Leaving MSc before completing thesis

[wonderstuff]

Got a call booked with student services on Friday, wondering if anyone has opinions on options for me?
Im doing an MSc Psychology conversion, distance learning, completed taught modules and about half way through thesis module. I’ve totally run out of steam. I always knew this would be the most difficult bit. I have adhd and struggle with long projects. My supervisor is lovely but I’m just not getting work done, I can’t seem to motivate myself or organise myself. It’s massively stressing me out, to the point that it’s affecting my sleep. I think my best option is to withdraw.

I had hoped to apply for the DEdPsy after this, but if I can’t get the thesis done then I can’t imagine I’ll be able to compete a doctorate, so killing myself over the thesis seems pointless.

Im 43 and I’m wondering if I’m just too old. If I withdraw and then decide my mental health is good enough to do the thesis, maybe in a year, would that be possible?

im a teacher part of my motivation was fear of having to teach until I’m 68, now I need to reassess. I’ve told everyone my plans, going to feel such a failure

Is there any way you could do it over a longer period? I completed a MSc when I was the same age as you, had a small child and a full time job. Having never been to uni it was a real shock and whilst I managed all the assignments I struggled with the dissertation.
I eventually took an additional 3 months with agreement from my head of studies and worked to come up with a realistic plan if how much research by when, how many words by when, regular reviews and it went better. I completed it and at the end I realised I was just overwhelmed and needed to have a bit of space to plan and see small and steady progress.
obviously only you know how you feel but seems like it would be a shame to not complete it.

you might be able to suspend your studies. that means you essentially press 'pause' on the whole course and then you can come back to it when your mental health is better, e.g. in 1 year time. that is often a better option than withdrawing.

how close are you to getting finished? If you are like my MSc psychology students, you should have your data in and just need to write up over the next 3 weeks or so. If that is the case, is this something where you can meet with your supervisor and get a detailed plan for the last steps? If you can get this last bit done you will have the full achievement under your belt.

Oh I’m so sorry to hear you are struggling when you are soooo close to the end! I always start research papers with the method - it’s the easiest bit, and once that’s written the rest seems to flow a lot more easily. I think if you can get that chunk done it might lift your spirits up a bit 🤞

If I could that would be doable. I will ask them. I just don’t feel I’ve got headspace at the moment. I work 3 days and have 2 secondary school aged kids, I should have time, but adhd is strong at the moment. I think I may be peri menopause. Idk

I haven’t got my ethics proposal in, plan was to do an experiment with kids at my school in September. I’m massively behind.

Is there anything that might help you feel better with coping with the adhd?

Module due to finish mid December.

Not found anything yet! My mental health seems to be great for a while then crash and I become massively unproductive.

I reached exactly this stage of exhaustion and despair during my MA. (I was considerably older than you.) Went to my HoD and almost cried. They were kind but brutal - it would take more effort and stress to apply for an extension (which was unlikely to be granted) than it would to simply lower my own expectations of what a dissertation required and just get on with it. And that a whole heap of people would be disappointed if I did not complete the course. So I do empathise with you.

However - you’ve said nothing that suggests you’re not capable of completing the work. Only that your brain has decided to focus on reasons why you shouldn’t. Why is that?

So I spoke to the student success team this morning, I can take up to 4 years to complete the degree (I started July 2020), so I’ve decided to step off the course for now. I am going to speak to disability services and see if I could get an extension based on my adhd, although my DSIL, a senior academic, reasonably points out that my not be helpful given my need for pressure to get stuff done!

So I am currently in week 14 of 30 week dissertation/thesis and can return to that point when I want within the next 2 years. Going to take a few months off and hopefully return with more enthusiasm.

@Edmontine i am completely able to do the final part of my course, but currently unable to find time to get it done due to struggling with basic day to day essential stuff. Struggling to eat at a sensible time, get out of bed before 10, get laundry done etc.

Have you tried medication?

Are you getting DSA? Among other things they can fund a study skills support mentor which sounds like it could be really useful for you.

I'm also adding a meme which demonstrates how many of us, including me, work. It is absolutely ok and not unusual to feel utterly overwhelmed at this stage. But that doesn't mean you can't do this if you want to push through.

Yes, but not been able to order it before I ran out and pick up from local pharmacy at more than 5 days after ordering but less than 28 days, at specific pharmacy with ID. It’s just too much admin. Meds did help a bit, but I just can’t do the admin to maintain them.

Peri-menopause can make adhd worse. Get some hrt or at least ask the GP...

You need deadlines, novelty, or something else to spark the interest again.

Meds for a while?

Do one thing on it every day, even if it is the smallest thing...

Get a double to sit with you or a work buddy.

Pomodoro technique?

Talk to your adhd, say you acknowledge you don't want to do the work, start working anyway. Sounds mad but...

Lots of good food, exercise, all that self-care stuff that's hard to do with adhd.

Talk to the Uni. See if student services can help.

(failed Masters, adhd person here)

Good luck.

That graphic is so spot on! 😂

My nt DH bought 35 pairs of pants so he did not have to do laundry & ate the same meals every day when writing his MSc.

Thanks, I do think peri menopause is an issue, I will look into HRT, I’m torn because I’ve had an awful time on hormonal contraceptives and sworn never to do hormones again, but maybe HRT would be different? The pill left me suicidal, but currently skin is itchy, brain foggy…

Seems reasonable

IKR!

I've learned that I always go through this process but that fighting it is pointless because actually I do get my stuff done, so more recently I decided to roll with it, and bizarrely just easing back on myself does help.

Some of the PhD/thesis advisor blogs are really good for this stuff, eg The Thesis Whisperer and Pat Thomson. Someone above mentioned the Pomodoro technique and this worked well for me for a particularly tricky and intense piece of writing but I find that I need to mix up my study/writing/motivation strategies as they only work for a little while.

Will look at those. DSIL came to visit today, she’s a very successful academic and we talked about getting ground work done before restarting, word count is actually low, it is achievable, just not now. My actual ambition was to definitely do DPsyEd, which seems madness now, but maybe I’ll get my mojo back.

I don’t know how to word this properly without being annoying …

How can you ensure that the circumstances will be different, or improved, at the time you decide to restart? Bearing in mind that you’ll be out of the rhythm of study. Writing a dissertation is vile - I can’t imagine finding the motivation to take one up again halfway through if I’d managed to escape.

Honestly I don’t know, but I have managed all the taught modules and I am feeling awful currently. I think possibly peri menopause plus timing has put data collection in middle of summer holidays which us rubbish. Almost think mid term while I’m working will be better because at least there’s some routine then. Also my mum has just been dx with cancer, which apparently isn’t life threatening but obviously a massive distraction. I’m hopeful that in a few months I’ll feel better, I wonder if closer to the actual deadline for getting the whole thing done will be sufficient incentive?

OP I am a few years older than you and have just finished my MA- currently waiting for dissertation results. I suspect I may have ADHD and the last couple of months of trying to write my dissertation whilst juggling a placement, family life, plus a part-time job was horrendous! I hit a brick wall at a similar stage to you and sobbed my way through it. My advice would be do little chunks of your thesis, which will eventually add up. I used study music designed for ADHD (think it was Greenred productions or something similar) on YouTube. It made a huge difference in my ability to concentrate. Don't give up- you have come so far! Hang on in there- you will get there.

Never heard of study music for adhd, will look for that. Plan is to write as much as I can before restarting, get in touch with disability services and hopefully get back to it and complete at some point.

I have adhd and found a mentor very helpful in terms of accountability.
Try and see it as a series of hurdles rather than just one. Chunk it out. Getting ethics through is one hurdle. Doesn't need to be your best standard of writing. Just needs to make sense.

Lit review can be chucked out as smaller sections.
Once you've done that and you have data, writing can be easier as it's about a tangible thing you did.

Also with hrt, I was v affected by the pill but hrt is a lower dose and doesn't bother me.
The patches are easier to remember than pills. Again, more tangible!