Passive-Aggressive Behavior

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in its most recent diagnostic manual - the DSM IV - as too narrow to be a full-blown diagnosis, and not well enough supported by scientific evidence to meet increasingly rigorous standards of definition." (Carey, 2004)
The article clarified some origins for the disorder. The patterns associated with the disorder have been traced to one or more distinct childhood experiences and research has shown that these experiences could even have been positive. "Dr. Lorna Benjamin, co-director of a clinic at the University of Utah's Neuropsychiatric Institute in Salt Lake City, said people with strong passive tendencies often grew up in loving but demanding families, which gave them responsibilities they perceived to be unmanageable." (Carey, 2004)
But knowing the origins and understanding the behavior are not one and the same. Individuals who are suffering from this life altering personality disorder may not even be aware of their ritualistic patterns. "At the end of some days, she ...

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marriage seemed to come loose at the seams, one stitch at a time, often during the evening hour between work and dinner. She would be preparing the meal, while he kept her company in the sun room next to kitchen, usually reading the paper. At times the two would provoke each other, as couples do - about money, about holiday plans - but those exchanges often flared out quickly when he would say, simply, "O.K., you're right," and turn back to the news.

"Looking back, instead of getting angry, I was doing this as a dismissive way of shutting down the conversation," said Peter G. Hill, 48, a doctor in Massachusetts who has recently separated from his wife. Even reading the paper at that ...

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