Hi

Ive always been an anxious person, but now I'm coming to the end of my first year I'm so anxious and depressed about how little data I have and experiments repeatedly going wrong that I don't want to go in and face it anymore and wake up in the night panicked. I'm convinced I'm going to fail and really don't want to let anyone down. Also I have a lot of deadlines this week and I'm completely overwhelmed. My supervisor are lovely but very busy so feel guilty for taking my problems to them as I feel I'm wasting their time and should figure it out myself.

Does anyone know what could help?

I think most of us have times when everything seems to happen all at once and you feel as if there aren't enough hours in the day. Everyone's PhD is different and I didn't have data at the end of my first year and my recruitment was going all wrong. I found that it helped just to look at what I could work on at each stage, e.g. if data collection was stuck then maybe I could do some reading and writing for a bit. Remember it's a long journey and you may get a breakthrough when you don't expect it. It might help to look at some stress management, if you can find something that works for you - meditation or exercise or setting aside some time to do something enjoyable.

I didn't have any data at the end of my first year. In fact I don't think I had usable data until my third year! Things going wrong are a normal part of the learning process, don't blame yourself. And your supervisors' job is to answer your questions so I wouldn't feel guilty about that! They might have a simple solution to something that you would otherwise spend weeks worrying about. Do you have anyone you can talk to about your anxiety? A counsellor or a friend? A PhD is a long-hard slog and you will need all the help you can get, I started admitting when I was having a hard time to my work colleagues (I used to pretend everything was ok when it wasn't) and I feel it really helps get things into perspective again.

I suppose my main supervisor is very respected in his field, and has very high expectations - which in a way is what I want as at the end of the day it'll hopefully mean I get a really good PhD. But when I spend a lot (and I mean A LOT) of time in the lab and feel like I take 2 steps forward, 3 steps back with everything, it's hard to not beat myself up when I don't have data to show for my efforts and let my supervisors know I am progressing and I'm not wasting everyone's time. And it doesn't help that it means I feel like I have no time for anything else so I find it very hard to relax

Firstly does your university have a counselling service for students? If so make time to use it! It should help you to talk your problems through with a trained professional.

More seriously, you say you've always had problems with anxiety. Which makes me wonder if it's a long-term issue that maybe needs medical treatment/support. Have you spoken to your family doctor about this? Have you ever sought treatment/help for it? I say this as someone who was diagnosed a few years ago with generalised anxiety disorder. In my case anti depressant SSRI drugs sorted me out - 1 pill a day of that, and I'm a happy bunny :) But cognitive behavioural therapy is another option available.

Please seek help. And make time to get help. Because as you continue through your PhD, especially into the second year and then the final stage before submission, your anxiety levels will only increase.

I can't give much advice about your PhD and data etc as I'm just about to start mine in September. I can, however, say I know how you feel with the anxiety! I suffer with anxiety which brings on depression too and have a lot going on (work full time, have my own business and heavily involved in other interests of mine).

I got help last year from my GP and local services. I was prescribed some medication to help but for me it was the cognitive behavioural therapy that really sorted me out. It changed my perspective on how I think about things and helps me to manage my stress and anxiety. I identified things that I need to do to stay healthy (mentally) like yoga, exercise and hobbies such as graphic design, chocolate making etc.

This might sound like a rambled message but if the anxiety is something that is constant and has always been around, maybe speaking to someone about it could really help and you could identify things that would help you to manage your stress because it's different for everyone. It's not always a quick fix...I still battle with anxiety but I now feel more in control and able to overcome it. I suppose, I just wanted to say you don't have to always feel anxious and if there's nothing that can be done about it :)

Hi everyone! I just wanted to ask if any of you have tried marijuana for medication purposes? I've been suffering major depression for almost a year now and planning to use medical marijuana products for my condition.I've been reading some articles about cannabis and its medical properties here in https://blog.bonzaseeds.com/warlock/ and im very fascinated about it. I really wanted to hear your thoughts about this and if you can give my any advice or tips feel free to tell me. Thanks!