occasional critic, put it: "Apple gets you into their playpen and keeps you there".
 * Queen Victoria 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.