Passive-Aggressive Behavior

Understanding Passive-Aggressive Behavior

Passive-aggressive behavior is a form of indirect expression of anger, where individuals avoid direct confrontation but express their frustration through subtle, negative actions. This behavior can include procrastination, backhanded compliments, or intentional inefficiency. While it may seem less harmful than outright aggression, passive-aggressive behavior can damage relationships and lead to misunderstandings.

The Role of Therapy in Managing Passive-Aggressive Behavior

Therapy helps individuals recognize and address the underlying emotions driving their passive-aggressive behavior. Counselling focuses on improving communication skills, teaching individuals to express their emotions more directly, and fostering healthier ways of dealing with conflict.

Building Emotional Awareness

Through therapy, individuals learn to become more aware of their emotions and the impact their behavior has on others. Counselling helps individuals develop the emotional intelligence needed to manage their anger and frustrations in more constructive ways.

Improving Communication and Conflict Resolution

Therapy focuses on helping individuals improve their communication and conflict-resolution skills, allowing them to express their needs and emotions more openly and resolve disagreements in a healthy manner.

  • Recognizing passive-aggressive behavior
  • Building emotional awareness
  • Improving communication skills
  • Developing healthier conflict resolution
Find Passive-Aggressive Behavior therapists in Brighton & Hove

Therapists in Brighton & Hove

Browse our verified therapists — many work across a wide range of issues and may be able to help.

Claire Baker Brighton

Claire Baker

Humanistic Psychotherapeutic Counsellor

At Clarity Counselling you will be warmly welcomed by me, Claire Baker, a fully qualified, insured and BACP-registered Psychotherapeutic Counsellor. If you are aged 18+ and are interested in starting therapy, I offer a half price, 50-minute introductory session which gives us an opportunity to meet, discuss what brings you to counselling and see how we feel about working together, with no obligation for you to commit to further sessions if you do not wish. Please visit: www.claritycounselling.co.uk for more details.

BACPAccredited
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Alan Sparkes Hove

Alan Sparkes

Psychotherapist & Counsellor

I am a qualified UKCP registered Psychotherapist. I aim to help people heal and integrate. I’m a parent, a skateboarder, a basketball player and I’ve done a lot of therapy.I don't do psychic amputation. I believe you can't cut off a part of yourself you don’t like or that causes you pain - and that you will run into more problems if you try. I do believe you can reach into your heart and soul through therapy and establish a healing relationship that will give you the resources you need to live well and fully.  

BACPRegisteredUKCPAccredited
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Andy Wolage Brighton

Andy Wolage

Therapeutic Counsellor

Sometimes life is really hard. Everything feels like too much. We can get overwhelmed with guilt for not coping, shame for having failed in the past and sometimes we can end up not really liking ourselves very much. We might self medicate with substances or other behaviours which we know don't really help, but they seem better than nothing. But they just perpetuate the cycle. I can offer you a safe, non-judgemental and confidential space to organise and reframe those overwhelming feelings and see the wood for the trees. I can help you understand yourself better and to begin to look in the mirror and like what you see. 

BACPRegisteredNCPSAccredited
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Cerrie Lantrua Brighton

Cerrie Lantrua

Counsellor

Clients often tell me how much they value having a space where they feel understood, where they don’t have to explain their neurodivergence or justify their experiences.I am neurodivergent myself, and I’m open about that. It’s not something I see as a limitation, but as something that shapes how I understand, relate, and connect. Alongside my training and experience, this gives me a way of seeing things that often helps clients feel recognised in ways they may not have experienced before.I’m naturally creative and tend to think outside the box, which allows me to consider different perspectives and gently step into what it might be like to be you, not from a place of judgement, but from a genuine willingness to understand.At the same time, I don’t assume your experience is the same as anyone else’s. No two people are the same. A big part of what I offer is taking the time to learn what you need, how you experience things, and what support feels right for you.You are the expert on yourself. My role isn’t to tell you what to do or who to be, but to walk alongside you as you begin to understand yourself more fully.I aim to create a space where you feel safe enough to be real. Where you don’t have to mask, filter, or find the “right” way to say things. A space where you can feel seen, heard, and genuinely understood. 

BACPRegistered
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Thaddeus Hickman Brighton

Thaddeus Hickman

Psychotherapist

I’m an experienced, integrative psychotherapist, registered with both UKCP and BACP. I work with clients to support their immediate struggles, while also helping them understand and identify underlying and often unseen issues - a process which often leads to positive and lasting change.

BACPRegisteredUKCPRegistered
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Tony Austin Brighton

Tony Austin

Integrative psychotherapist

Common feelings such as anxiety, a lack of self-worth or sadness colour our experience and often leave us feeling we have lost our way. Sometimes we can feel like our own worst enemy, giving ourselves a hard time because others can manage, so why can’t I?I chose to train as a psychotherapist after being in therapy myself. Through the process of talking with a skilled therapist I was able to reflect on how my past had shaped my present, understand myself better, value myself more and create a happier, more fulfilled life and I want to help others do the same. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than having a client say they feel “unburdened” at the end of a session or, at their final session, seeing them leave with greater confidence ready to make the changes necessary to create the life they want.After completing my training as a counsellor at Lambeth College, I worked for an NHS counselling service in West London. I helped many clients dealing with anxiety, depression, relationship breakdown and many other common issues and seeing so many people find positive solutions fuelled my passion for therapy and I would like to help you.  I believe everyone deserves to be heard and with the right support can create positive, lasting change. Through our work together, I can help you reduce anxiety, rebuild your confidence, learn how to recognise unhelpful habits such as “people pleasing”, or “self-sabotage” and create better relationships with yourself and others.If you want to learn more about how counselling can help you, get in touch through the link at the bottom of this page and take the first step to happier, more fulfilling life.

BACPAccredited
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