ABSTRACT
Passive-Aggressive Personality Disorder (PAPD) is characterized by a pervasive pattern of passive resistance and negative reactivity. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) notes that this pattern begins by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts. To be diagnosed with PAPD, an individual must meet at least four of the following criteria: passive resistance to completing routine social and occupational tasks, complaints of being misunderstood and unappreciated by others, sullen or argumentative, unreasonably criticizes or scorns authority, expresses envy and resentment toward those more fortunate, exaggerated and persistent complaints of personal misfortune, and alternations between hostile defiance and contrition. If present, the criteria cannot occur exclusively during a major depressive episode and should not be better accounted for by Dysthymic Disorder.
