I believe he is mostly talking about things like schizophrenia, bipolar dis, clinical depression etc. The Axis I disorders. The Axis II disorders are about personality and generally are not thought of as medical illnesses in the same sense.

I think what Dr. Harley is getting at is that, simply because these PD diagnoses exist and people can be diagnosed with them, that seems to confuse people and make them think they are illnesses, things that can't be helped, just like the Axis I disorders. They aren't. I've seen people who would've been diagnosed as sociopaths turn their lives over to Christ and do a complete 180. They would no longer warrant the diagnosis. A lot of it is just sin that has fallen into a pattern that is somewhat predictable.

Posts by forum member Newly whose husband has NPD:
**edit**

�PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE TRAITS � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��
� *FEAR OF DEPENDENCY �- Unsure of his autonomy & afraid of being alone, he fights his dependency needs - usually by trying to control you. �

http://forum.marriagebuilders.com/ubbt/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1929664&Searchpage=6&Main=145287&Words=%22disorder%22&Search=true#Post1929664
*FEAR OF INTIMACY - Guarded & often mistrusful, he is reluctant to show his emotional fragility. �He's often out of touch with his feelings, �reflexively denying feelings he thinks will "trap" or reveal him, like love. �He picks fights to create distance.


*FEAR OF COMPETITION - Feeling inadequate, he is unable to compete with other men in work and love. �He may operate either as a self-sabotaging wimp with a pattern of failure, or he'll be the tyrant, setting himself up as unassailable and perfect, needing to eliminate any threat to his power.


*OBSTRUCTIONISM - Just tell a p/a man what you want, no matter how small, and he may promise to get it for you. �But he won't say when, and he"ll do it deliberately slowly just to frustrate you. �Maybe he won't comply at all. �He blocks any real progress he sees to your getting your way.


*FOSTERING CHAOS - The p/a man prefers to leave the puzzle incomplete, the job undone.


*FEELING VICTIMIZED - The p/a man protests that others unfairly accuse him rather than owning up to his own misdeeds. �To remain above reporach, he sets himself up as the apparently hapless, innocent victim of your excessive demands and tirades.


*MAKING EXCUSES & LYING - The p/a man reaches as far as he can to fabricate excuses for not �fulfilling promises. �As a way of withholding information, affirmation or love - to have power over you - the p/a man may choose to make up a story rather than give you a straight answer.


*PROCRASTINATION - The p/a man has an odd sense of time - he believes that deadlines don't exist for him.


*CHRONIC LATENESS & FORGETFULNESS - One of the most infuriating & inconsiderate of all p/a traits is his inability to arrive on time. �By keeping you waiting, he sets the ground rules of the relationship. �And his selective forgetting - used only when he wants to avoid an obligation.


*AMBIGUITY - He is master of mixed messages and sitting on fences. �When he tells you something, you may still walk away wondering if he actually said yes or no.


*SULKING - Feeling put upon when he is unable to live up to his promises or obligations, the p/a man retreats from pressures around him and sulks, pouts and withdraws.


A passive-aggressive man won't have every single one of these traits, but he'll have many of them. �He may have other traits as well, which are not passive-aggressive.�
�FROM: �Kaplan, H.I. & Saddock, B.J. �(1997) �SYNOPSIS OF PSYCHIATRY, 8th ed. �Baltimore: �Williams & Wilkins


The following is an excerpt from the above:


PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE PERSONALITY DISORDER


People with PAPD are characterized by covert obstructionism, procrastination, stubbornness, and inefficiency. �Such behavior is a manifestation of passively expressed underlying aggression. �In the DSM-IV the disorder is also called negativistic PD.


CLINICAL FEATURES


PAPD patients characteristically procrastinate, resist demands for adequate performance, find excuses for delays, and find fault with those on whom they depend; yet they refuse to extricate themselves from the dependent relationships. �They usually lack assertiveness and are not direct about their own needs and wishes. �They fail to ask needed questions about what is expected of them and may become anxious when forced to succeed or when their usual defense of turning anger against themselves is removed.


In interpersonal relationships, these people attempt to manipulate themselves into a position of dependence, but others often experience this passive, self-detrimental behavior as punitive and munipulative. �People with this disorder expect others to do their errands and to carry out their routine responsibilities. �Friends and clinicians may become enmeshed in trying to assuage the patients' many claims of unjust treatment. �The close relationships of people with PAPD, however, are rarely tranquil or happy. �Because they are bound to their resentment more closely than to their satisfaction, they may never even formulate goals for finding enjoyment in life. �People with this disorder lack self-confidence and are typically pessimistic about the future.

Link to this users posts about PA disorder:�

http://forum.marriagebuilders.com/ubbt/ubbthreads.php?ubb=userposts&id=46741

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Link to this users posts about PA disorder:�

Read my response that I just wrote to your your husband's question regarding his passive-aggressive behavior. The solution to your marital problems is to create transparency, and to make all of your decisions together with mutual enthusiasm. It's not your husband's personality that is preventing him from achieving those objectives -- it's his habits. If he is willing to practice following the Policy of Radical Honesty and the Policy of Joint Agreement every day of the week, he will become increasingly skilled in living with you in harmony, and you, in turn, will eventually trust him. If you give him another chance to practice following those policies, and he practices them every day, his habits will change.

MB Radio link:

Dr Harley addresses personality disorders and types.�
He explains that if persons with a personality disorder chose to follow his program they can do so successfully.
He also cautions some simply can't become more thoughtful.�

http://www.marriagebuilders.com/radio_program/play_segment.cfm?sid=0754#

A lot of it is just sin that has fallen into a pattern that is somewhat predictable.

Why are you having marital problems?

That's a question I ask couples when I try to help create a plan for their marriage. I want to know which emotional needs are being unmet and which Love Busters are running amok. But a response I've heard throughout my career as a marriage counselor is, "my spouse is insane," or something to that effect.

I'll admit that I've seen a few cases of insanity among struggling couples. But it's much rarer than most people think. Those I've treated for serious mental disorders have tended to be single, not married. The process of courting usually eliminates from contention those who are truly insane. So why would a spouse conclude that the root of their marital problems is found in the other spouse's mental disorder? One answer is that it usually deflects attention from their own contribution to the problem. Instead of joining in a mutual effort to solve their marital problems, with each accepting some responsibility, one spouse wants the other to be "fixed." Extensive therapy is usually suggested giving the "healthy" spouse the right to sit on the sidelines waiting to judge the final result.

But over the years, I've witnessed a new class of answers to the question, why are you having marital problems? It's, "my spouse is an addict." I've found this answer to be increasing, while the insanity answer seems to be decreasing.

The reason for that answer, to avoid personal responsibility for the marital problem, might still be the primary motive. But it's a more compelling answer than the insanity answer. Indeed, in our developing culture addiction appears to be on the increase, and it's often a major factor in creating serious marital problems.

In the final analysis, however, everyone's marital problems revolve around spouses failing to meet important emotional needs or failing to avoid Love Busters. So, like the insanity answer, the addiction answer is relevant to the issue only if it can be shown that it contributes to those failures.

So my question, why are you having marital problems, must first be answered in terms of unmet emotional needs and Love Busters. Then, after an effort has been made to meet those needs and avoid Love Busters, and that effort fails, a deeper analysis may find that a mental disorder or an addiction may be standing in the way.

Full Article: What is Sexual Addiction?