Disillusionment & Dissociation in the Tech Field

Written By Lola Noero

On paper, they're doing well. The stocks are vesting, the meeting calendar is full, there are big conferences about the topics they are leading. They hold senior roles, shipping products, and are respected by their teams. Yet more and more tech professionals arrive in our offices describing something harder to name: a sense of watching their own working life from a distance. A belief that they’re watching their field slowly just get worse and worse. More empty pings and reading AI slop on AI slop, feeling disrespected by the fluff and thoughtlessness of many pages of AI writing with no sense of professional consideration. Where are the humans in this? What is the purpose? Do I need to dissociate/compartmentalize more to do well in my job?

As AI reshapes the industry and layoffs keep coming, many high-functioning engineers, product managers, and designers are quietly asking, Where do I fit now? And beneath that question is a deeper one: Who am I if this work no longer feels like mine?

This post explores the disillusionment we're seeing among tech workers, how it shows up as anxiety, depression, dissociation, and alienation, and what the research says about mental health in a field transformed by AI.

A Field in Flux: Layoffs, AI, and an Uncertain Future

For years, tech careers promised stability, high pay, and a clear path upward. That promise has been shaken. According to tracker Layoffs.fyi, tech companies cut more than 264,000 jobs in 2023 and roughly 151,000 in 2024, and layoffs continued through 2025 as companies restructured around AI.

Even people who keep their jobs feel the ground shifting. In the 2025 Stack Overflow Developer Survey of more than 49,000 developers, most still said AI isn't a threat to their jobs, but that confidence dropped from 68% to 64% in a single year. At the same time, 84% use or plan to use AI tools, yet 46% say they don't trust what those tools produce. Moreover, they often report feeling understimulated, “dumber”, cognitively lazy, and less useful.

That combination is psychologically tricky. Many tech workers are being asked to adopt tools they don't fully trust, which may one day replace parts of the work they've built their identities around. They’re also fielding pressure to use these tools for the sake of using them, leading to a sort of “group think” mentality of compliance and falling in line. Many also report disappointment in how these tools are actually working, hoping for better and fearing better all at the same time. Cognitive dissonance needed to show up remotely in a dissociated state to something that feels useless or disjointed really takes a toll on a person.

When Work Was Identity

For many people in tech, work isn't just a job. It's a craft, a community, and a core part of how they understand themselves. Being "the person who can solve the hard problem" can anchor self-worth for decades.

When the craft changes overnight, that anchor slips. A senior engineer who once took pride in elegant code may now spend the day reviewing AI-generated output. A designer may wonder whether their judgment still matters. The skills that once made them feel competent and needed suddenly seem less valued.

Stanford psychiatrist David Burns told Axios that the harmful effects of AI job anxiety tend to surface when people tie their self-worth to their work. For high achievers who have done exactly that, the result can feel less like stress and more like a quiet identity crisis.

What We're Seeing Clinically: Dissociation and Alienation

In therapy, this disillusionment rarely shows up as "I'm worried about AI." It tends to surface in subtler ways.

Depersonalization and detachment. Clients describe going through the motions: attending standups, closing tickets, and answering Slack messages while feeling oddly absent. Some say it's as if they're on autopilot, or watching themselves perform a role. This is a mild, common form of dissociation, a way the mind protects itself from ongoing stress it can't resolve.

Alienation from the work itself. Many feel disconnected from the purpose of what they build. When decisions are driven by cost-cutting or the push to "add AI," and output is partly machine-generated, it can be hard to feel ownership or meaning.

Burnout's mental distance. The World Health Organization defines burnout partly as growing mental distance, negativism, or cynicism toward one's job. That distance often looks like the detachment we hear about in session.

High functioning on the outside. Because these professionals keep performing well, their distress is easy to miss, including by themselves. They may not seek help until the numbness spreads into relationships, sleep, or a sense that nothing feels quite real.

What the Research Says: Depression, Anxiety, and AI

Research on AI and mental health is still young, but a clear picture is forming.

AI worry is linked to stress and feeling undervalued. In the American Psychological Association's 2023 Work in America survey, nearly 2 in 5 workers worried AI could make some or all of their duties obsolete. Of those worried, 64% felt tense or stressed during the workday, compared with 38% of those who weren't. Worried workers were also more likely to feel they didn't matter to their employer.

AI-related technostress tracks with anxiety and depression. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Psychology found that stress from AI in the workplace was significantly associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression.

AI anxiety is widespread. A 2025 scoping review presented at the Society for Social Work and Research found that across studies, 38% to 75% of participants reported anxiety about AI replacing their jobs or reducing the value of their work.

Satisfaction drops, even when diagnoses don't. A long-term German study tracking workers from 2000 to 2020 found that those in AI-exposed jobs became less satisfied with their lives and jobs and more worried about job security. Notably, it found no significant rise in diagnosed anxiety or depression. That gap matches what we see clinically: distress that shows up as dissatisfaction, detachment, and worry before it ever meets the bar for a diagnosis.

Tech workers already carried a heavy load. A survey of 500 software professionals concluded that mental health is a critical issue in the software industry. In a 2025 survey of more than 8,200 tech workers, almost half reported significant burnout.

Signs to Watch For

You might be experiencing more than ordinary work stress if you notice:

  • Feeling numb, flat, or "on autopilot" at work

  • A sense that your days aren't quite real, or that you're watching yourself from outside

  • Losing interest in work you used to love

  • Constant low-grade dread about your career or the future of your field

  • Cynicism or detachment that spills into relationships and free time

  • Trouble sleeping, irritability, or exhaustion that rest doesn't fix

  • Questioning who you are without your professional role

How Therapy Can Help

Therapy offers a space to slow down and make sense of what's happening, without having to perform. Together with a therapist, you can:

  • Separate your worth from your role. Explore who you are beyond your title, your output, and your technical skills.

  • Reconnect with yourself. Grounding and body-based approaches can help ease dissociation and bring you back into the present.

  • Process loss and change. A shifting career can bring real grief, even when nothing "bad" has happened yet.

  • Rebuild meaning. Clarify what matters to you, at work and beyond it, so your next steps are your own.

If trauma or overwhelming stress is part of the picture, approaches like EMDR therapy can help the nervous system settle.

Therapy for Tech Professionals in NYC

At New York Psychotherapy Group, our clinicians work with tech professionals navigating burnout, anxiety, and identity shifts in a changing industry. Contact us to schedule a consultation at our Manhattan or Brooklyn offices.

References

Lola Noero
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