A pattern of behavior formerly classified as a personality disorder.

Formerly listed among the personality disorders in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the passive-aggressive personality type has been described by a number of psychologists and psychiatrists, including Karen Horney, Karl Menninger, and Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957). Its main distinguishing feature is indirect resistance to the demands or expectations of others through stubbornness, forgetfulness, inefficiency, procrastination, and other covert means. Rather than refusing outright to perform a task, the passive-aggressive person will do it badly or...