Passive-aggressive behavior

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Passive-aggressive behaviour refers to passive, sometimes obstructionist resistance to authoritative instructions in interpersonal or occupational situations. It can manifest itself as resentment, stubbornness, procrastination, sullenness, or intentional failure at doing requested tasks. For example, people who are passive-aggressive might take so long to get ready for a party they do not wish to attend that the party is nearly over by the time they arrive.

1 Passive-aggression as a personality disorder
2 History
3 Common signs of passive-aggressive personality disorder
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Passive-aggression as a personality disorder

**Passive-aggressive personality disorder**
*Classifications and external resources*
ICD-10	F60.8
ICD-9	301.84

Passive-aggressive personality disorder (also called negativistic personality disorder) is a controversial personality disorder said to be marked by a pervasive pattern of negative attitudes and passive resistance in interpersonal or occupational situations.

It was listed as an Axis II personality disorder in the DSM-III-R, but was moved in the DSM-IV to Appendix B ("Criteria Sets and Axes Provided for Further Study") because of controversy and the need for further research on how to categorize the behaviours in a future edition. On that point, Cecil Adams writes: "Merely being passive-aggressive isn't a disorder but a behaviour — sometimes a perfectly rational behavior, which lets you dodge unpleasant chores while avoiding confrontation. It's only pathological if it's a habitual, crippling response reflecting a pervasively pessimistic attitude" [1].

When the behavior is part of a disorder, the lack of repercussions resulting from passive-aggressive behaviour can lead to an unchecked continual attack, albeit passive, on one's acquaintances. The treatment of this disorder can be difficult, mostly because efforts to convince the person that they have this problem are met with resistance, and the passive-aggressive will frequently leave a treatment regimen claiming that it did no good. Since the effectiveness of various therapies have yet to be proven, these individuals may be correct.

In the psychoanalytic theory of transactional analysis, many types of passive-aggressive behavior are interpreted as "games" with a hidden psychological payoff, and are classified into stereotypical scenarios with names like "See What You Made Me Do" and "Look How Hard I've Tried".

[edit] History

The term "passive-aggressive" arose in the U.S. military during World War II, when officers noted that some soldiers seemed to shirk duties by adopting passive-aggressive type behaviours. ^[1]