I’m finding I’ve procrastinated in all my classes and now can’t get myself to finish my thesis. I lost my job recently and found that the lack of structure led to what I can only call a quarter-life crisis where I had deep depression, anxiety about finishing my research project, which I’d procrastinated about and was evasive with my advisor when asked. Now thinking about quitting. My main issues right now are procrastination, self-discipline, and not being able to work on my research project - every time I sit down I feel dread doing it. Graduate school I’ve read breeds depression - if I’m only starting serious work now and already have depression, is it worth it to continue?
@Ada111 - Only you can determine if it is worth it to continue. How long have you been in graduate school? Is it for a Masters or Ph.D.? Was your job outside graduate school? These issues are things you need to talk through with a counselor, not necessarily with strangers on this forum. The best we can do is to encourage you to work this out on your own by talking to someone who will listen and not necessarily tell you what to do but help you figure it out for yourself. Hopefully your university has a counseling service. I advise you to make an appointment immediately.
Uhh, I’m not sure I agree with that article. “Deep procrastination,” the way that student describes it, sounds like depression. It warrants getting some outside help. It’s not normal to suddenly lose all interest in everything that you were previously interested in and only want to hide in your room and freak out in solitude. That’s pretty much the definition of depression.
That said, you may be dealing with depression, or you may be dealing with a perfectly normal lack of interest in your work, or it could be both. Sometimes you want to do the things you have to do and you can’t because your mental health needs attention. But sometimes in graduate school, you lose interest in your topic area, or you realize that you are still interested in the area but not in the way academics approach that area. I’ll always be passionate about public health, but I was not cut out to be an academic researcher.
The problem is, it’s not always easy to tell the difference. A qualified mental health counselor can help, though. Most graduate schools include some mental health care in your student health insurance - I urge you to use it. I struggled with depression in the middle of my PhD program, and speaking with a therapist really helped me.