Psychotherapists
and cognitive behaviour therapists
Psychotherapists and cognitive behaviour therapists use a variety of therapies in one-on-one or group settings to help people with mental health issues, stress, emotional and relationship problems.
- Employees (UK)
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- Median annual pay
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- Exposure score ?
- 0.7/10 Minimal 8.7/10 Very high strict reading, with tools is 8.7/10 with-tools reading, strict is 0.7/10
- Wage exposure
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Higher exposure than 37% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.
What this score means.
Most of this role's work is still hard for AI: physical presence, practised skill, judgement in context and direct care, the things that do not turn into text.
If you are in this role
Nothing here is under pressure today, but the frontier moves. Learn enough to direct AI at the paperwork around the job. People in hands-on roles who can do that become unusually useful inside their organisations.
Almost every routine task in this role is within reach of today's models. Roles like this are being rebuilt, usually not by disappearing but by one person using AI to produce what several did.
If you are in this role
Be the person doing the rebuilding. People who learn to run this kind of work with AI become very valuable, and the ones who wait tend to have the change made for them.
Where the work usually starts.
This role's strict reading is low because its top tasks are judgement, not drafting. The three highest-stakes tasks below are still usually where the work starts. Switch to With tools to see what AI plus the right context can take on.
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Provide advice on best practices and implementation for selection.
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Develop and implement employee selection or placement programs.
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Analyze data, using statistical methods and applications, to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of workplace programs.
These are the most important tasks AI can already handle when paired with the right tools and context. The first wins usually come from building workflows around them. That is the difference between a model that could do the job and one that actually does it inside your business.
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Provide advice on best practices and implementation for selection.
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Develop and implement employee selection or placement programs.
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Analyze data, using statistical methods and applications, to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of workplace programs.
Every role has three or four places like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days.
Every task in the role.
Every O*NET task for this occupation, split by what AI can do unaided and what still needs a person. Importance is O*NET's 1 to 5 rating of how central each task is.
Tasks via O*NET "Industrial-Organizational Psychologists" (19-3032.00).
What AI can already do
2 of 25 tasks, unaided
Write reports on research findings and implications to contribute to general knowledge or to suggest potential changes in organizational functioning.
Write articles, white papers, or reports to share research findings and educate others.
What still needs a person
23 of 25 tasks
Provide advice on best practices and implementation for selection.
Develop and implement employee selection or placement programs.
Analyze data, using statistical methods and applications, to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of workplace programs.
Develop interview techniques, rating scales, and psychological tests used to assess skills, abilities, and interests for the purpose of employee selection, placement, or promotion.
Observe and interview workers to obtain information about the physical, mental, and educational requirements of jobs, as well as information about aspects such as job satisfaction.
Facilitate organizational development and change.
Analyze job requirements and content to establish criteria for classification, selection, training, and other related personnel functions.
Advise management concerning personnel, managerial, and marketing policies and practices and their potential effects on organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
Conduct presentations on research findings for clients or at research meetings.
Coach senior executives and managers on leadership and performance.
Conduct individual assessments, including interpreting measures and providing feedback for selection, placement, or promotion.
Train clients to administer human resources functions, including testing, selection, and performance management.
Assess employee performance.
Identify training and development needs.
Formulate and implement training programs, applying principles of learning and individual differences.
Study organizational effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency, including the nature of workplace supervision and leadership.
Provide expert testimony in employment lawsuits.
Conduct research studies of physical work environments, organizational structures, communication systems, group interactions, morale, or motivation to assess organizational functioning.
Develop new business by contacting potential clients, making sales presentations, and writing proposals.
Review research literature to remain current on psychological science issues.
Counsel workers about job and career-related issues.
Participate in mediation and dispute resolution.
Study consumers' reactions to new products and package designs, and to advertising efforts, using surveys and tests.
Tasks via O*NET "Industrial-Organizational Psychologists" (19-3032.00).
What AI can already do
22 of 25 tasks, with tools
Provide advice on best practices and implementation for selection.
Develop and implement employee selection or placement programs.
Analyze data, using statistical methods and applications, to evaluate the outcomes and effectiveness of workplace programs.
Develop interview techniques, rating scales, and psychological tests used to assess skills, abilities, and interests for the purpose of employee selection, placement, or promotion.
Facilitate organizational development and change.
Analyze job requirements and content to establish criteria for classification, selection, training, and other related personnel functions.
Advise management concerning personnel, managerial, and marketing policies and practices and their potential effects on organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
Conduct presentations on research findings for clients or at research meetings.
Conduct individual assessments, including interpreting measures and providing feedback for selection, placement, or promotion.
Train clients to administer human resources functions, including testing, selection, and performance management.
Assess employee performance.
Identify training and development needs.
Formulate and implement training programs, applying principles of learning and individual differences.
Study organizational effectiveness, productivity, and efficiency, including the nature of workplace supervision and leadership.
Provide expert testimony in employment lawsuits.
Conduct research studies of physical work environments, organizational structures, communication systems, group interactions, morale, or motivation to assess organizational functioning.
Write reports on research findings and implications to contribute to general knowledge or to suggest potential changes in organizational functioning.
Develop new business by contacting potential clients, making sales presentations, and writing proposals.
Write articles, white papers, or reports to share research findings and educate others.
Review research literature to remain current on psychological science issues.
Participate in mediation and dispute resolution.
Study consumers' reactions to new products and package designs, and to advertising efforts, using surveys and tests.
What still needs a person
3 of 25 tasks
Observe and interview workers to obtain information about the physical, mental, and educational requirements of jobs, as well as information about aspects such as job satisfaction.
Coach senior executives and managers on leadership and performance.
Counsel workers about job and career-related issues.
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Related occupations.
Other roles in Professional occupations, and roles close by exposure.
What it means for your sector.
This role's score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 task labels, weighted by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 through ISCO-08 (the ONS coding index) and US SOC 2010 (the BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional, which covers employees only.
Back to the mapMethodologySources (PDF)Built 29 April 2026
Pictures
- "Census pantograph and 1930s keypunches" by U.S. Census Bureau employees, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Shepard Barclay, St. Louis lawyer, in his office" by Missouri Historical Society via DPLA, no known copyright restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Accountant's Office LCCN2016824374" by National Photo Company Collection, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
- "Employment service in Oulu in the spring 1931" by Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons