PAST
A temporal maneuver: an available present remedy is falsely closed, the counterpart’s past conduct receives the blame, and present agency is suppressed without meaningful engagement.
Read the PAST articleDefense against abusive behavior
Turn abusive conversations into evidence-linked clarity.
Paste a short exchange or upload a conversation. Identify abusive communication patterns and examine the messages that support each observation.
How it works
From abusive conversations to reviewable evidence.
01 Import
Paste a short exchange or upload a conversation as a .txt file.
02 Analyze
Examine the sequence for patterns of abusive behavior.
03 Review
Read observations alongside speakers, messages, and surrounding context.
04 Trace
Move from each observation back to the passages that support it.
A conversation, in context
Read the sequence. Keep the evidence.
Alex: Can we still change the booking?
Sam: Yes, the venue can change it until 6 pm today.
Alex: Then please move it to Friday.
Sam: It's too late. You should have asked last week.
Alex: You just said we can change it today.
Sam: I'm keeping Thursday. This is your fault.
The exchange confirms an available option, then asserts closure and shifts blame backward. Sam’s later admission of a choice does not erase the earlier suppression.
01 · An available option
The venue can change the booking until 6 pm.
02 · A claim of closure
The same option is then described as “too late.”
03 · Blame shifted backward
The timing of the request becomes the stated reason for closing a present option.
The DARVO family
Explore the taxonomyPAST and FATE are DARVO-family maneuvers. They protect a claimed position by distorting agency, contribution, or responsibility through denial, directed blame, and reversal.
Complete DARVO response
Denial, disqualifying attack, and reversed victim–offender roles address the same accountability issue. A supported finding establishes answerability and material distortion.
Read about the DARVO familyFATE
A causal and evidential maneuver: someone materially contributes to a forecast outcome, obscures that contribution, and uses the outcome to vindicate a misleading account of responsibility.
Read the FATE articleThe approach
A workspace for understanding and documenting abusive behavior.
Patterna helps people recognize, document, and defend against abusive behavior in conversations. It keeps messages, speakers, and context connected so patterns can be examined and supported with evidence.What Patterna does
Patterna organizes a conversation into messages, speakers, episodes, behavior observations, and evidence-linked summaries. The point is structure: what happened, where it appears in the record, and which patterns deserve closer review.
How to read an observation
Start with the quoted messages, then follow the sequence around them. An observation is useful when its reasoning can be reviewed against the record, with speakers and context still in view.
Why the taxonomy matters
A shared vocabulary helps separate a passing remark from a sequence or recurring pattern. It makes observations easier to compare while keeping the messages that support them close.
Explore the taxonomy
A shared map for recognizing abusive communication patterns.
Messages stay primary. Episodes, people, behaviors, evidence, and summaries are layered on top so every pattern can be traced back to the record.
- Messages
- Episodes
- People
- Behaviors
- Evidence
- Summaries
Start with the conversation.
Paste the messages or upload a text export to begin.
Analyze conversation