This is my first time posting, but at the moment I am so worried I need to ask for some help. Over the past 3 years I have been working on a project that initially appeared very promising, but has given nothing but negative results. I have also become increasingly demotivated and depressed, to the point where I haven't been working as efficiently as I should. Now I will be submitting in September and, although my supervisor has indicated that perseverance and thorough investigation are valid arguments for why I have pursued this project, my co-assessor has commented that "there are a lot of negative results here" and asked "where are the publications". I will hopefully have a publication from an unrelated side project which will slot into my appendix, but it is only second author and I doubt it will be enough. I am basically terrified that I will be exposed at my viva for poor experiment design, bad overall choices, not enough material, and lack of subject knowledge (since I have been depressed I haven't been reading and am now too busy). Please let me know if you have any advice that could help.

I guess most of us go through that stage of being terrified of failing at the viva as overall its the examiners who decide and have the authority to pass or fail us. I am not sure if its mandatory to have some publication? does having publication counts at the viva? if ayone has any idea pls do share some thoughts.
I am from social science/ humanities background

I am also supposed to finish in September... Especially over the last 2 months I feel increasingly anxious to the point that I am not productive. I am also tired after these last 2 and a half years of working non-stop.

"Where are the publications?" is a question that torments me too, as I need to publish but I am miles behind.

Sometimes I am worried that I will pass as I am so successful at failing....

A good supervisor would not let you submit your thesis if it was not 'viva worthy'. This time last year I was panicking about the same thing- mainly that my work would be ripped apart by the viva examiners because I saw so many weaknesses in my work.

I basically emailed my second supervisor and asked him if I had anything to worry about. He replied that if my primary supervisor said all was good, (which he had), I should not fret. He also wrote that it was the the responsibility of my primary supervisor, not mine, to make sure that my thesis was good enough to pass a viva. I passed the viva and got my phd in the end.

So I think the best thing to do is always just to ask your supervisors. I read that vivas (in most cases) are only failed by students if they had submitted their thesis against the advice of their supervisor(s). So if your supervisors are saying everything is fine, then trust their judgement.

And emmanuel, I have not published a thing, and it did not bother my viva examiners- although they did make suggestions if I wished to publish the thesis. My subject area is history.

Thanks, angie81, that helps a lot. My supervisor seems fine with what I've got, so hopefully it will all be OK. I'm going into teaching afterwards anyway, so it's not vital that I pass but I would be gutted to fail after all this effort.