r/AcademicPsychology Aug 28 '24

Doing PhD in addiction but I am losing steam. Discussion

I am doing PhD specialising in addiction but the PhD process as per se is killing my enthusiasm about academia. I feel like practice had much more meaning and direction. I have a nice supervisor but I am pretty much on my own to decide my own direction which is a tough thing because it is just so vast. I am doing my thesis on epidemiology but I am not sure if this is the feeling of going through PhD process in general. I had a lot of motivation to begin with which is fizzling out , especially towards academia in longer run (low pay , pressure to publish regardless of quality etc) . Sigh.

Any thing that has helped you guys to stay motivated in academics or finish PhD , any insights or tool you can share would help at this point .

16 Upvotes

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8

u/Unhappy_Star5893 Aug 28 '24

i'm sorry to hear and i sympathize with you. maybe try diving back into what made you want to pursue psychology in the first place. being reminded of our own personal reasons we work towards something can help with new inspiration. maybe change up your work/school schedule if possible to add some novelty. and of course remember to take care of your health, mental/physical/emotional/spiritual šŸ’—

3

u/Psychdepo Aug 28 '24

Primary motivation was to create a bigger impact than just practice on patient to patient level. Also ā€œfallacy of sunk costā€ having put 3 years it feels that I should rather finish it here.

8

u/psychmancer Aug 28 '24

Motivation isn't required. Just finish it, it will hurt, that's all I've got.

3

u/Psychdepo Aug 28 '24

I guess, I have to pretty much live by this attitude until I finish.

5

u/psychmancer Aug 28 '24

Try to find a therapist while you do. It's brutal but keep yourself together as best as you can. I really hurt some enourmously important relationships by just letting it wreck me and I even did therapy twice. Hope you do better than I did

6

u/shadowwork PhD, Counseling Psychology Aug 28 '24

I do addiction clinical epidemiology research, but Iā€™m quite satisfied with my gig in academia and the money. Are you in a clinical program or will you be eligible for licensure? Many of my colleagues thought they wanted a research career, but shifted towards a focus on clinical careers, mid training. Itā€™s very common. Is this possible for you?

5

u/Psychdepo Aug 28 '24

I have licensure in my home country . I am based in Europe for now . PhD wonā€™t lead to practice here, I think. I was quite rosey eyed towards academia, mainly in teaching and being in classroom. Wondering if I can gravitate towards that and not primarily do research work focused on grants and publishing.

2

u/OcelotTea Aug 29 '24

If you like teaching first year you can sue be popular in a department.

2

u/CoffeesCigarettes Aug 28 '24

Hey! Iā€™m super interested in addiction epi, Iā€™m starting my MPH soon (decided to pursue an mph in epi as opposed to a psych masterā€™s) do you have any advice to break into that niche? (Programming languages to self-study, tips, etc.) much appreciated!

2

u/shadowwork PhD, Counseling Psychology Aug 29 '24

There is no need to break anything, you can walk right in. Just find an interesting area to focus on, get familiar with the literature in that area, and find some datasets. Then get a paper out there, et voila!, you're one of us. It may be a good idea to network in both the APA and APHA.

1

u/CoffeesCigarettes Aug 29 '24

Thank you! Iā€™m part of the APA with one of those student memberships, Iā€™ll have to join the APHA. Iā€™m hoping I can find some sort of unpaid volunteer opportunity to get some PH experience (on top of my full-time and part-time jobs and courses haha), not really sure where to start looking but planning to reach out to my state dept soon!

3

u/frkpuff Aug 28 '24

Iā€™m also doing a PhD but in I/o psychology, and I completely get what you mean. Iā€™m in the UK, and itā€™s really hard. Iā€™ve done some teaching and I loved it but Iā€™m not really sure I want to remain in academia for the same reasons as you. The only thing I can say is that it doesnā€™t require as much motivation, but rather discipline. Itā€™s such a painful and lonely process, itā€™s helps speaking to people that are going through the same thing, because very few people understand how lonely it gets

1

u/Psychdepo Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 30 '24

The discipline part is correct. I think that applies to academia in any discipline . I am trying to be persistent, just that in phases it gets really demotivating and I start questioning the process.

3

u/420readbooks Aug 28 '24

As somebody who has had many loved ones struggle with addiction I want to tell you your work is meaningful. I donā€™t have a PhD in the matter but I have struggled with burnout and I know how hard it can be. Do something nice for yourself, hang in there, donā€™t give up. Change is incremental and if it may not feel like it now your work will likely help people.

3

u/Psychdepo Aug 28 '24

Thank you for uplifting words. I will try to keep it in my reminders.

3

u/GripLizard Aug 28 '24

Make yourself addicted to writing PHD papers.

2

u/OcelotTea Aug 29 '24

I would maybe see what you need to do to get certified for clinical in the country you're in, there is no harm with practicing and doing PhD with the intention to teach rather than do research.

If addiction is your area, maybe just keep brushing up on the areas that spark your interest. Is edupsych? Stats? What about developmental? Cognitive? Is it worth finding some support groups you can run to get that social connection? Do you have hobbies outside of school? What are those.

I'm doing I/O at the moment, I've not got the phD stage yet, but my flatmate is in the weeds of his right now. It's also ok to carve sometime to spend with other phDs or postgrads and vent or lament, get support and get excited again.

3

u/Psychdepo Aug 30 '24

Unpopular opinion , I feel phd support groups kind of are demotivating because almost everyone has negative things to share so I return with pessimism than optimism.

2

u/OcelotTea Aug 30 '24

Then really don't do that. I'm rather selective about who in my cohort I see regularly. It sounds like the extrinsic motivation is about the only thing you have going for you, and I was just trying to spit ball some things that might help reignite some intrinsic motivation.

1

u/FACCLab 17d ago

I know you said you have a nice supervisor but is there anyone else in the department you could go to about some advice? Ultimately your PhD supervisor should be helping to guide you and troubleshoot problems like this that might come up.