The Passive-Aggressive (Negativistic) Personality Disorder

[aluger at hushmail.com]

At Mon, 12 Mar 2001 17:56:49 -0600 (CST), Jim Choate <ravage at EINSTEIN.ssz.com> 
wrote:

>
>Cool, we've got two wanna be head-shrinkers. This is gonna be fun.

A common countertransference issue with these clients is outrage or punitive 
anger. They are manipulative individuals who are consistently stubborn, 
demanding, help-rejecting, critical, and inclined to ridicule both the treatment 
process and the service providers.  Subject Choate has predictably responded 
in exactly this fashion to the onset of treatment.

Identify all avoidance and anxiety-arousing situations. Address these issues 
with anxiety-management behavioral intervention techniques (Turkat, 1990,
 pp. 88-89). Cognitive therapy can help these individuals understand that 
they expect the worst from others and then proceed to behave in such a way 
that brings out the worst from these same people (Stone, 1993, p. 363). 

Group therapy provides individuals with PAPD with an opportunity to learn 
how to manage their hostility. When their hostility emerges, group leaders 
can comment on hostile behavior and encourage other group members to respond. 
The group leader can assist these individuals to process what it is they 
want or need at that moment and to rehearse appropriate behavior within 
the group context (Ries, TIP #9, 1994, p. 72). 


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