To be intimate or close, we have to let go, for the moment, of our need to control. Controlling and caretaking prevent intimacy and closeness. They are substitutes for, and barricades to, closeness. We can’t be close if we’re trying to control or caretake. Controlling and caretaking are ways to connect with people. They’re not as satisfying as closeness and intimacy, but for some of us, those are the only ways we learned how to connect with others.
— Melody Beattie, Beyond Codependency, p. 185