Lulu, sorry for highjacking your thread!

CC, I too have confidence issues. For me it's more that I KNOW I can do the research/write the thesis, but it's the other stuff that scares me senseless (presenting at conferences is a HUGE one at the moment!). I had a huge meltdown yesterday in the middle of a supervisory meeting! Was so overwhelmed with it all! It doesn't help that I have a lot going on in my life (outside of PhD) at the moment.

I've decided that self-doubt must just be a part of the PhD thing, but if we get through it, then the light at the end of the tunnel will be worth the struggle

thanks cc for sharing your experience. am going through much the same thing. i was thinking of starting to manage my supervisor as they aren't interested and that's not gonna make me quit. after all, am the one who wants the phd. so if they aren't gonna give me direction, i'll try to get it out of them with a list of questions.

Snappy_jaws, don't you worry! you haven't highjacked my thread! it isn't mine...we are all in the same boat!

Hi guys,
I went through the exact low back in february at my 5 month point. All my experiments had screwed up, weren't working or had total dead ends on them. I felt like i wanted to quit. I went and chatted to a few 3rd years I know who are finishing off and writing up, which helped me loads. Apparently its really common to hit a depressive "brick wall" within the first 18 months. I just took some time out for myself and came back at my work fresh. Really helped!