Have you ever read “Peter Pan”? Perhaps, everyone remembers Peter Pan, the main character in a fairy tale. Peter Pan wants to leave the world of adults and live as a kid timelessly. The Peter Pan who stays in dreamland exists today. Peter Pan Syndrome (PPS) was named after Peter Pan.
PPS is the phenomenon where people can’t adapt in society like grown-ups, although they are adult physically. PPS can be divided into four types according to the main symptoms. The first is the “ego unskilled” type. This means that people can’t adapt to society and the flowing of time because of a lack of development of ego. The second type is the “evasion of responsibility” type. It implies that Peter Pan refuses the role of an adult. They want to live as children, so they usually live receiving pocket money from their parents and do what they think is fun. The third type is the “past-oriented” type. People in this type evade the reality of coping with difficulty and cling to the past. Therefore, when they get stressed, they avoid work and escape from reality by a remembrance of the past. The last one is the “satisfaction with reality.” If they feel a stability in life, they don’t want to alter the situation and don’t like change.
PPS with symptoms like these is regarded as a mental disorder. However, when people are faced with problems, everyone misses the past and wants to be stable. As everyone knows, the past is just the past, not today. Therefore, we need to have the right sense about values as time passes.
Perhaps, there are many Peter Pans around you. You could also be. For Peter Pans around you, how about helping them to have a good image of the present and the future, based on a specific dream and not an unfounded hope? With this help, Peter Pans will not run away from the present anymore, and they will become real adults gradually.