What is DARVO?

Jennifer J. Freyd, PhD

Professor of Psychology, University of Oregon

Faculty Affiliate, VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab at Stanford University

Founder and President, Center for Institutional Courage, Inc.

Definition | Empirical Research | Press | Disclaimers | History | Denial Types | FAQs

Definition of DARVO

DARVO refers to a reaction perpetrators of wrong doing, particularly sexual offenders, may display in response to being held accountable for their behavior. DARVO stands for "Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender." The perpetrator or offender may Deny the behavior, Attack the individual doing the confronting, and Reverse the roles of Victim and Offender such that the perpetrator assumes the victim role and turns the true victim -- or the whistle blower -- into an alleged offender. This occurs, for instance, when an actually guilty perpetrator assumes the role of "falsely accused" and attacks the accuser's credibility and blames the accuser of being the perpetrator of a false accusation.

Institutional DARVO occurs when the DARVO is committed by an institution (or with institutional complicity) as when police charge rape victims with lying. Institutional DARVO is a pernicious form of institutional betrayal.

Theory & Empirical Research

DARVO was introduced in this article:

Additional articles developed aspects of the relationship between DARVO, grooming, and betrayal trauma theory. (See section History of term on this page.)

Empirical research is more recent. In a 2017 peer-reviewed open-access research study, Perpetrator Responses to Victim Confrontation: DARVO and Victim Self-Blame, Harsey, Zurbriggen, & Freyd reported that: "(1) DARVO was commonly used by individuals who were confronted; (2) women were more likely to be exposed to DARVO than men during confrontations; (3) the three components of DARVO were positively correlated, supporting the theoretical construction of DARVO; and (4) higher levels of exposure to DARVO during a confrontation were associated with increased perceptions of self-blame among the confronters. These results provide evidence for the existence of DARVO as a perpetrator strategy and establish a relationship between DARVO exposure and feelings of self-blame. Exploring DARVO aids in understanding how perpetrators are able to enforce victims’ silence through the mechanism of self-blame."

In our newest research Sarah Harsey and I completed several experiments (Harsey & Freyd, 2020). In one experiment we presented participants with accounts of abuse followed by a DARVO response versus a control response. We found exposure to the DARVO response was associated with less belief of the victim and more blame of the victim. In another experiment Sarah Harsey and I examined whether learning about DARVO could mitigate its effects on individuals' perceptions of perpetrators and victims. DARVO-educated participants (compared with control) rated the perpetrator as less believable. While much more research is needed, these results suggest that DARVO is an effective strategy to discredit victims but that the power of the strategy can be mitigated by education.

DARVO in the News (Selected Examples)

Podcasts:

Videos:

In print and on-line (selected):

DARVO Illustrated:

Disclaimers

State of Empirical Evidence: DARVO as a concept is based on observation and analysis. The systematic empirical research testing the coherence or frequency of DARVO is just emerging. The first empirical research reports specifically testing the concept of DARVO are recently published (Harsey, Zurbriggen, & Freyd, 2017; Harsey & Freyd, 2020).

DARVO as a concept is based on observation and analysis. The systematic empirical research testing the coherence or frequency of DARVO is just emerging. The first empirical research reports specifically testing the concept of DARVO are recently published (Harsey, Zurbriggen, & Freyd, 2017; Harsey & Freyd, 2020). Open Access ). Harsey, S., Zurbriggen, E., & Freyd, J.J. (2017 -- published). Perpetrator Responses to Victim Confrontation: DARVO and Victim Self-Blame. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma, 26, 644-663.





29 , 897-916. Harsey, S. & Freyd, J.J. (2020). Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender (DARVO): What is the influence on perceived perpetrator and victim credibility? Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma,, 897-916.



More research is needed.

Other Terms in Use: Other observers have likely noted aspects of the same phenomena and related phenomena using different terms; the author has been informed that some people have found the term DARVO a helpful mnemonic and organizing concept.

Other observers have likely noted aspects of the same phenomena and related phenomena using different terms; the author has been informed that some people have found the term DARVO a helpful mnemonic and organizing concept. More Research is Needed: DARVO is offered as a potentially memorable and useful term for anticipating the behavior of perpetrators when held accountable, and for making sense of responses that may otherwise be confusing (particularly when victim and offender get reversed). Based on observation and analysis, the author hypothesizes that some sorts of denials and reactions such as DARVO are more likely when the perpetrator is guilty than innocent (Freyd, 1997). Additional research is needed. In the meantime we have indication, based on the research completed to date, that DARVO has deleterious impact on the credibility and well-being of victims exposed to it.



History of Terminology & Writings about DARVO

Jennifer Freyd introduced the term "DARVO" near the end of a 1997 publication about her primary research focus, "betrayal trauma theory." (For more on betrayal trauma theory, see http://pages.uoregon.edu/dynamic/jjf/defineBT.html.)

Podcast: Sexual Violence & Institutional Courage In this Podcast: Sexual Violence & Institutional Courage - Jennifer Freyd, Host John Markoff speaks with Dr. Freyd about her career of groundbreaking research, from developing betrayal trauma theory to current work supporting institutional courage. In the podcast Freyd also discusses what inspired her to develop the concept of DARVO.

The reference for the 1997 article introducing the term is:

In that paper Freyd explained that DARVO responses may be effective for perpetrators. "...I have observed that actual abusers threaten, bully and make a nightmare for anyone who holds them accountable or asks them to change their abusive behavior. This attack, intended to chill and terrify, typically includes threats of law suits, overt and covert attacks on the whistle-blower's credibility, and so on..... [T]he offender rapidly creates the impression that the abuser is the wronged one, while the victim or concerned observer is the offender. Figure and ground are completely reversed... The offender is on the offense and the person attempting to hold the offender accountable is put on the defense." (Freyd, 1997, p 29-30)

These ideas were further developed in an article by Veldhuis and Freyd (1999):

Veldhuis, C. B., & Freyd, J. J. (1999). Groomed for silence, groomed for betrayal. In M. Rivera (Ed.), Fragment by Fragment: Feminist Perspectives on Memory and Child Sexual Abuse (pp. 253-282). Charlottetown, PEI Canada: Gynergy Books.

In the 1999 article Veldhuis and Freyd explore the separate components of DARVO, and they also note a connection between DARVO and "betrayal blindness," a concept from betrayal trauma theory (Freyd, 1996).

"By denying, attacking and reversing perpetrators into victims, reality gets even more confusing and unspeakable for the real victim. .... These perpetrator reactions increase the need for betrayal blindness. If the victim does speak out and gets this level of attack, she quickly gets the idea that silence is safer." (Veldhuis & Freyd, 1999. p 274).

Since then the concept of DARVO has appeared in various writings, the most significant of which is our new book Blind to Betrayal (Freyd & Birrell, 2013).

In Blind to Betrayal we urge institutions to cherish the whistle blower (see p. 173) and we offer suggestions for specific steps institutions can take to prevent and repair institutional betrayal. In Blind to Betrayal we also talk about institutional denial which plays such a crucial role in institutional betrayal. DARVO is a particularly pernicious form of denial (see p 119 of Blind to Betrayal).

The first empirical research reports specifically testing the concept of DARVO are recently published (Harsey, Zurbriggen, & Freyd, 2017; Harsey & Freyd, 2020). See above for more details.

Two Common Types of Denial Two common forms of perpetrator (or bystander) denial are:

It didn't happen (an instance) or It rarely happens (a type of event) It wasn't harmful

Put together they can take the form: "It didn't happen, but if it did, it wasn't that bad" or "It rarely happens, but when it does it isn't harmful." The two claims both serve to deny, but they depend upon different sorts of evidence. They may both be true, but they are sometimes somewhat suspicious when claimed simultaneously (or by the same person at different times), as for instance can occur in response to allegations of rape or child sexual abuse (see Cheit & Freyd, 2005).

FAQs

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For full text links and additional books, articles, and presentations on betrayal trauma theory see: http://pages.uoregon.edu/dynamic/jjf/trauma.html.

What are some local pages related to this one?

How do I cite this page?

Freyd, J.J. (2020). What is DARVO? Retrieved [today's date] from http://pages.uoregon.edu/dynamic/jjf/defineDARVO.html.

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