The events of February 2026 on Wall Street became known as "Black February" after Citrini Research's alarmist prediction of artificial intelligence completely displacing office workers sparked widespread panic. Technological euphoria instantly transformed into a collective fear of global unemployment and a collapse in consumption, sending shares of leading market sectors plummeting. Psychologist Mikhail Tegin suggests looking at this financial collapse through the lens of psychoanalysis, viewing market processes as a gigantic projection of the human unconscious.

When an investor opens a brokerage app, they sincerely believe in the primacy of logic, but in reality, the market is often driven by Freud's "pleasure principle," which demands immediate gratification. This drive is rooted in libidinal energy—the thirst for possession and creation—which transforms portfolio growth into a state akin to physiological ecstasy. However, creative Eros is always followed by Thanatos—the drive toward destruction, which pushes traders to take unjustified risks and trade with enormous leverage. For many, subconsciously "draining" their deposits becomes a way to experience catharsis or punish themselves for mistakes, turning investing into an act of self-destruction.

Attitudes toward specific assets often mimic the infantile experience of dividing the world into "good" and "bad" objects, as per Melanie Klein's theory. A rising stock, like a mother's breast that bestows satisfaction, is imbued with almost magical properties, and any criticism is perceived as a personal insult. But as soon as the trend reverses, the investor falls into a "paranoid-schizoid position," blaming external "puppeteers" or the Federal Reserve for their failures, rather than admit the collapse of the idealized object. In search of support, we subconsciously reach out to the figure of the "almighty Father"—charismatic CEOs or legendary investors like Warren Buffett—hoping they will save us from the chaos of uncertainty.

The roots of financial behavior also lie between the ages of eighteen months and three years, when a child first encounters discipline and the rules of the outside world. This early experience of managing "property" directly carries over to working with capital, where money becomes a symbol of control. Reports of AI dominance are perceived by the psyche as a threat from a "demanding parent" capable of depriving a person of creative function and their usual income. To tame their unconscious, investors must stop imbuing stocks with human qualities, recognize the excessive idealization of leaders, and allocate only a small, "safe" portion of the portfolio to destructive gambling, preserving the core capital for creative purposes.