Frustration mounted and symptoms worsened in the midst of shutdowns.
KEY POINTS
- Controlling people have a hard time dealing with the unexpected, leading to undue frustration.
- Trying to control others results in feelings of resentment and resistance in other people.
- Learning to accept the reality that much of life is beyond our control can be liberating.
With the pandemic, the world changed before everyone’s eyes, and no one had control over what was happening. Restaurants and theaters were closed, streets were deserted, toilet paper was in short supply, and the outside world looked like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. With news of rising infections and deaths worldwide, everyone hunkered down, afraid to venture outdoors. The world felt strange and chaotic, with little control apparent anywhere.
For individuals with a strong need to have control in their lives, the pandemic was especially stressful. Their ordinary ways of reducing stress were locked down as gyms, work environments, restaurants, and schools closed. As frustration grew, some of their partners, employees, and children became the objects of their ongoing anxiety and anger. Rising rates of alcohol abuse, anxiety disorders, depression, divorce, and domestic violence attest to the pandemic as a huge source of psychological distress for many.
Among the groups most affected by the pandemic were those needing to control themselves and/or others. This included domestic abusers, whose fragile sense of self-esteem arises from their ability to dominate and manipulate others, road-raging narcissists who take out their frustrations on the highway, and even obsessive types of people who struggle to reign in their anxiety by prescribed thoughts and rituals.
The pandemic also influenced milder forms of control dysfunction. Many couples in which control is important but not critical to their identity became psychological casualties of the pandemic. Having no control of the pandemic’s effects added to their already high-stress levels. Either they filed for divorce or one partner became symptomatic with an anxiety or depressive disorder. Incidentally, applications for divorce increased by a third during the pandemic.
Read the full blog here: https://geraldinekpiorkowskibooks.com/how-the-pandemic-affected-the-controlling-personality-type/
