I submitted my thesis on September 13, which also happened to be my 26th birthday, so double celebration, but now I am feeling the post-thesis submission blues. I try hard to snap out of it, but I can't.

I had a great PhD overall. My supervisors and the research group are great people, and I have really enjoyed and been passionate about the research I have been doing. 90% of the time, I felt happy at work and had plenty of passion for it. I guess I wasn't prepared for the feelings I would get after the thesis submission. It was a great feeling submitting but then, about 2 days later, I realised I didn't have a job lined up and would have to live off my savings. My supervisor says I have done a great job with my PhD, so I will likely get through with minor corrections. Still, I'm starting to get negative thoughts about what the future holds and if all will work out well. It is affecting me to the point that I feel depressed and don't have the energy or motivation to do much, which has been building up for the last two weeks. I have booked in to speak to a counsellor, and they will probably contact me today or tomorrow.

I think I do have plenty I can feel proud of. I've had three publications so far out of my thesis, submitted a paper to a journal yesterday, and am also attending a conference next month where I will be presenting along with 5 others in the new investigator session, which is a significant achievement in itself. I will soon be a doctor and have had many other achievements throughout my candidature. Still, I can't stop feeling crap, knowing my future is uncertain. I am applying for jobs hoping something will come up, but it has only been a few weeks, so I probably need to be realistic and give it some time.

I guess because I am on the autism spectrum, that plays a part in why I often feel the way I do. I have an illusion that everyone is constantly watching me or thinking bad things about me and get paranoid about that, and I also find it very hard to stop comparing myself to others. When someone has an achievement of some sort, I feel jealous and like I am inferior compared to them, when in fact, I most likely am not, and I should be feeling happy for them.

Indeed, I can't predict what the future holds for me, and I know deep down I can handle anything as I have always been triumphant through difficult times in the past and have much resilience. I guess I am looking for advice from people on some strategies I can put in place to change my mindset and get rid of all the negative thoughts so I can be my usual happy self again and feel like I did while I was working on my thesis. After submitting my thesis, I am going through a major life change. Before submitting it, I had a goal, a routine, and a set social interaction with peers who respected and admired me. There was predictability and comfort in my life.

Does anyone have advice for me to change my way of thinking, so I don't feel depressed about things? Thanks.

Trust your judgement. If you strongly believe it's all good then I'd submit. Someone I know had their supervisor tell them their thesis would fail if they submitted it. They ignored that advice and submitted it and it got passed without correction and the examiners said it was the best thesis they'd ever examined. The supervisor then said "I can't believe I got it so wrong". Maybe your supervisors have done just that.

Hi all,

Thank you all for your advice. I feel a bit better about things today. This is going to sound a bit weird, but the reason I feel a bit concerned is because I don't really have much to get on with at the moment. I mean, for the first two studies of my PhD I am working on analysing an existing large dataset and for the third project I will be collecting data, but that won't be happening until the start of next year. I have my first study completed now and the papers written for it, but I haven't had them reviewed by my supervisors yet and I am eager to finalise and submit to journals. I get these weird thoughts in my head wondering if I'm doing well enough, etc. Even though my co-supervisor took ages to get me his feedback, he had no comments at all and I literally had to change only 1-2 sentences and 2-3 typos in my whole lit review. So come to think of it, maybe he just isn't getting back to me quickly because he thinks I don't need the help at the moment. I have a serious case of imposter syndrome and I constantly wonder if I'm doing well enough and worry that I don't hear back quickly on my work, which I realise is silly really, considering I've been receiving nothing but good feedback so far. I can't start on study 2 because the data isn't ready for me to analyse yet until next month. I have also put some of my thesis together. But then I feel guilty because I don't have much work to do at the moment. I guess that's why I want feedback quickly.

I think I just need to relax a bit more, and I can even have a few days off. My mind seems to play tricks on me. I really appreciate the advice from everyone, thank you!

Hi all,

I am in the first few weeks of the second year of my PhD and I am happy with my progress and the way things are going as I have completed my literature review chapter and have completed drafts for a couple of papers. I also get on well with the research group. However, one thing that is really bugging me is that I feel neglected by my co-supervisor. My primary supervisor has told me that I can always reach out to him and my co-supervisor if I need anything. They are both nice and we get on well, but whenever I contact my co-supervisor about something or send him something to review, he often doesn't get back to me, or if he does, it takes him ages and I need to send at least 2 follow-up emails for him to take notice. Even if it's an important matter, he takes a long time to get back to me. It took him several months to read my literature review, and I had to get a month's extension on the submission of that, even though I finished it well ahead of the due date. I reminded him a few times about it, but he still didn't get around to it until several months later. He is a very nice and knowledgeable professor, but it's just starting to bug me quite a bit that I feel I can't rely on him if I need him for something. I'm hoping he is a bit more reliable when it comes time for him to review my thesis as a whole or that could definitely be a problem.

Is perhaps now the time to be up front and let him know that I don't appreciate being ignored and that is important he keeps me updated with things?

Hi all, I am new to this forum and would like some advice on how to overcome my imposter syndrome. In Honours, I had to change projects a third of the way through the year because I had a lot of trouble with the first one. The second project was challenging as well, and there were days when I just wanted to quit because I found it hard. But I kept at it and through lots of resilience and trying different things, I was able to finish the project and write up and got a H1. I was told I was lucky that an alternative project was available or I would have had to drop out of the Honours year.

Fast forward to now, and I am 6 months into my PhD with great supervisors and a friendly research group, as well as a project I am enjoying. But at the back of my mind, all of a sudden, a negative voice keeps telling me that I do not belong where I am as I feel like I bluffed my way in. I probably feel this way because I am working with a research group that has high standards. I don't know why I have just started to get these thoughts because things have been well in my PhD and my supervisors tell me I am doing well also.

Has anybody gone through similar thoughts and have ideas on how I can stop thinking like this? Thanks for your input