Studying with depression

I wanted to make a general thread for tips for getting through studies (uni or other), if anyone has any.

I'm personally finishing up university and I'm supposed to turn in my final dissertation in the beginning of July and there's still tens of pages missing. I try my very hardest, but I'm not getting much work done.

I was diagnosed with depression a couple of months ago, and was on sick leave for a while. I used to be an excellent student who worked really hard, but now I feel like I don't really care anymore. I feel like I screwed things up already with the sick leave and the delay it caused, why bother trying. I feel like it's the end of my achievements. That was it, from now on, I'll just stay in bed, who cares.

My doctor tells me that I should just try to be "more disciplined", make myself a daily schedule, go out for a walk/exercise, do a few hours of work for the dissertation... because that is the only way I'll get better, the medication is there only to support that. It makes me feel like I'm just lazy, that I'm causing all this myself, because I can't bring myself to follow the said schedule more often than maybe once in a week or two.

Does anyone have any tips/thoughts on how to manage things better? What has helped you with your studies? Like I said, I'm a university student myself, but all experiences related to studying are welcome of course. Feel free to share your situation & how you are doing. It would be nice to have some peer support.

Hi there

I always found with studying, that starting a session was the hardest part. Too often the brain was just trying to find excuses to get out of it. One way around procrastinating, which worked for me anyway, was to just dive straight in. Sooner or later momentum kicks in and focusing on moment, in this case what work needs to be done, can act as a pretty effective distraction to take the mind away (even temporarily) from current turmoils.
Creating some kind of routine with set times for breaks before resuming as well as planning a time when to stop for the day can help. In some cases, this can lead to a sense of achievement at having got work done which has the potential to lift the mood. This used to work for me when I was writing out my dissertation as well as preparing for exams when I was in uni, many years ago.

Of course what may work for one may not necessarily work for another. However, I do hope that you will be able to find a technique that will work for you.

Hey, thanks a lot, many useful tips here! It's true that I always feel like I need to prepare myself mentally and physically and be in the right mood to be productive, but it's probably the brain just dragging it out and not wanting to do anything, like you said. I'll give diving right in a try

I find breaking down what I need to study in smaller bits to be helpful.

I can relate and remember all too well working on my master's thesis and like you struggled to get motivation. One thing I found helpful was to break it down into doable "steps" and then set myself hard date goals to have accomplished it. I stopped worrying about it being perfect...just getting it down as best I could. Then could go back and revise. I even in my head convinced myself it was due in its entirety a month early so then could still have time to do that last finicky tweaking. Sending you positive thoughts and remember we are often are worst critics and research is never really done as there is always that one more source etc etc. but that will always be true...so be gentle on yourself. Sending you hugs.

Thank you so much everyone. Your advice and encouragement made me feel better, and it manifested in actually getting stuff done today. I feel like there is hope after so many weeks of desperation

That's great news pal, happy to hear that.

So good to hear !!!