Aggressive behavior can make an individual feel helpless, hopeless, and out of control. It affects the ability to make logical decisions accordingly. Also, it affects the dynamics of relationships with family members and their partners. Thus, people must understand the consequences and work on themselves to reduce complications that hinder their peace, functioning, and sense of contentment. Individuals who notice irritability, aggression, and anxiety that affect their relationship and intimacy must visit a competent specialist for couple counseling in Dubai. It will help the partner understand and become empathetic to modify the behavior effectively to enhance the relationship and overall functioning in every aspect of life.
Passive Aggressive Behavior and Its Causes
Passive aggressive behavior refers to irrational and neutral patterns that indirectly exhibit aggression and petulant actions. The person may not be aware of the impact of passive aggressiveness at the moment; however, it can harm and affect relationships. The individual in a relationship with a passive-aggressive behavioral pattern may notice their partner becoming distant and anxious. Thus, it is necessary to understand the behavioral patterns and take action to gain control to resolve conflicts and avoid further complications.
The couple who notices either one becoming passive-aggressive must understand the root cause of the problem to address it and take relevant rational steps to gain control. The common causes include:
- Absence of Assertiveness: Lack of assertiveness can lead to passive-aggressive behavior. The person avoids direct confrontation with their partner; rather, they become aggressive and use gestures that lead to conflicts.
- Sense of Insecurity: Jealousy and insecurity cause the individual to become aggressive to defend their ego. In relationships, it dissembles communication, which leads to distant behavior and related problems.
- Learned Behavior: The individuals who have seen their primary caregivers, such as parents and elder siblings having difficulty expressing their emotions effectively, are more likely to suffer from passive-aggressive behavior in later years. The behavior learned from childhood and insecurities can affect mood and mental health. Thus, the partners must understand each other and become empathetic to avoid conflicts and enhance the relationship.
- Difficulty expressing Emotions: Individuals in a relationship may struggle to communicate with their partner through words and love language. Thus, when they fail to get the desired attention, they become passive-aggressive. Also, the existence of long-term mental illness can lead to passive-aggressive behavior, frustration, insecurity, and correlating problems.
Ways to Cope with Passive-Aggressive Behavior
The ways that are proven effective in managing passive-aggressive behavior are:
- Focus on Self-Awareness: Indirect communication causes frustration and increases the probability of exhibiting passive-aggressive behavior. The individuals who struggle in communicating their sexual desires, everyday problems, and feelings to their partners may feel that the other person is failing to understand them. It can trigger passive-aggressive behavior leading to conflicts, agitation, and correlating problems. Thus, couples must encourage each other to express their emotions without fear of judgment and biases. Empathetic behavior helps the person with behavioral problems in a relationship to get the support that reinforces gaining control to act rationally in every situation.
- Work on Identifying the Cause: Identifying the root cause of the behavioral problems helps the individual to get a better understanding of their emotions. The person in a relationship is more likely to work on their communication skills after identifying the trigger. Effective communication is proven effective in reducing the occurrence of passive-aggressive behavioral patterns.
- Practice Mindfulness: Mindfulness is a powerful mediation technique that enables the person to become aware of the mental and physiological response to anger, anxiety, and panic. It helps the person to become aware of the bodily changes at the moment. It helps them gain control over their feelings and emotions, causing them to act irrationally. Thus, the person who notices that they will become passive-aggressive towards their partner should practice deep breathing and mindfulness to divert their attention and make rational decisions according to the situation.
- Maintain a Journal: Maintaining a journal and writing down instances when they act passive-aggressively helps them gain insight into their thought process. It helps them avoid similar behavioral patterns in similar situations in the future.
- Consciously Practice Assertiveness: Assertiveness helps the person enhance communication. It enables them to become confident and have a direct conversation with their partners. Thus, people must try to talk to their partners without withholding information regarding how they feel to enhance the relationship and avoid problems.
- Project Anger in a Healthy Way: People become aggressive when they fail to project their anger. It causes the accumulation of their emotions and becomes passive-aggressive works as a coping mechanism. Therefore, people must engage in extracurricular activities or project their anger through poetry or paintings to reduce behavioral problems.
Couples must learn to become empathetic towards each other and support each other to overcome behavioral problems to improve their relationship.
