When I studied group-fantasies of stock markets as revealed in cartoons at the beginning of this year, I got the impression that financial markets basically live in a state of permanent paranoia. The paranoia is defended against in two ways: mania and depression. During the manic phase, the group unconsciously identifies with the rapid growth one expects in a newborn, helpless baby, while also unconsciously warding off anxieties of abandonment from infancy. Stocks or corporations are unconsciously loved as omnipotent deliverers of ever-growing earnings which leads to irrational overvaluations of stocks. Group members are allowed to have fantasies of grandiosity without being punished for demanding too much. Psychotic anxieties are appeased by the strong, nurturing socio-economic environment.
Florian Galler (Wed,) studied this question.