Hi,

This post pretty much describes how I feel about my PhD at the moment - I'm 3 months in like you, but in social science, and the only thing I'm required to produce is a 12,000 word literature review at the end of February. That's 5 months literally just reading and writing, and I feel like I'm going insane. I can't make myself work for more than maybe 1-2 hours a day, sometimes even less. I do (in theory) enjoy the topic I'm working on, in fact I used to feel really passionately about it, but since I started the PhD I've just lost it. I can't concentrate on reading, everything I write seems like crap and I can't get a clear head to sort out what exactly I'm trying to do and how to go about writing the lit review. I spend a lot of time mindlessly checking my email, reading the news, etc, etc. Wasting time basically. And waiting until I can reasonably go home. The problem is that any time I do spend not working on my PhD, I still can't relax because I know it's waiting for me and I'm going to have to do it sooner or later. My motivation is at zero - help!