In seeking to understand the foundations of the psychological disorders that appear in December, Dr. James Caltrell notes that the holiday season and the presence of one’s father, God, Christ, Santa Claus and Father Time produces a syndrome marked by “diffuse anxiety, numerous regressive phenomena including marked feelings of helplessness, possessiveness, and increased irritablity, nostalgia or bitter rumination about holiday experiences of youth, depressive affect, and a wish for magical resolution of problems.”
For psychoanalyst Bryce Boyer the key to Christmas depression is found in unresolved sibling rivalries. He concludes that his patients sought to obtain penises which they hoped would win their mother’s love that had previously been given to other siblings. The worship of the Christ child, adored by his mother Mary, awakens a frustration of never being as good as the favourite child.
In an article entitled “Father Christmas: a Ritual Aimed at Transitionalising Separation”, Sébastien Chapellon explains why Santa Claus has been instituted as a family tradition in most homes in the world. The author shows that this custom enacts the violence inherent to the adult-child relationship. Even when remodelled by the consumer society, this rite, which a priori is an emblem of parental devotion, externalises the underlying hostility in the family relationships. By lying to the child on the subject of Santa, adults arouse his hatred without realising it.
Are all shrinks crackers?
Freudians are certainly blessed with a kind of madness.