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

This book review is part of a series that covers the topic of Anger Management. The Official SelfGrowth.com Guide to Anger Management is Hale Dwoskin. Anger Management involve a system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which one with excessive anger can reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state.nnOvercoming Passive-Aggression: How to Stop Hidden Anger from Spoiling Your Relationships, Career and Happiness is a valuable resource for people interested in Anger Management, and it is available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.nnFrom Publishers WeeklynHidden 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.) nCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. nnRedford Williams, MD and Virginia Williams, PhD, authors of Anger Killsn"This well-written and accessible book will help you recognize this problem in yourself and those whose hidden anger affects you."