Have you lookd at the UK Gov professional career development loan? Google it :-)

It'll be good for you to talk to someone and to have that break after your data. You know what you are feeling is totally normal for the situation and you're young, there's still loads of time to be off out enjoying yourself ;-p says an old bird whose way past her 20's and hopes there's lots more enjoyment time to come :-)

oops me neither Satchi! Your story Satchi is inspirational and I'm sorry to learn of your losses xxx

Hi Rebel. Sorry to learn that you are feeling low. I honestly believe that a lot of depression is because we give ourselvews such a hard time by thinking ..why aren't I more happy, there must be something wrong with me? when in reality, life is light and shade and we are better to aim for being content. And secondly your feelings are a completely natural physiological response to your current lifestyle. You are probably exhausted. Have you considered the following:
A holiday (a hospital consultant once told me to take a few days break at least every 6 weeks, something to do with body engergy cycles?)
Sick leave
Drs check up e.g iron, thyroid etc and discussed any medication? I'm not a great lover of meds but hey can help in the right circumstances.
Vitamin B12 and fish oils
A light box.

You are right about the stigma, a lot will depend on your supervisors point of view so you don't necessarily need to tell them, unless you are confident they will be supportive, however, I would def declare with your Uni's Disability Support Officer, because they can offer lots of practical advice etc, particulrly if you find in the future you do need sick leave or to submit exceptional circumstances.

Modern life certainly has a lot to answer for! Don't beat yourself up :-)

Ha ha, but did you arbitrarily guess? As long as yu have stated what the basis for your original hypothesis was and that this theory adds to that justification it should be ok. Maybe you could say something like. Based on so and so (whatever your lit review says) I hypothesissed that conducting experiment 'X' would yield parameter value 'Y', which can also be explained by theory 'Z' and say how the theory explains why your experiement was right. I don't think you need to say it was a happy accident that you came across the theory after the experiment but it will be important to stress your experiement was original and based on your hypothesis and whilst theory helps explain the values you got, they are not totally the same, therefore your findings contribute knew knowedge in a different way. Although I would expect that you will need to link the theory back in your literature review and cite it there also as I think it is frowned upon to refer to literature in the data and conclusion that you hadn't already covered in the lit review? Well that's advice i've been given. Thank heavens for happy accidents :-)

Totally get what you are saying. Not very helpful of your supervisor!! ;-p

Hi Huhu, sorry you are feeling like this. Your mind has been very busy and inquisitive for a long and concentrated period of time, it's like it's super-sensitive and over stimulated and has to re-wire itself back to relax mode. Study can be as much an addiction as smoking/drinking etc. Maybe could you take up a hobby? I know that if I don't have a million and one things to do I feel anxious and irritated, it's like being busy tricks my mind/distracts it from wandering off on other unhelpful thoughts. Also, maybe think why you are so irritated by these questions. Yes you've not conformed to what non-academics expect, so what, let them question. Unless of course deep down you are irritated because you would like to be in a relationship with children on the agenda and you feel conflited because conforming in academia often (although not always) means sidelining marriage and children? Just putting it ou there! Whichever you want is fine an don;t lsten to otherwise as Huhu, you can only ever be you :-)

Hi anxious. Maybe now is the time to go see your Dr incase your feelings are more related to mild depression? The saying 'a change is as good as a rest' isn't always true and everyone knows the grass isn't always greener. There is no saying you won't also feel like this in a job and people lead such busy lives there is no saying you would make better/more friends as work than you could at uni, sometimes it's more difficult as who you work with is usually more diverse than uni, in that you might find yourself working with people who aren't in your age braket and want different things from life. I can honestly say work has erroded my social life further lol. I've worked for the same employer for 10 years and no one socialises with each other outside the workplace. Whilst PhD is also very demanding work can be equally and even more so. Changing your situation doesn't always lead to self change and you might take these issues with you. I'm not saying it's all doom an gloom if you leave, leaving might be your best option but just don't expect that change in your circumstances will necessarily change you. Can you not go on an extended holiday or suspension of study for a short while to see if you do actually feel better without the PhD? xxx

It might help to get out a few books on 'how to do reasearch' in your chosed field as they usually cover these issues and discuss how they are understood and then applied in the type of research you are doing. :-)

Do your uni have the 10% rule? because with your 6000 done you only need 13800, about 1400 words a week. Very do-able in the time. Shut yourself off from your hectic life for a few weeks, disable social networking, even turn off your mobile. Having done the study your intro, lit review, methodology and data should be a doddle as you should have based your study on a methodology and literature that I presume you submitted from your proposal? It is common practice to lift your proposal straight into your dissertation and just add to it. This is of course, unless you have gone for grounded theory, in which case you will have limited lit review/more a justification and derive your theory from the data. Speak to your uni too. You say hectic life but not mentioned what's hectic about it. If you have had work or chidcare commitments or been ill you mightbe able to agree a short extension. If it's just a case of submitting by 3rd May to graduate this year you may have to take it that if you don't make the deadline, they will still pass you but it will get to exam board late and therefore you graduate next year instead of this? You can do this. Soldier on ;-p

Thanks for the reply. Ah, so it can be expected then :-( I've tried the contacting directly, they agreed to do a reference and then never actually did it. I'm a bit stuck as I was out of education for a while until doing my MA, which was part time whilst working so this person and my other tutor are the only academic refs I can get. I've sent another request.

I'm getting very frustrated now with getting all my academic references.

There is a person I need a ref from who just ignores me. I missed a funding deadline for a PhD I really wanted and had a good shot at because this person never completed a reference despite my having applied to the PhD months in advance, well in time and my sending the ref request many times over a period of months and a telephone conversation with them about it. Luckily the Uni in question is still interested in me and although I missed the first funding deadline because of this lack of reference, they have now released some new funding and I'm tryng again.

I'm also applying to my current uni where this person works and have a supervisor agreed and passed interview but they can't make a formal offer without this reference, yet again this person is ignoring requests and I've no idea why. I've spent 6 months chasing them.

I've had good attendance and completed my MA with a high distinction in all aspects, including dissertation and even won a small research grant in the process. I do have quite an unusual surname and there is a member of staff in this persons department who is more senior than this professor with my surname. We are not related but I'm wondering if said ref thinks we are or am I just being paranoid? Is it usual to have such trouble? It's worryimg me that despite my grades and interest from supervisors I'll not get a phd as my applications time out because of no second reference:-(

Any advice very very welcome

You could also see loneliness as a positive. Yes I kno, clutching at straws eh! but since I had my two children I have been very 'alone' as socialising and friends are long distant memories. However, it means I have few distractions from writing and can get huge ammounts done. It doesn't mean I don't have down days, I have some very down days when I think, how did I get to this age and end up friendless and how stupid it would sound if I said to others, oh I have no friends? Uni usually has all sorts of groups and your student union should be able to put you in touch with like minded people and also like volunteers or, like pp said, can you invite people to join you in things like creating your own study group or book club or similar? The dreaded facebook can actually help. I am now in contact with a lot of mummies online and we've created a ' private group' and are now starting to arrange days out and other types of support and buy and sell pages etc etc. It's a bit like this forum only you really get to know the other members and meet up. I've not seen any Phd support facebook pages as yet but I'm sure they must be out there. :-)

When I did my Masters I got funded for a project and used that to pay fees. Look at organisations that offer grants for projects as you don't always have to be post Doc to get one. Mine was from the Learning and Skills Council, Institute for Learning sometimes have them.Charities also have bursaries/grants depending on your circumstances, I think there is a link somewhere on this site about finding post grad funding. On 6th March Time to Change are offering grants for mental wellbeing projects, but of course it depends on your interests. Failing all that, I know you say you don't want more debt but what about a career development loan from the gov? You don't pay it back until after your course has finished. :-)

ha ha, yes, what type of population? It's a bit diffcult for anyone to advise how/where you might access a group if we don't know who you are looking for ;-p