Overcoming Passive-Aggression: How to Stop Hidden Anger from Spoiling Your Relationships, Career and Happiness - Softcover

Tim Murphy; Loriann Hoff Oberlin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1569243611 ISBN 13: 9781569243619

Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books, 2005

Synopsis

In Overcoming Passive-Aggression, Dr. Tim Murphy and Loriann Hoff Oberlin provide an in-depth look at a topic we've all faced but haven't always recognized: Hidden anger. When people don't express their views and feel compelled to conceal their true beliefs and emotions, behaving in ways that don't match what they honestly think, there can be serious physical and psychological results for everyone involved. For the first time, Murphy and Oberlin offer a clear definition of passive-aggression and show readers not only how to end the behavior, but also how to avoid falling victim to other people's hidden anger. In clear, compassionate language, they cover everything from the childhood origins of the condition to the devastating effect it has on work and personal relationships to the latest research on the subject, and offer practical, proven strategies for the angry person as well as the individual who finds himself the target of someone else's passive-aggression.

About this title

About the Author

Tim Murphy, Ph.D. has spent four decades as a psychologist and advocate for better healthcare. In January 2015, he began serving his seventh term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before that, he served as a Pennsylvania State Senator. He is co-chair of the Mental Health Caucus and the author of landmark reform legislation, called the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, HR 2646 of 2015. It was created to help solve shortages in mental healthcare, improve research, allow families to have a helpful role in care, and provide treatment before tragedy.

Congressman Murphy has received praise for this from many professional organizations as well as media outlets from coast to coast, including CNN, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Seattle Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Dr. Murphy serves as a commander in the Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps at Walter Reed National Military Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He has an active license as a psychologist and in years past had a private practice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he also worked with families at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Reviews

Hidden anger that comes out indirectly—through inappropriate, unproductive action or even inaction—can undermine relationships with friends, family and colleagues at work. Murphy, a psychologist and member of Congress, and Oberlin (coauthors of The Angry Child) closely examine how this kind of anger, called passive-aggressive, can undermine sufferers and their relationships and make life generally miserable. The authors also examine the problems faced by the victims of passive-aggressive behavior, who often don't understand why the angry person is acting as he does: "The nastiest thing about hidden anger is that it sneaks up on you... much like a boa constrictor that gradually tightens its grip until it's too late for you to get away." A frank and interesting chapter on the roots of anger in childhood is followed by constructive advice for those who experience hidden anger on how to handle that anger at work, at school and in a myriad of relationships. While acknowledging the complexity of the problem, the work provides ample opportunity (and exercises) for personal growth regardless of whether you are on the giving or receiving end of passive aggression. (Dec.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1569243611
• ISBN 13: 9781569243619
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256