Being laid off can and will forever change your career risk tolerance. When I got laid off in 2008, I stayed at the next job probably 10 years longer than I should have because of effects of being laid off.
That's a good point, and I had a similar reaction. I got laid off from my first job out of college in late 2006. Unemployed for 3 months, found a role with a new company 2 hours away, moved, and stayed there over 12 years because I didn't want to take the risk of moving. That, and I let myself be too intimidated by the interview process.
I eventually got laid off from there and found a new job after a ~2 month stint of unemployment; stayed with my new company for about 18 months and then changed to my current job of my own volition to find something I was happier with rather than sitting around being miserable.
On the other hand, the aftermath of this layoff is making it pretty clear to me that going I got this field was a mistake and I was trying to get a career going for five years that was just going to end up nowhere. This might be what I need to get out for good.
7 years later after getting laid off and I'm still paranoid about performance reviews and layoff rumors in the press. I never used to be nervous about talking to people about my work but it really affected me.
