Invited talk to the Groningen Students in Medical Science PhD Council, May 2014. Presents practical strategies for PhD students to combat the blues while writing their theses.

1. Beating the Dissertation
Blues
©James C. Coyne, Ph.D.
Department of Health Psychology
University Medical Center, Groningen
jcoynester@gmail.com

2. Preventing and
combatting the blues

3. Productive and
Unproductive Blues
Can the blues be your friend?
When you should not beat the
blues, but embrace them…

4. Constructive Disengagement
The benefits of stepping back
and taking a break.
Confidence in your own
patterns and cycles.

5. Taking a Break is Working.

6. Working on Thesis in B,B,B
Bed
Bathroom
Bars

7. Question is whether the
blues are persistent and
impairing, or only
transient.

8. Life is one damn thing after another,
but depression is the same damn thing
over and over.
---John Weakland

9. Radical Behavioral
Theory

12. A PhD thesis involves a long
and persistent behavioral output
in the absence of immediate
reinforcement.

13. Context of writing a
dissertation can become
aversive and induce
avoidant behavior.

14.  Preserve a reward structure
that does not depend on
progress.
 Control yourself by controlling
your environment.

15. Overcome Avoidant Behavior

16. Structured Procrastination

17. Butt in Chair Technique

18. “Start writing, no matter what. The
water does not flow until the faucet is
turned on.”
-Louis L'Amour (1908 -1988)

19. Behavioral Activation
Rely on Overlearned Routines

20. Writing daily is hard, but viewing it as a
process that will ultimately become habit--
a really rewarding one--is important. The
incentives of writing daily mirror those of
exercising daily, and even if analogies
between "muscles" don't really work,
writing daily and write often as possible
are important goals.—Joe Betz

21. Commit Yourself to Write
200 Words a Day

22.  Can be anything as long as it contributes to the
complete draft
 One big idea
 Single block quote
 Explication of the previous day's block quote
 Working out an idea that you know you want to
include but you are not sure where it will fit
The rule of 200The rule of 200

23. Zero Draft
Shitty First Draft

24. Zero draft (Based on JR Trimble,Zero draft (Based on JR Trimble,
Writing With StyleWriting With Style))
The key thing is to keep everything moving.
After a bit of babble you will find yourself
starting to make sense.
Even then, of course you can count on running
into new mental logjams, but don't panic.
Simply force your typing fingers to nakedly
record all the confusion and inarticulateness
you’re feeling.

25. Cognitive Behavioral
Theory

26. A PhD thesis can introduce
irrational thinking in people
otherwise not predisposed to it.

27. Catastrophism and Perfectionism

28. Catastrophizing
Nobody will like me,
everybody will hate
me, I should eat some
worms.

29. Perfect is the enemy of done.
Everyone wants to write the
perfect thesis article but no one
ever does.

30. Realistic Thinking and Goal
Setting

31. Set parameters for marking
series of small successes.

32. Interpersonal Theory

33. Regardless of how depression
comes about, understanding
and resolving it involves
interpersonal relationships.

34. Dutch PhD students have the
burden of increasing the
impact factor of their advisors
and department.

35. May need to get explicit
expectations from advisor and
renegotiate if unrealistic.

36. Relationships and Social Support

37. Most Dissertation Students Could
Probably Benefit From a Wife.

38. Recognize That Dissertations Can be
Difficult for Relationships and Partners.

39. If your partner has never worked on a
dissertation, process may be difficult to
understand.

40. Working hard on the thesis
"It takes a lot of
time to be a genius,
you have to sit
around so much
doing nothing,
really doing
nothing." --Gertrude
Stein

42. Don’t let set unrealistic
deadlines just to placate your
partner.

43. “In the event of a
decompression,
please adjust your
own oxygen mask
before trying to come
to the assistance of
others.”

44. 
Often better to
talk to your dog
about the
specifics of
your thesis than
to your partner.

45. “I am doing the best I can at the
moment. However, this is not my best
moment.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
Ask for slack nicely

47. Use Peer Support, Buddy Up,
Use Social Media

48. There is no need to fear the [thesis] will
go on forever. One of three things will
stop the process: deadline, exhaustion, or
satisfaction. With experience and luck,
authors will reach satisfaction just before
the other to catch up with them. – Peter
Morgan, Editor, Canadian medical
Association Journal (CMAJ). 1986.

50. Thank you for your attention.Thank you for your attention.
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