Personal control requires both an agentic self and a responsive environment. This paper proposes two pathways to low perceived control: perception of overpowering external forces, and lack of an agentic sense of self. Using nationally representative data (CPES; N = 4,904), identity disturbance served as a proxy for absent agentic self, and a hardship index served as a proxy for external constraint. Identity disturbance nearly eliminated high mastery, while hardship did not, and identity disturbance attenuated the established mastery–psychopathology link. These findings also expose a fatal flaw in the Lachman and Weaver Sense of Control Scale: its two-factor structure reflects item-wording polarity, not substantively distinct dimensions.