Devaluation
Immature defence at the minor image-distorting level of the DSM-IV scale; primary in McWilliams' scheme. The person attributes exaggerated badness, stupidity or worthlessness to someone or something, often something they need or once admired.
What drives it
Protects against envy, dependency and disappointment: if what I want is worthless, I don't have to want it, envy it or grieve losing it.
How it shows
Work
The departing employee who suddenly says the company was always a joke. A rival's success put down to luck or politics. Sneering humour about competitors, clients or HR. The listener feels small or embarrassed on someone else's behalf, and senses the contempt is too intense for its target.
Relationships
After a breakup the ex becomes “pathetic”; a therapist who gets close is suddenly “useless”. Gifts and help get belittled. Partners feel they can never do enough, because whatever they offer is marked down.
Self
A quick, pleasurable sneer at someone, especially someone who has what you want. Contempt that arrives right after a moment of feeling small.
What tells it apart
Contempt: Contempt is the emotion; devaluation is its defensive use, recognisable because it follows a moment of need, envy or rejection.
Counterdependence (devaluing one's own need): Devaluation targets another person or thing; counterdependence devalues the person's own need for anyone.
Envy: Envy is felt and admitted as wanting what another has; devaluation hides the envy by insisting the thing isn't worth having.
A test
Track what happened just before the put-down; if it follows rejection, envy or a moment of dependence, it is more likely defensive devaluation than a considered judgment.
Questions to carry
- Just before the put-down, what had happened: a rejection, a flash of envy, or a moment of need?
- Which thing I once wanted have I decided is worthless, and when did I decide it?
How strong the research is
clinical. Established in clinical theory; experimental work on post-rejection derogation and sour grapes fits it but uses different terms.
Where it comes from
Melanie Klein, 1940s; Otto Kernberg, 1975
On the family tree: Melanie Klein