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For the manga, see Peter Pan Syndrome (manga). The term Peter Pan Syndrome has been used informally by both laypeople and some psychology professionals in popular psychology since the 1983 publication of The Peter Pan Syndrome: Men Who Have Never Grown Up, by Dr. Dan Kiley. Kiley also wrote a companion book, The Wendy Dilemma, published in 1984. "Peter Pan syndrome" is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Psychology Many see this syndrome as a widespread problem in modern, post-industrial society. The Peter-Pan psychological type is one characterized by immaturity or certain sorts of psychological, social, and sexual problems. The type of male personality in question is immature and narcissistic. More completely, according to Kiley, the characteristics of a "Peter-Pan" include such attributes as irresponsibility, rebelliousness, anger, narcissism, dependency, manipulativeness, and the belief that he is beyond society's laws and norms. According to Kiley, "Peter Pan" is the adult little boy who, when in a relationship or in seeking a relationship, acts out a need for mothering. In his Peter Pan book, Kiley likened the characters of J. M. Barrie's play, Peter Pan, to a dysfunctional co-dependent family. Wendy "Wendy" is the adult little-girl role - a woman who acts in a mother role. Contributing the other half of a co-dependent couple, her responses to the Peter-Pan man, according to Dr. Kiley, are such conducts as overprotection, possessiveness, complaining, and "martyrdom". The phrase has also been used as an ad hominem attack in Internet flaming in response to a woman defending her boyfriend or husband. Recent trends Although the term Peter Pan Syndrome has been widely used to describe a negative phenomenon, there has been a trend among some websites, especially blogs, to use it as a description for an iconoclastic, youthful-minded state of being. One example is Evan Bailyn's tribute to Peter Pan Syndrome. See also | ||||||||
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