The act of justifying, denying and dismissing are all defence mechanisms the ego mind uses with their sole purpose being protection. So in order to understand what causes a man to be controlling to a woman; we have to go a little deeper. We have to look through these defence mechanism to understand what could be going on underneath them. The act of control is simply being used as a form of protection. So although it may seem as though this behaviour is coming from a place of power and strength, it is actually coming from a place of fear and disempowerment. And the reason these behaviours are being utilized is to avoid and compensate for this inner conflict and disharmony.