propaganda technique · Deflection

DARVO

Also called: Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender

DARVO answers an accusation in three moves: deny the wrongdoing, attack the person who raised it, then reverse the roles so the accused appears to be the real victim.

How it works

The response never engages with the evidence. The denial removes the claim, the attack makes the accuser the subject, and the reversal asks the audience for sympathy with the accused. Studies of the pattern (Harsey and Freyd, 2020) found it lowers how credible audiences judge the accuser, and that people who know the name are less affected by it.

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The complaint, and blame pointing at the accused

Two-plinth stand. DARVO answers an accusation without touching it. The lid comes down (deny), the blame swings onto the person who complained (attack), and the light moves to the accused (reverse victim and offender). The complaint is still in its tray, unread.

The complaint in its tray
Blame pointer: swings onto the accuser
Lamp: whose side gets the sympathy

Examples

Accused of misusing donations, a director replies: "That never happened. This is a smear by a bitter former employee, and frankly I'm the one being harassed here."

Each sentence does one move of the three, and none addresses the donations.

"I didn't ignore your messages. You're always looking for something to complain about, and honestly your accusations are hurting me."

The complaint is denied, the complainer is attacked, and the hurt is moved to the accused.

How to spot it

A flat denial with no account of what did happen.
Attention swings to the accuser's motives, character or history.
The accused ends up presenting themselves as the one wronged.

How to respond

Name the pattern calmly: denial, attack, reversal.
Bring the conversation back to the specific evidence and what happened.
Treat the accused's distress and the accusation as two separate questions.