“Devastating psychological impacts.” That’s how Futurism described what AI automation, or the threat of it, can have on the workforce in a February 2026 piece followed by similar articles in Yahoo Health and Gizmodo. All three covered the same source: a study published in Cureus in September 2025, one of a growing number of Cureus studies picked up by outside press.
This experience now has a name: AI Replacement Dysfunction, or AIRD, describing the anxiety, insomnia, and identity loss tied to fears of automation-driven layoffs.
The paper’s co-lead authors are Stephanie McNamara, who was a second-year UF psychology student and John V. Lombardi Scholar at the time, and Joseph Thornton, M.D., a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Florida. McNamara said she started developing the concept after noticing a rise in AI-related layoffs in 2025. “It made me think about the mental health impacts it is going to have on society,” she said.
The paper is exactly what its subtitle promises: “A Call to Action for Mental Health Professionals.” It draws on existing research that links AI implementation in the workplace to anxiety and depression, then proposes a new clinical construct and a screening approach clinicians can start using now. As Thornton put it, “AI displacement is an invisible disaster. As with other disasters that affect mental health, effective responses must extend beyond the clinician’s office.”
AIRD is currently a proposed framework, ahead of the formal diagnostic recognition a step like DSM inclusion would require. McNamara now seeks a dedicated research project to build the evidence base for that next step.
The full article, including the proposed screening questions and treatment approach, is available at Cureus.
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