Hi all, firstly, apologies for this negative post. I am a fourth year science PhD student (finishing 3 years and 6 months now by the end of March) and have started writing in the end of 2011. I haven't completed all my data collection yet, still working on the data collection of my last chapter which includes simulations - they have been failing all the way along. I have eight chapters in total out of which four chapters are of my own work and four other descriptive chapters about the algorithms, models I used for my study + introduction and conclusions. I have completed the first draft of two of these chapters and currently working on the third one and I am finding it really hard to write. To be honest, I don't really know what to write :-( I feel like I don't really have anything to say about my results but my supervisors think that I have done comprehensive work which has never been done before. But I am lacking confidence in writing (English is not my native language) and I don't really know if I am going to ever make it. My funding has run out but I have saved up some money which will last for the next 6 months.

I still have some of the results of one of the main chapters to sort out as one of the values I have used for my calculation may not be right and another experimental work doesn't match which my supervisors think can be written as such mentioning the possible reasons why it didn't work.

I don't have any idea how to get on with the rest of my simulations as they have been failing all the way through. I don't really have any one who can help me in fixing this :-( I haven't taken a break since Jan 2011 and I feel totally burnt out. Also, I am getting engaged in a couple of months for which I will have to fly to my home country for 2 weeks and will be getting married some time in November. I haven't told my supervisors yet about the engagement but I kind of told them that I want to take 2 weeks off for which I didn't get a positive response. They want me to submit before taking a break. I am freaking out at the moment and I am really depressed :-( It has been a arduous journey until now and I have really really worked hard all the way through and I definitely want to complete my PhD except that I don't know what or how to do it :-(

Hi Cindrella,

Gosh sounds like you've been through the mill a bit, I can understand how you feel burnt out and stressed about it all. I suppose the only thing I can say to you is you need to tell someone you are struggling. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking a break from your work - if you just work, work work all the time you will start to feel burnt out!

My suggestion would be, arrange a supervisory meeting and tell them you're having a bit of a crisis. Take to this meeting a timetable of the next couple of months with some deliverables on it (e.g. 1 chapter per month). Also, it will really help if you search for some completed theses in your area to help you pin down exactly what your thesis should look like and the layout, structure etc that is expected in your field. You can download theses from the British Library Ethos service which you should be able to find on Google. As for the failed experiments, I can't really help you there as I'm a QUAL researcher but is there not a maths/science department or postgraduate support service at your university whom you can contact for help? Even just talking about it with someone else sometimes helps.

But most importantly - DON'T PANIC! One goal at a time. Set yourself little goals every day, then when you've achieved them do something nice, go for a walk, make something nice to eat, watch your favourite TV programme, come on here and talk to us! You will get there (up)

It's incredibly easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you can't do it, but remember, you're not the only person who feels like this and it will get better.

Hi Cindrella,

I agree with Lindalou83's suggestions of taking a short break and talking to supervisor. It is very natural for us to feel burnt out. I can understand your feeling at this stage. Hope, all goes well and your problems will be solved soon. swetch