Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder | The Lost Personality Disorder

This video answers the question: What was passive-aggressive personality disorder? I've also had some other questions about the same construct like: What is passive-aggressive personality? What is the history was behind passive-aggressive personality disorder? Why is it no longer in the DSM? The term passive-aggressive was first used clinically speaking during World War II and it was used to describe soldiers who refused to comply with the orders of officers, but the construct of passive aggressive actually existed before that. It was really central to some of the clinical theory that we saw from that time period. Passive-aggressive behavior has been shown to undermine successful treatment. If somebody has another disorder, like a major mood disorder, passive-aggressive behavior can get in the way of that disorder being treated. The construct is important but, of course, the personality disorder is no longer in the DSM.


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Hopwood, C., & Wright, A. C. (2012). A Comparison of Passive–Aggressive and Negativistic Personality Disorders. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94(3), 296–303.

Fine, M. A., & Overholser, J. C. (1992). Diagnostic validity of the passive-aggressive personality disorder: Suggestions for reform. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 46(3), 470.