Santa Claus Syndrome is the name given to the psychological effects of the ‘Father Christmas’ or ‘Santa Claus’ story. It is proposed that the story is more than just a nice festive story, it is a widespread untruth that all of society is ‘in on’. Once you discover the truth one is implicitly obligated to keep telling the lie to the younger children under the guise of not spoiling it for them. Even a cursory glance at the facts should cause alarm bells to ring in any thinking mind.

Father Christmas story in a nutshell

Father Christmas (Santa) is a part of the Christian feast of Christmas. Its the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, their alleged saviour of humanity who came to die on the cross for our ‘sins’ in the ultimate display of sacrifice. The Christians proposed that Saint Nicolas was a benevolent man who made toys for the poor children hundreds of years ago in mainland Europe.

The story poses a mythical paternal figure who flies across the sky on the night of December 24th/25th each year in a magic sleigh pulled by reindeer. He climbs down the chimney and leaves free gifts for children all over the world provided they have been ‘good’. The standard of good is not specified but it is generally understood to mean ‘doing as your parents say’, or being obedient. Santa somehow knows who has been ‘good’ and who has been ‘naughty’, and if you have been naughty you will go without. The gifts are all made, the story goes, in Santa’s toy factory located at the north pole.

The result is that children everywhere, even the poor, have a happy Christmas. It is widely held as a key part of the Christmas ‘magic’. It all seems innocent enough on the surface. But what is wrong with this cultural practice? What are the long-term psychological effects? Is it really as innocent as many still profess?

Psychological implications for a developing consciousness

When we take a critical look at this story and bear in mind that it is deeply entrenched in our culture, the implications start to look rather troubling. Here is a list of the major points of concern I have identified.

The Father Christmas phenomenon is more than just a story, it is a lie promoted as truth – it is persistent deception, sometimes in the face of questioning for truth.

It is widespread and cross-cultural – almost all adults are in on it. For a young child, it seems the whole world believes in Santa Claus even though everything about the story is impossible!

It may fall just short of implicitly endorsing lying as being ‘OK’, but at the very least it programs young minds with the premise that lying is widespread, it is a part of our culture, it is what happens. This premise programmed into young minds fundamentally undermines the sanctity of truth and categorises lying as an inevitable part of the landscape of human behaviour. It is not!

The story implicitly instils the premise that if one is good (i.e. compliant) you get rewarded by ‘getting free stuff’. This conclusion has knock-on effects. Firstly, it normalises acceptance of the unearned and associates it with ‘good’. Secondly, it is a form of behaviourism – basic animal-training technique rewarding desired behaviour (compliance). This tends to negate intrinsic self-motivation. Young people can be left predisposed towards going through life pleasing people rather than understanding reality directly and independently. Thirdly, it paves the way for a parasite class. Once the idea of receiving the unearned has become a programmed part of the operating system of the mind, any politician or welfare recipient can easily rationalise participation in the redistribution of expropri...