Thanks guys- I think I'm just so much more self conscious when they're there, and obviously I don't want to feel as though I've made a mess of things and let them down! Will be trying some of that rescue remedy stuff definitely! KB

A tricky question. As most of you know, I suffer from bipolar disorder. Now because of the medication I am on I am experiencing a lot of other problems because it affects my thyroid which affects loads of other things. Basically I'm not feeling too well right now. My supervisor has been speaking to one of the admin staff who deals with teaching allocations, and she has managed to get me out of doing any teaching in the next academic year in spite of the fact that I am contracted to do some every year and have done so far. Basically she has said that she is worried that taking so much on might affect my health and thus my PhD progress. Now in one sense I am chuffed because I am so busy and the teaching can be very time consuming. But in another way I feel very bad about taking the easy option out. I have never used my bipolar as an excuse for anything before, and I am not entirely comfortable with doing this...what do you guys think? Best, KB

Hey all! Those of you who have been on here for a while probably know I'm rather a nervous presenter, but things have been getting easier with practise! But now another variable has come into play- at a conerence I am presenting at next month both of my supervisors will be there (one of them is actually running the conference). Now I presented at a large conference in London over summer (my sup was meant to be threre but was ill) and am presenting at a huge conference in the USA in a couple of months, which I am not actually that nervous about. The conference next month is quite a small one, nothing like the scale of the others 2 at all, but I am so scared of presenting in front of my supervisors! Is this normal? This should be the easiest presentation of the lot but it is turning into the scariest! Best, KB

Wooohooo, finally! Congrats! Yeah, me too Bilbo!! Best, KB

Hey Matt, I think I kinda get how you feel. I too lost about 4-5 years of my life or any sort of progress due to bipolar disorder (I spent a lot fo that time in hospital), and in that time my peers were finishing their degrees, finding and marrying blokes, getting mortgages and all that. I will be 30 when I finish my PhD and will be a long way behind them. I too find that a lot of my old pals are coupled up and go on holiday with other couples, and so on, so we don't have the same connection as we had before. But your life will move on too. Sometimes you have to give it a shunt in the right direction. I joined an online dating site a few months ago (basically to cheer my friend up cos she needed a laugh!) and I've found a lovely boyfriend, and even though we've only been together for a couple of months we're making plans for the future. That came out of nowhere- I honestly thought I had left it too late to find the right guy. I have made a new gang of friends who I have more in common with, although I still keep in touch with my old (married & mortgaged ones!), and now have a really active social life. I can honestly say I've never been happier. But sometimes you do have to make a few steps of your own to make the changes, whatever they might be! Good luck with it all! KB

Hey Eska! I often think exactly the same as you- would my papers get accepted if my sup hadn't gone over them and made so many suggestions! On the bright side of things, for my first publication she looked at about 15-20 drafts (seriously!), and now I am down to submitting papers when she's looked at about 4 drafts from the absolute beginning of the paper to the finished article, so something must be improving :-) I suppose it's just a learning process, and bear in mind that many post-docs will be working with collaborators who will also also have input on the publications, and will still have supervisors to add comments- you won't just be plunged into the big wide world completely on your own to start with. And your confidence will grow as you have more publications accepted, until you know what to do to make them good. And sure, there will probably be rejections along the way (my prof is huge in her field and still has the odd manuscript rejected!) but even those you learn from. All the academics have gone through the same process as us and they learn to write stuff for themselves so I guess we all will in the end, I guess the learning curve goes on for quite a long time! Best, KB

Hey! Sorry to hear you're so stressed and upset about it. I think the main thing is, you got up there and you did it. The content was fine, the slides were good, the script was there- all you need to work on is the delivery. Try not to take it as an insult, I reckon the chair probably just meant it in a helpful way (although I would have felt exactly the same as you and taken it very much to heart and beaten myself up over it!!) and didn't mean to upset you. A lot of people wouldn't even have been able to get up there and deliver at all, so for the first go it sounds like you did a grand job for the most part. We all need to work on some bits and we're all more naturally gifted at some aspects of the academic life than other aspects, so keep your chin up and don't stress about it! You could learn it by rote and then concentrate on the delivery- but personally I find the best speakers to be those who don't learn it by rote and just talk more naturally about what's on their slides. But if you would feel better learning it by rote and then concentrating on the delivery to start with- do that! And there are plenty of really experienced lecturers out there who are professors and are crap at lecturing (and always will be!), but you've got loads of time to work on it! All the best, KB

Hey Lh245, I haven't had exactly the same experience as you, but I had to drop out of my first degree and then second year of my second attempt at an undergrad degree due to severe mental health problems, and then re-started second year again the following year. I got a first in the end anyway, but it does look on my CV as though I've taken an extra year to complete and I don't particularly like to advertise the fact that I dropped out because I was admitted to a psychiatric hospital! If you're on a good 2.1 now then chances are you will finish on a good 2.1 or even a first, so don't be too hard on yourself. Quite aside from that, a good 2.1 makes you a good enough candidate for a PhD anyway. My supervisor even wrote on one of my PhD appplications (and I got the PhD!) that I had showed 'remarkable resilience in dealing with personal problems' so maybe something good can come out of it! You might find people are more sympathetic than you think- that has certainly been my experience. Good luck! KB

Hey! Sounds like a horrible position to be stuck in. Ultimately, none of us can predict whether your thesis will pass or not but if you have responded to all their comments and spent a whole year on it then why shouldn't you? I had a friend given a resubmission for his PhD and it was completely unexpected- his supervisors couldn't believe it, and no-one else could, especially as his dad is a big prof in the same field! He was gutted but he resubmitted and he has now passed and graduated! So stories like these do have happy endings. Fingers crossed for you, KB

hey! I recently did a systematic review for publication and searched PsycInfo, Medline, CINAHL, ASSIA, and Caredata. Some of those are more for nursing stuff, but quite often psychology stuff pops up there too so it might be worth a look if you're doing a clinical topic- if not then I wouldn't bother! Have fun! KB

Hey! It might be worth emailing the editor to seeif they would consider reviewing a longer paper. I had the same problem recently- I cut out as much as I could but still had 1500 words too many and I emailed the editor and he said he would be quite happy to consider a paper of that length, although the reviewers might ask me to shorten it. Otherwise, if you really can't shorten it any further then I would just find another journal. I think it gets to the point where if you keep taking chunks out, eventually you are compromising on the quality of the paper and it would be better to keep it longer and find a different journal. Good luck! KB

I've been using the gym for 12 years now, and am a proper gym bunny! Recently I've had to start limiting myself to one hour or exercise per day (I used to do much more, but it's just not possible now). So I do 40-50 minutes cardio split between the crosstrainer (my favourite!) and the stepper. Then I do about 15 minutes of toning. I also do two aerobics classes per week so that involves a lot of jumping around and toning too, and they're quite good fun. However, I have just taken the step of hiring a personal trainer- I've steadily been putting weight on, due to PhD, broken foot, underactive thyroid, bipolar medication and I admit, a rather hefty chocolate consumption! I'm only about a size 12 and I'm not really overweight, but I felt as though my routine needed a bit of a shake up. I have only had my first session, and already she has highlighted all the problems with my diet (which I actually thought wasn't too bad except for the chocolate- wrong!!) and she is devising a one-hour routine for me, so I will share any tips and advice! It's £30 an hour, so very costly, but I think I really need a kick up the bum to get back on track! Anyway, any amazing advice and I will post it here. Apparently she is strapping me up to a heart monitor during my workout on Thursday to see how hard I am working...I have been busting a gut this week to try and practise working harder lol! Best, KB

Hey! I agree with the others really- it does sound like OCD but I don't think any of us on here are qualified to diagnose it, so probably best you go seek help! You could go to your GP who might refer you to a specialist, or you could just approach your university counselling service right away for help. I have had trouble with what I believe to have been OCD in addition to my bipolar disorder, but I chose only to discuss it with my counsellor and not mention my issues to my doctor or shrink simply because I didn't want another diagnosis on top of bipolar. But when I was put on antidepressants recently in addition to my usual bipolar meds I found that they also helped with the anxiety, and when I looked on the packet it did say that they could help with anxiety too. I also have a friend with really bad OCD who has found that the same medication has helped her, although obviously if you wanted to go down that route you would need to see your doc. Perhaps you could make an appointment with the uni counsellor first to discuss your options? I wouldn't ignore it- in my experience these things don't go away on their own! Good luck with it, let us know how you get on! Best, KB

Hey! I always get this, regardless of who's asking the question! My mind will go blank and I'll start wittering on then when I've finished wittering I realise that I didn't come anywhere near to answering the question! I think I'm actually worse when it's non-academics I'm talking to because I find it really hard to explain to people what I'm doing in layperson speak. I now have a standard answer for lay people who ask what I'm doing but as for academics, you can never be prepared for what they will ask! As one of the other posts said, just take a few seconds to actually think about it before blurting out your answer. I think it does get easier with practise, but it's quite common to feel like this to start with! Best, KB

Haha, that sounds familiar Teek! As soon as I mention Alzheimer's everyone over 50 seems to queue up around me and ask how they can avoid getting it....or make some really poor joke about being forgetful or something. It does get a little wearing after several years of it.....have a good weekend all! KB