Example of Dethroned Prince Syndrome

In some families the arrival of a new little brother triggers in the son a series of jealousy, resentment and characteristics that together produce the popularly called dethroned prince syndrome. This syndrome is very different from Prince Charming syndrome. In prince charming syndrome, the person looks for her perfect partner, the one with the dethroned prince they are childish jealousy towards the younger brother. It is similar to the Cain complex. But according to the psychologist Charles Badouin the Cain complex is more savage, and the violence is greater, in the Cain complex, the individual initially seeks to get rid of the "Intruder" while in the dethroned prince complex the child can coexist fairly with the "intruder" but what he does not tolerate is that it is no longer the center of attention.

The dethroned prince syndrome It is because the attention, pampering and care are temporarily withdrawn or diminished from the older brother to attend to the younger. Then the child seeks to regain all that attention, either by behaving like a baby again (he wets the bed, urinates on his clothes, throws tantrums in public, he demands that they put diapers on him, give him a bottle etc.) or ignoring or mistreating the little brother, or on the contrary he withdraws and walks away hurt, or becomes enraged and aggressive. It all depends on the child and the way the parents educate and take care of him. This disorder not only occurs in the first-born, it can be triggered in any of the children with the arrival of one more small, or another child to the family as in the case of adopted minors or cousins ​​who are going to live or visit with the family. Not only does it occur with the newborn, but it increases as the little one learns to walk and interacts more with others.

Some people think that jealousy between siblings is inevitable, but on many occasions it is the parents themselves who provoke them due to their markedness favoritism towards one of the children, or by the attitude of always pampering the smallest and as children are being born the penultimate feels abandoned temporarily. Contrary to what is thought, childhood jealousy can be beneficial for the child because he will learn that the world does not revolve around him and He will also learn to share and coexist with those who initially did not like him, which will enrich his personality and help him in the future.

But when this jealousy increases and the child seeks to attract attention obsessively and in harmful ways such as hitting the little brother or destroying things, setting fire, wetting the bed etc. It may be the Cain complex, then it is necessary to take the child to therapy, there they will help him control his his sadness and anger will also help him learn to live with his little brother and make him feel an important part of the family.

Sometimes the whole family has to take therapy, especially when the child becomes very aggressive, the little brother or younger sister learns to manipulate parents, or when one or both parents show a marked favoritism towards one of the children.

Example of dethroned prince syndrome:

Huguito is the son of Carlos and Francisca, he is nine years old and during the first eight he was the only child, all the pampering, care and gifts went to him. Being the only child in the whole family, he was always surrounded by attention, all this formed a a small, irritating and somewhat arrogant personality since everything he did was forgiven him for being the small. But one day his mother got pregnant, the whole family immediately paid attention to her for the new life that was to come. This upset Huguito, who when asked about whether he would like her to be his little brother, limited himself to saying that he did not want any brother and that he liked life as he was. Time passed and the baby was born, the whole family turned their attention to little Anselmo, this upset Hugo a lot, who first moved away and became aggressive and then acquired a childish attitude inappropriate for his age which did not it worked. Then he became cold and distant with his brother, at school he always caused problems for the teachers, he had bad grades and he fought with everyone, at home he broke things and pulled green gray hair from his parents, who tiredly took him away with a therapist who helped him control his anger and love his little brother, he learned to live with the whole family and to feel like a member of the herself.