They use the expression when they feel they are losing control.

VOA: special.2009.10.25

It reveals maybe a little bit of the power and extravagance and glory that you feel in her poems but that she preferred always to restrain and bind and control in extraordinary ways, and not always to hide.

这可能显露出了她诗中所蕴含的,力量，铺张和骄傲，尽管她一直极力压制着,以及非凡的约束和自制，她并不总是隐藏这些。

耶鲁公开课 - 现代诗歌课程节选

I feel bad saying that. But his schizophrenia has been under control.

谈起这些我真的很同情他。不过他的精神分裂症已经得到控制。

知道约翰·纳什吗？ - SpeakingMax英语口语达人

"I believe that most Hong Kong people will feel that we have won the first battle, able to control the spread of infection from the first index patient,"

VOA: standard.2009.05.08