After so many conversations about the passive-aggressive meaning we have had here, today I want to spell it in very clear terms: When people ask: "what is the meaning of passive-aggressive?" the simple and direct answer is:
"Passive-aggressive behavior is a purposeful and disguised way of expressing covert feelings of resistance and anger."
This behavior can be very useful when you don't want to say "NO" to a request, don't want to be seen as uncooperative, or be seen as selfish because wanting to do your own thing.
So, you "forget," procrastinate, or show some intentional inefficiency, saying that you don't know how to do something you usually do.
We all do it, and in this case, passive aggression is a defensive tool that helps us avoid confrontations while preserving our personal space.
When it gets to be a problem, is when it is used systematically against a partner that by definition, as in marriage, has to be very near.
MAIN POINTS OF PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR MEANING IN MARRIAGE:
- The anger is old anger, generated in interactions with the family of origin, way back in the past.
- It has to keep expressing itself because it was never expressed in the true situation where it originated;
- It can't be expressed as anger; it has to morph into all kinds of resistance, sabotage, and non-cooperation because the person doesn't want to be challenged in his/her anger;
- For the unsuspecting partner, this resistance to cooperative and joint projects shown by the passive-aggressive spouse can be devastating, because it takes a long time to realize that the anger is old (not from the present marriage); that is automatic (not produced by her actions here and now, but prompted in a repetitive way, regardless the stimulus); that is a primordial response (not selected among other possible ones) but the only one the person has.
As a remedy, we all could be aware that unique episodes of passive-aggressive behavior in a couple can be confronted directly and negotiated down.
Ask Questions like: "What is the obstacle? I hear that you will do it, but I'm not totally convinced...do you want more time to see where your resistance is coming from? we can do this task in so many ways, but you need to be sure you want to do it. Otherwise, you have to say that you don't want to do it."
Now, if we all could remember the three big ideas:
a) The anger is against his past family, mother or caretaker;
b) Now the person he is married to has nothing to do with his past and hidden anger;
c) Is better to confront small episodes of passive aggression, so we don't encourage people to do it so often.
Waiting for your comments, thanks a lot! Meanwhile, you can get some ideas from this ebook:
The Silent Marriage: How Passive Aggression Steals Your Happiness