Hi, I am also struggling with whether to stay on my PhD, also entering the later stages!

I was just thinking with yours, if the problem is mostly your supervisor, then you cannot let that stop you - it is your PhD at the end of the day. Do you not have a second supervisor who can maybe even out the dynamics a bit and help with the methodology predicament?

Have you tried to speak to your supervisor about the pressure you're feeling - she may want you to hand in work at such a pace as SHE feels that this will be beneficial for you, and she may not realise the negative impact it is having.

Motivation is definitely linked to feeling happy with what you are doing and also feeling able to do it, it is not too late to be assertive and express your concerns. Again, remember is it your PhD and your future on the line :)

Alternatively, is there anyone who oversees the postgrad activity in your faculty/school that you could talk to about your concerns?

It is an awful feeling, so many of us seem to go through it - hope you feel better :)

One other thing people keep telling me is that it only has to be good enough, just get it done and then you can do the other things you want to do, and do it your own way!

So, like so many I have been experiencing a really difficult time with my PhD for the last few months. I am part-time, and was working in a stressful job that was practically full-time that I left earlier this year. I thought it would be good to get into doing a related job so it seemed perfect to get a small number of hours working as a research assistant, but now I just feel so incompetent at everything and out of my depth, not to mention how lonely I feel.

I fell quite behind on the literature, especially where things have changed in terms of the focus of my project. I spent the last 12 months collecting data for a large number of interviews, transcribing and I am now deep in my analysis. I have collected so many research articles where my topic has been quite exploratory and not specific enough, so I have about 1700 articles in my reference manager - not all of them read!

I am doing a thematic analysis, it is my first qualitative piece of research, and I just feel so overwhelmed by it - I have over 450 pages of text and I feel trying to get these 'neat' themes that fit together into three analysis chapters to answer all of my research questions is just impossible.

I feel I have all the makings of a PhD except the confidence and belief in my abilities to actually do it! I find myself procrastinating so much recently and just overwhelmed every time I try to work, I am not progressing - I am finding it impossible to do simple things.

But when I think about quitting it also really upsets me, mostly that the project won't be finished, as I do think it has a lot of value.

I am really confused, but taking a break is not an option, I either need to carry on and finish or leave. I just wondered what people think I should do?