I am currently doing a PhD in science and it's my 3rd year. I got really sick last year and lost about 8 months of working on it. I'm now beginning to catch up but it is soooo difficult. I feel so demotivated and am struggling to get back into the swing of things. Any advice?

It's tough, but the way I looked at it was I knew the work would have to be done at some point and once I got my head round this and started it did become easier, especially when I saw myself achieving things. There's a one goal thread on here which is helpful for many, why not have a look at it and maybe contribute to it and give and get support from others feeling the same?

Thanks for the advice, will do :-)

Another good one featured on here is www.mytomatoes.com

It's a website that is basically just a timer that goes for 25 minutes then gives you a 5 minute break. Rinse and repeat. It really helps me when I feel demotivated as it forces me to work. Once you start working the motivation actually comes back.

I agree with both of those suggestions. I use the one goal thread to commit myself psychologically to what I'm going to achieve that day, and then to be accountable for it, and I find that really works. But it's important to be realistic about the goals - it's really demotivating to keep failing to reach the day's target - and also to try to break down the work into small steps, they're much more manageable. And the mytomatoes method keeps me at my desk when I have a particular deadline to meet - I can't use that method every day but it is good for forcing me back into a working routine if I've been struggling to stick to it, or if I have to have my head down more than usual.

It sounds like you've been working hard for a long time, though. Do you perhaps need a short break to recharge your batteries? It's a hard thing to judge when feeling demotivated (it's so easy to persuade yourself to take the time off because you feel demotivated, and then feel guilty about not working) but sometimes I find it's hard to work precisely because I've been doing too much. A day or two of doing something completely different (something physical, like hill-walking, or anything really) can jolt me back into wanting to work again, and is sometimes more beneficial than just sitting at my desk avoiding getting on with it. But that's a hard call to make sometimes!

I can't think of any other suggestions at the moment but just wanted to say that it'd probably be expected for you to have some sort of difficulty going back to it following a period of absence. It's completely normal as you haven't done it for a while and it'll take time to adjust. As Delta and Batfink mentioned, take it slowly and as you see things progressing, it'll be become easier. In the meantime, be kind to yourself. You've worked really hard so far so you know that you can do it.

Awesome screamingaddabs! I love it. Going to try it all tomorrow. PhD here I come!

Also, K22, doing a whole PhD at once is impossible. Doing a paragraph, of a section, of a chapter, of a PhD is doable!