When you find yourself constantly experiencing this heavy feeling of guilt and sadness without knowing why, then it’s probably because your partner is passive-aggressive.
When it comes to spotting people who have excessively aggressive personalities, it isn’t necessarily going to be a difficult task for a lot of people. It’s rarely ever a nice feeling whenever you have someone who is constantly belittling, criticizing, and demeaning you for your actions and your personality. But at least with people who clearly have aggressive personalities, you can always know what you expect out of them. You always understand where your inner pain is coming from because they don’t try to hide their aggressive behavior at all. The bigger problem lies in having your seemingly non-aggressive partner making you feel bad and uncomfortable without you even realizing why.
When you find yourself constantly experiencing this heavy feeling of guilt and sadness without knowing why, then it’s probably because your partner is passive-aggressive. They possess all the qualities of someone who is openly aggressive except they are more subtle in their demeanor. They have a way of making the people around them feel bad without being completely blatant or boisterous about it. Passive-aggressive behavior is a discreet expression of meanness and contradiction. It can often be expressed so very mild insults, stubbornness, or willful neglect of tasks and responsibilities. That’s why a lot of people can often miss these passive-aggressive displays, they are very discreet, but when they are executed well, they can be very effective.
By sheer design, passive-aggressive behavior can be very difficult to catch especially when your emotions are weighing heavily on you. If you are constantly feeling down in your relationship and you don’t know why, perhaps it’s because your partner is a passive-aggressive person. The better awareness that you gain of the characteristics of a passive-aggressive person, the better understanding you will have of why you are feeling the way that you’re feeling. So if you’re having trouble determining whether your partner exhibits passive-aggressive behavior or not, then this article is absolutely perfect for you. Here are 4 very deliberate signs that your partner is indeed a passive-aggressive human being.
1. You are constantly being given the silent treatment.
The silent treatment can be the absolute worst to deal with in a relationship. You are led to believe that nothing is wrong because naturally aggressive people usually tell you when they’re upset with you. But with the silent treatment, you are left to guess what your partner is feeling. You don’t want to ask your partner about it because you risk asking him about an issue that doesn’t even exist and you don’t want to come off looking paranoid. It can be a crappy feeling when you’re given the silent treatment and sometimes, there’s no escape.
2. You are always on the receiving end of insults that are masked as neutral or positive comments.
Passive-aggressive people are exceptionally skilled at masking their insults as neutral or positive commentary. They have a way of making you feel bad about who you are or about something that you’ve done without overtly revealing themselves to be the source of your heavy emotions. They will make a seemingly simple comment or lament about your personality, and while it can seem harmless at face value, the more you think about it, the worse you feel. This is a common tactic that all passive-aggressive people use all the time.
3. You always feel a subtle negative energy when you’re with your partner.
It’s a weird place to get stuck in. It’s weird because you know that your partner isn’t exactly acting upset, angry, irate, or irritated at all. And yet, you also know that something is off and that something isn’t right with how they are acting. This is another common tactic that passive-aggressive people use to make you think that something is wrong. They keep you second-guessing all the time and they will try to keep you on your toes with their indifference. They will try to act disinterested in whatever it is you have to say even though they are particularly interested in how you are going to react to things.
4. Your partner engages in cases of subtle rebellion against you often.
Another blatant sign that your partner is exhibiting passive-aggressive behavior towards you is when they refuse to do whatever you say just for the sake of making you feel bad. Like a teenager caught up in his own angst, your partner will deliberately engage in open rebellion to anything that you have to say just to act as a contrarian. You find this weird because often, their reasons for contradicting you are likely to be illogical and unreasonable, and yet they will persist in their rebellion. They are just looking for a way to stress you out and make you feel bad without really being forward about it.
So those are just a few ways in which you can tell that your partner is passive-aggressive. What you choose to do with this information is of course entirely up to you.
