Peter Pan Syndrome

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The Peter Pan Syndrome is the title of a book by the American family therapist Dan Kiley . In it he writes in popular science about "Men who never grow up" (subtitle of the book). The guidebook , which was also published in German in the early 1980s, enjoyed great popularity. The term "Peter Pan Syndrome" remained popular for denoting inappropriate child behavior in men.

The term has now also found its way into science. For example, the American scientist John J. Ratey (Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School ) counts the "Peter Pan Syndrome" with certain brain abnormalities that he calls shadow syndromes . Ratey also reported on these more recent findings in neuropsychiatry together with Catherine Johnson in the specialist book Shadow Syndromes: The Mild Forms of Major Mental Disorders That Sabotage Us, published in 1998 .

The syndrome

Kiley describes six symptoms of Peter Pan Syndrome, borrowing the terms “ syndrome ” and “ symptom ” from clinical psychology , but using and describing them in his own popular scientific style:

  1. Responsibility unemployment: the individual shirks his duties. He carelessly laughs at the applicable rules, puts off tasks. Fun and aversion to self-discipline are his credo. He never looks to himself to blame for failures. Thanks to a blooming imagination, he can develop into a daydreamer .
  2. Fear : it hides a feeling of guilt towards the parents. He becomes emotionally impoverished and incapable of deep love for other people.
  3. Loneliness : The feeling of being rejected by the father leads to a constant search for friends, which remains in vain and is compensated for by adjusting to buddy groups.
  4. Sexual role conflict : On the one hand, the sexual drive and the desire to be loved quickly lead to partnerships; on the other hand, insecurity, lack of self-confidence, boasting and cool macho behavior prevent a positive and open relationship with the partner, unless she is willing out of fear of loss and independence the overprotective, indulgent, one-sided altruistic , always concerned with harmony and concealment of conflicts, takes on the “mother role” stylizing herself as a martyr.
  5. Narcissism : infatuation, perfectionism.
  6. Chauvinism : contemptuous sexist attitude.

Origin of the term

Peter Pan , after whom Dan Kiley named this syndrome, is the main hero of a popular children's story created by British author JM Barrie at the beginning of the 20th century . It is about the temporary friendship between three ordinary London children and the fascinating boy who lures them to his dreamlike Neverland , where they experience incomparable adventures, but are ultimately driven back by homesickness. Peter Pan, who absolutely does not want to grow up, but spends his life in eternal play, remains lonely.

Symptoms

Psychoanalyst Dan Kiley describes six typical symptoms in his book The Peter Pan Syndrome: When Men Don't Grow Up:

  • irresponsibility
  • Fear and guilt
  • lonliness
  • Sexual role conflict
  • narcissism
  • chauvinism

Signs in behavior:

  • No age-appropriate behavior
  • Tendency to accept help but reluctance to offer help
  • Difficulties with long-term relationships or with keeping a relationship in general
  • Passive aggressive behavior in response to unplanned events
  • Few to no friends
  • Focus on your own mother
  • Narcissistic behavior
  • Always sees responsibility in the behavior of others
  • Loss of reality in everyday behavior and thinking

See also

literature

  • Dan Kiley: The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men who have never grown up . Corgi Books, London 1984 , ISBN 0-552-12554-7 (English)
  • Dan Kiley: Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Never Grow Up . German First edition, 3rd edition, Heyne-Verlag, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-03360-4
  • Dan Kiley: Women's Fear of Being Themselves: The Wendy Dilemma . 2nd edition, Heyne-Verlag, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-453-04251-4 . (German translation; English original title: The Wendy dilemma )
  • JM Barrie : Peter Pan , 1911 (English)
  • James M. Barrie: Peter Pan . Edited by: Erhard Dahl, Reclam-Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, series: Universal-Bibliothek, ISBN 3-15-009294-9 . (English, with German explanations of words)
  • John J. Ratey, Catherine Johnson: The Shadow Syndrome. Neurobiology and mild forms of mental disorders . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-608-91889-2 . (German translation; English original title: Shadow Syndromes ... )

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Pan Syndrome. (No longer available online.) Vocabulary portal of the University of Leipzig, archived from the original on July 14, 2014 ; Retrieved December 12, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / wortschatz.uni-leipzig.de
  2. ↑ Dt. Article by John J. Ratey: Shadow Syndromes: People with Mild Forms of Serious Disorders ; 1999 ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ The German translation Das Schattensyndrom ... appeared in 2000 by Klett-Cotta. (see literature)
  4. ↑ Peter Pan Syndrome - When Men Don't Want to Grow Up. In: rtv healthy and vital, my health, my portal. January 29, 2019, accessed on June 23, 2020 (German).