Dissertation angst

Strive to talk to yourself as you would to a struggling friend, i.e., with gentleness and kindness. You may wish to try this simple, proven strategy: (1) Write down the negative thoughts (e.g., "I hate this," "This is exhausting," "I'm not cut out for this") that break your work flow.

You'll fall asleep thinking about it, dream about it and wake up thinking about. You'll feel guilty when you're not working on it, and mired in self-doubt when you are. 10) Finishing it will be one of the best things you've ever done.

If so, you've suffered from dissertation anxiety. In dissertators, as in others, anxiety symptoms get triggered by various things—fear of failure, fear of success, perfectionism, unrealistic standards, and so on. The bad news is that some individuals are especially prone to anxiety—and thus to procrastination.

You will usually be asked to generate a topic for yourself; to plan and execute a project investigating that topic; and to write-up what you did and what your findings were. Important stages in the dissertation process include: reporting the research.