1. We Can’t Fight to Connect When
There is Passive Aggression
For more information about stopping passive aggression, please visit
Passive Aggressive System
When we communicate with our partner, we are attempting to connect with
him or her on a deeper, more intimate emotional level.
What’s funny is, this is true of a hurled insult as well as a hug.
That means that when you are fighting, say, over which way is best to
punish your children for misbehavior, you are not just fighting to establish
house rules. As hard as it may be to wrap your head around it, your brain is
also trying to renew some feeling of being connected - it knows you are able
to fight with each other because you are emotionally close enough to do so.

2. In that case, wouldn’t you say that an angry connection is better than the
indifference between strangers? Which association would you rather have
with the person you married?
Now you’re probably thinking, “What about the really serious fights?”
Usually, after a serious fight, you fall into despair about the future of the
relationship, right? However, thinking of a serious fight as our brains
searching for intimate connection can help us override that sense that
“fighting equals division.” If you begin to think about fighting in this negative
way, the relationship can suffer even more - each of you avoid raising issues
that will cause conflict, inhibiting any possible growth.
In Hold Me Tight, Dr. Susan Johnson (a research expert on intimacy) states
that it makes sense scientifically that couples fight over silly things. Beneath
the content of what partners say to one another in fights, each wants to be
assured of their value in relation to the other.
What happens when one of the partners has learned to do passive
aggression since childhood? It becomes a weapon of sabotage - by
“defending” against and “avoiding” both anger and love, the passive
aggressive person refuses to answer those questions his partner is asking.
Given his inability to feel a deep connection with anyone, because of his
childhood trauma, he can’t connect with others or feel others’ need for
connection.
His partner can escalate the search for a positive response by continuing the
fight, but the passive aggressive husband will retreat more and more
until finally abandoning the interaction. He will say his partner is “full of
anger” or “making all this drama,” or whatever reasons he can give himself
to cover up the fact that he can’t feel any compassion for her distress.
Sadly there is no way to nurture the abandoned partner when this passive
aggression happens. Some wives call it “the wall of silence,” referring their
communal sensation of knocking at a wall without any emotional response.
The perception of being let down and ignored in their need for reassurance is
difficult to avoid.

3. Because we can see fighting as the intent to make the other person pay
attention to us, and to make them answer the question, “Are you connected
with me?” we can also see passive aggression as making a mockery of this
intent. The husband will retreat and he will never confirm that he
understands the deep need for connection motivating the confrontation.
Fighting is a way of making the other person pay attention to us; it is a
weird form of re-connecting. If your ability to re-connect with your partner,
via fighting or loving, is being thwarted by passive aggression, the very life
of the relationship is being threatened. That is why, if your relationship is
important and something you want to strive to keep alive, it is important
that you work toward stopping passive aggression in the marriage NOW.
If you are not clear where this healing of the relationship would start, we
have many resources for you to begin with:
● A Passive Aggressive System specifically designed for the
passive aggressive husband himself.
● A coaching session with Coach Nora to assess your
options.
● “Recovering From Passive Aggression,” and “The Art of
Living with a Passive Aggressive Husband” two books
specifically for women married to passive aggressive men.
● A Passive Aggressive Test for men to determine if they
are using passive aggression in their interactions.
Don’t wait a minute longer for things to “just get better.” All relationships
require effort, both on your side and his. That is why we often suggest that
you take advantage of both the resources for you, and the resources for
your husband.
Neil Warner is the “relationship guru,” and his main focus is to increase the
quality of love-based relationship experiences. You don’t have to suffer in an
unhealthy relationship one more minute. Let Neil share his tools with you
today! You can begin with The Art of Living with a Passive Aggressive
Husband, or with the Passive Aggressive System for men. Receive a plan
for action to change your life with new skills included. Just click this link and
get started now!