Some examples of overcontrol can look like the following behavior patterns:
- Rigidity
- Masking
- Overthinking/rumination
- Hypervigilance for potential threat
- Indirect communication
- Pushing through to accomplish tasks
- Underreporting of distress
- Low awareness of body sensations
- High achievement-orientation
- Hyper-perfectionism
- Insistence on sameness
- Compulsive fixing and approach coping
- Hyper detail-focused
- People-pleasing
- Overly cautious
- Automatic rejection of critical or disconfirming feedback
- Rigid rule-governed behavior
- Compulsive planning, premeditation, rehearsal
- Aloof and distant style of relating
- Lying to avoid novelty
- Frequent social comparisons, often with [hidden] envy and bitterness
- Moral certitude
Oftentimes, with family, a partner, or a very close friend there may be more external and/or elevated expressions of emotion but outside of those, an internalized presentation is more likely.
Additionally, when a certain individualized threshold of prolonged suppression has been reached, there may be an externalized presentation (e.g., outburst, out of norm behavior), but this would be occurring periodically versus consistently or frequently.