I decided that the only way I was going to get through was not to throw myself even deeper into my research, but to develop a meaningful life outside the PhD: I teach, exercise regularly, volunteer, attend an evening class etc. This doesn't mean I'm not committed to my PhD, but I think it's important that PhD students know that it's ok to cultivate a life outside the PhD: not wanting your research to define you doesn't make you unworthy of your position. Obviously it's difficult if your supervisor is pressuring you to become a research machine, but bear in mind the importance of work-life balance. Could you find the words to explain to him why it's important to you to get more involved in your research community? As for not having any meaningful results at this stage, my experience is that many PhD students spend the first year familiarising themselves with the field and finding their feet. Don't expect too much of yourself too soon.

At exactly this point in my first year I started questioning whether or not I really wanted to continue. The honeymoon wears off after a couple of terms and the end seems a very long way away... The PhD process has many ups and downs, and it sounds like you've hit one of the troughs. I relate strongly to the sense of academic inadequacy and to the isolation problem. It's an unfortunate combination because the former can make you bury yourself in your work even more (as your supervisor is suggesting), which only worsens the sense of loneliness.

I have observed that while many science students aim to finish within 3 years, most arts and humanities students give themselves up to the full 4 years. I know very few arts and humanities phds who have submitted within 3 years. If this is indeed a general trend, is it because an arts phd requires more 'cogitation' time, because arts students are lazier, or because they don't tend to have as much day-to-day structure and guidance as their counterparts in the sciences?

I normally quite enjoy the writing process, but I've been really blocked for several weeks now with the chapter I'm trying to write. I've researched and planned this section as much as I can, and I have plenty of ideas, but I just can't get the argument or words to work. Everything I write sounds trite or laboured. In an attempt to break through the initial period of paralysis I had a go at free-writing, and banned myself from stopping to think about my written style. Although this helped me to get some words on paper, it meant that I didn't incorporate my secondary material methodically, and it has a 'dashed-off undergraduate essay' feel to it. Now I'm working with a weak draft that I don't seem able to turn around, which is possibly worse than not having written anything at all. Has anyone else had this experience? If so, did things improve when you moved onto another piece of writing? If I continue to struggle like this I'll never submit.