DARVO

DARVO (an acronym for "Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender") is a reaction that perpetrators of wrongdoing, such as abusers or sexual offenders, may display in response to being held accountable for their behavior. Research indicates that it is a common manipulation strategy of psychological abusers.

==Process== DARVO is a tactic used by a perpetrator to avoid accountability for their actions. As the acronym suggests, DARVO commonly involves these steps: The perpetrator denies the harm or abuse ever took place. When confronted with evidence, the perpetrator then attacks the person that they had harmed, or are still harming. The attacker may also attack the victim's family or friends. Finally, the perpetrator claims that they were or are actually the victim in the situation, thus reversing the positions of victim and offender. It often involves not just playing the victim but also victim blaming. These tactics are similar to other techniques used by perpetrators to avoid accountability by manipulating observers' perceptions of events. Researchers have noted similarities to outrage management, where a perpetrator tries to make observers think better of themself and their actions so they can avoid consequences. This strategy often involves denying the victim's version of events and trying to make observers doubt the victim's credibility, which are both key aspects of DARVO. Relevant techniques also include playing the victim and playing the hero, which perpetrators use to downplay the harm seen in their behavior. In playing the victim, a perpetrator highlights their own past suffering to attempt to be seen as a victim as well, and in playing the hero, a perpetrator admits to some amount of wrongdoing but highlights their own past good deeds to mitigate their harmful ones. Both techniques may come into play for the denying or reversing stages of DARVO.