You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your mental health to complete a research project. In this section, we want to help you prepare for the best and feel in control of the journey that is completing a dissertation or thesis, by deconstructing common myths about research that may be negatively impacting your well-being.

“By now, I should have results!”

Due to multiple factors, including the system itself (lab policies and pressure to produce results for publication, other students, academics, …), it’s easy to fall into the trap that you should be further along or have better results. However, your project is unique and has been designed to make an original contribution to knowledge, so it’s not possible to compare its progress. The truth of research is that some projects quickly produce results and others only do so towards the end – this doesn’t mean that one project is better than another, just that they are different. It’s important, therefore, to bear in mind that comparison with other research can undermine your confidence and that negative results, for example, aren’t a sign of failure – they’re evidence. If something doesn’t work, that’s learning!

Focus on what you’ve learned, the design of your project (objectives and methodology), why you chose that area of study and talk to your supervisor regularly. Remember that no matter what results you produce, anxiety will always try to tell you that they are not good enough – let go of the voice of anxiety and trust that with your work, the research will produce the results you need on time.

“I must publish!”

Publishing a paper is important and can help reassure you that you’re on the right track, but, as we’ve seen, research doesn’t happen in a linear fashion and the aim isn’t to produce lots of papers, but rather to ask questions, to question yourself, so that you can contribute to knowledge at the end of your project – remember that comparing yourself with peers is a biased way of measuring your success!

“I must be working all the time!”

It seems obvious that the more time you spend on something, the more work you’ll get done, but the truth is that as you get tired, you’re more likely to make mistakes or miss important issues and problem-solving can take longer. What’s more, exceeding a working week of around 35 hours can have a negative impact on your wellbeing and, if you notice, there are always times when you’re not actually working, but involved in some kind of distraction. Maintaining productivity throughout research requires you to ensure a good level of energy and, for that, you need to rest and take breaks! Of course, this doesn’t mean that you don’t need to work hard, but productivity generally increases when you work in a structured and disciplined way, keeping a regular schedule, resting afterwards and sleeping well. A good practice might be, for example, to adopt an office timetable.

“I’m in debt to my supervisor”

It’s also common to hear that dissertation or thesis students are in debt to their supervisors or lab coordinators and must devote a lot of time to their projects, at the cost of their own research and well-being. Of course, you can feel grateful to your supervisor for agreeing to mentor you or for their support, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice your well-being. You are not obliged to work on other projects, although of course you can benefit from doing so, as long as it doesn’t negatively impact your own research. If you feel that the extra work is having such a negative impact, you should feel free to raise the matter with your supervisor, clarifying that it’s something you can’t do at the moment. If you need to, you can also talk to the student’s association, or the college itself, without fear of it damaging your career in academia, if that’s the case. Your health and well-being is important and the university is expected to help you maintain it, as well as progress in research.

“I’m invisible in the academic/scientific community”

The idea that dissertation or thesis students are invisible may be related either to the fact that there are far fewer of them, or because the more autonomous way in which they study may lead them to attend university less often. But the truth is that your research also helps the university define itself as such – you’re contributing to the university’s financial sustainability and helping it meet its research goals!

To reduce feelings of invisibility, connect with other thesis students, share experiences and create formal channels of communication with the university – you can always create informal roots too, such as talking to your supervisor.

“Burnout is inevitable!”

There is an idea that being a dissertation or thesis student means having to accept that you are going to be mentally ill, which brings with it another belief, even more damaging, which is that if you don’t get stressed or ill, you’re not trying hard enough or taking your work seriously. But it shouldn’t be accepted that getting sick is a price to pay – it is possible to do a thesis without getting sick! In fact, as we’ve seen, good levels of well-being increase productivity, creativity and the quality of work. The thing is, if you believe that research makes you sick, you’ll pay more attention to the negative aspects and adopt behaviors that increase the likelihood of you actually getting sick. This doesn’t mean that you can avoid all stress through the power of positive thinking – of course there will be moments of doubt and frustration. However, what you think about yourself and your research will have a real influence on how you feel and how you perform. Give yourself permission to enjoy your research, maintain your well-being and take care of yourself – embrace the idea of being a productive and creative researcher, which will help you make more informed decisions about what you need to do to keep your research going!

Try this:

Every night, write down three good things that happened that day.

This helps you to reflect on the positive things that happened during the day.

Try to complete this exercise for a week.