I read an article recently from Sky News about the 40 jobs most at risk from AI. It reminded me immediately of the conversations I have been having with clients over the past year. The fear of AI replacing jobs is no longer hypothetical. Indeed, some clients come to therapy already facing redundancy due to workplace automation. Meanwhile, others arrive carrying a fear that their role might be next.
What strikes me most is not just the practical worry about paying bills (although that is real and significant). Rather, it is the mental stress of feeling replaced by technology.
Job loss has always been difficult. However, there is something uniquely destabilising about the current wave of AI-driven redundancy. In this post, I want to explore why technology replacing jobs feels different from traditional redundancy. Additionally, I will share evidence-based strategies from therapy that can help you navigate this challenging transition.
Why Redundancy Hurts Beyond the Payslip
When we lose a job, we often lose far more than income. Research in occupational psychology consistently shows that employment provides several key psychological benefits. These include structure to our days, a sense of purpose, social connection, collective goals, and status or identity. When redundancy happens, all of these can vanish simultaneously.
For many of the men I work with (particularly those in their 40s, 50s, or 60s), the career they have built is not just what they do. It is who they are.
I notice this in the language clients use. They say “I am an accountant” rather than “I work in accounting.” Consequently, when that identity is stripped away, the question “Who am I now?” can feel genuinely destabilising.
The Mental Health Impact of Job Loss
The research on unemployment and mental health is stark. Studies show significant increases in depression, anxiety, and loss of self-esteem following job loss.
However, what I see in my therapy room goes deeper than statistics. It is the shame narrative that develops. Common thoughts include:
“I should have seen this coming.”
“I am not valuable.”
“I have failed my family.”
These thoughts are common, painful, and often disconnected from reality. Importantly, they represent automatic responses rather than facts.
The AI Dimension: Why Technology Replacing Jobs Feels Different
Traditional redundancy (a company downsizing, a department closing) carries its own grief. However, there is usually a narrative you can tell yourself. “The business struggled.” “They relocated.” “Budget cuts affected everyone.”
Importantly, there is often still hope. With enough effort, with persistence (perhaps with retraining), you might find another similar role elsewhere.
AI replacing jobs introduces a different psychological threat. It is not just that your position is closing. Rather, it is that you, specifically, might be obsolete. The implicit message feels personal – a machine can do what you do, faster and cheaper.
For clients I work with, this taps into much deeper fears. They worry about relevance, worth, and whether they have anything valuable left to offer in an automated workplace.
When Entire Job Categories Disappear
Moreover (and this is where the fear becomes particularly overwhelming), when artificial intelligence threatens to replace entire categories of work, the traditional “find another job” solution starts to crumble.
Consider this scenario: if administrative roles, certain legal jobs, customer service positions, or creative work are being automated across multiple organisations, where exactly do you go next? This question keeps many of my clients awake at night.
This is not just career disruption. It is career erasure. The psychological impact of that distinction matters enormously. Consequently, traditional career counselling advice about “transferable skills” can feel hollow when facing workplace automation on this scale.
The Paralysis of Uncertainty
One of the most common presentations I see with clients facing AI-related job insecurity is a kind of frozen panic. They want to take action (retrain, pivot, prepare) but they do not know what to prepare for.
If the skills they have spent decades building are becoming redundant, what skills should they build next? Moreover, what if those become automated too?
This uncertainty is cognitively and emotionally exhausting. Research on uncertainty and anxiety shows that our brains find ambiguous threats harder to process than clear ones. We can prepare for a known danger. However, with AI advancement happening rapidly and unpredictably, many people feel they are trying to outrun something they cannot see or understand.
From a therapeutic perspective, I recognise this as a situation where our usual coping mechanisms – planning, problem-solving, controlling outcomes – are only partially effective. Therefore, we need additional tools.
What Actually Helps: Evidence-Based Strategies for Job Loss
Whilst I cannot address the financial realities of redundancy in this post (those are real and significant), I can offer strategies for managing the psychological impact and beginning to rebuild. These approaches are drawn from established therapeutic models and research on coping with career transitions.
Separating Identity from Employment
One of the most important pieces of work I do with clients is helping them recognise that “I have lost my job” is not the same as “I have lost my worth.” This sounds obvious written down. However, when you are in the middle of redundancy, these statements feel identical.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) offers useful tools here. Specifically, we work on identifying and challenging what CBT calls “cognitive distortions” – the automatic thought patterns that intensify suffering. Common ones include:
- Catastrophising: “I will never work again” or “My career is over.”
- Personalisation: “This happened because I am not good enough.”
- Labelling: “I am a failure.”
Challenging these thoughts does not mean engaging in false positivity. Instead, it means asking: “What is the evidence for this thought? What would I say to a friend in this situation? Is there another way to view this?”
Acceptance and Values Work
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has been particularly helpful with clients facing career loss. Rather than fighting against the reality of job loss (which maintains suffering), ACT encourages acceptance of what cannot be controlled. At the same time, it supports recommitment to what matters most.
I often ask clients: “If your career identity is stripped away, what values remain? What kind of person do you want to be, regardless of your job title?”
This is not about minimising the loss. It is about finding solid ground beneath you when everything feels unstable.
Research shows that people who maintain a sense of purpose and meaning during unemployment fare better psychologically. This is true regardless of whether they tie all meaning to employment status.
Managing the Fear Response When Facing Automation
Job loss (particularly AI-driven redundancy) can trigger our threat response system. Clients describe feeling constantly on edge, unable to relax, scanning for danger. This is your nervous system doing exactly what it evolved to do, but it is exhausting.
Practical regulation strategies from Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) can help here:
- Paced breathing: Slowing your exhale activates the parasympathetic nervous system. This reduces panic.
- Cold water: Splashing cold water on your face or holding ice can interrupt the panic spiral.
- Routine and structure: When work-provided structure disappears, consciously creating daily routines helps maintain stability.
- Social connection: Isolation intensifies anxiety. Maintaining contact with others (even when shame says hide) is protective.
Solution-Focused Approaches to “What Next”
When clients feel paralysed by the question “What job do I do now?”, I find solution-focused therapy helpful. Rather than getting lost in the enormity of “the future of work” or “will AI take everything”, we focus on:
- Small, achievable next steps: Not “retrain completely” but “research one new area this week.”
- Previous successes: When have you navigated uncertainty before? What skills got you through?
- Exception finding: When has the fear been slightly less? What was different then?
This approach is not about ignoring the real threat of AI automation. Instead, it is about maintaining agency in a situation where much feels outside your control.
Finding Ground When the Future is Unclear
I will be honest – I cannot tell you that everything will be fine. I also cannot say that your fears about AI replacing jobs are unfounded. The employment landscape is shifting in ways we do not fully understand yet. That is genuinely unsettling. Job security feels increasingly fragile for many people.
Nevertheless, what I can tell you is this: the psychological skills that help people navigate redundancy are valuable regardless of what happens next with AI. Building identity separate from work, managing uncertainty, maintaining connection, taking small purposeful steps – these are resilience skills. They matter whether you are facing redundancy now or preparing for an uncertain future.
If you are currently experiencing job loss, please know that the grief, anger, fear, and disorientation you feel are normal responses to genuine loss. Therapy cannot replace your income or guarantee your next job. However, it can help you process the psychological impact, challenge unhelpful thought patterns, and rediscover a sense of agency when much feels outside your control.
You Are Not Obsolete
You are not your job title. You are not obsolete. And even in uncertainty, there are steps you can take.
The conversation about artificial intelligence and employment is ongoing. The personal impact on those experiencing technology-driven redundancy is real and deserves attention. Whether you are currently navigating job loss or managing anxiety about automation, therapeutic support can help you move through this transition with greater clarity and resilience.
Frequently Asked Questions About AI and Job Loss
How do I cope with the fear of AI replacing my job?
Start by acknowledging that your fear is valid. Then, focus on what you can control: building resilience skills, maintaining social connections, and exploring transferable skills. Therapy can help you challenge catastrophic thinking whilst developing practical coping strategies.
Is job redundancy due to AI different from traditional redundancy?
Yes. Whilst both involve job loss, AI-driven redundancy often feels more personal and can threaten entire job categories rather than individual positions. This can make it harder to envision viable career alternatives.
Can therapy help with job loss and career anxiety?
Absolutely. Therapy provides space to process the emotional impact of redundancy, challenge unhelpful thinking patterns, rebuild identity separate from work, and develop strategies for managing uncertainty and moving forwards.
If you are struggling with job redundancy or anxiety about AI replacing jobs, therapy can provide a space to process these feelings and develop strategies to move forwards. I work with adults navigating career transitions and offer both individual therapy and supervision for other therapists. Contact me or learn more about my approach.
Photo by Ron Lach