rm, I've taken a couple of flights of that duration (Hong Kong and Tokyo), and although you're probably gone now I'll just add my intense sympathy to all the good advice above. I utterly loathe flying. I only do it because some cumudgeonly bit of my soul won't let this fear dictate my life. I've tried everything to beat it (including drugs smuggled to me by a dentist friend who said 'take a couple of these and you'll be happily drooling like a baby' - I wasn't, and it was horrid). I CANNOT sleep, however long the flight, I can't even concentrate enough to read or listen to music. Impossible.
So, sympathy! (Have fun when you get to wherever it is you're going, though!) 

Now in Hong Kong after a relatively painless flight (purgatory rather than hell), the usual neurosis about deep vein thrombosis apart, just trying to imagine local time (2040) rather than BST...

So, thanks again for the tips! Will reread them before my return journey!

Eek.  I'm close to meltdown at the moment.  Think that at this point about 60% likely that I will not survive the next month of my postgrad studies.  And so I'm faced with the rather terrifying prospect of entering the nonacademic workforce, something I have little desire at all to do.  This will mean the end of all reasonble prospects of further professional study of maths, and as I don't have any other professional ambitions at all really, I'm left with the distinct (though not inevitable) prospect of just writing off the 9-5 hours of the rest of my life as a necessary sacrifice that I will have to justify by what I do in the remaining hours.

BLAH

Hi increpatio - what's brought this situation on so suddenly? Is it not possibly just a passing period, one of those times where you get that 'what's the point of it all' feeling, etc., or is it something more serious? Concerned about you - do talk if you want to, either here or in private.

I know how that feeling can be - it's like climbing a mountain just making oneself 'start' something (once it's started, then it's ok)? What I've found is good in such situations is to try and do something else somehow 'active' (not posting here or anything like that), even just clearing some things up in the house, or something like that. Something which brings some tangible results, then it's easy to get down to something else more active like work.

It doesn't sound like your supervisor is a particularly sympathetic individual at the time when you need that - is there no-one else in the department who might be able to help (not a faculty member, necessarily, there are lots of people studying who have these types of problems and there are usually people employed to help through such periods)? I know it would probably be a very hard step to go and talk to someone like that, but if you can, I think it would be a good idea.

That's a situation which alas is endemic to academic life, just because of its very nature. Involves spending large amounts of time on one's own, which in turn brings cravings to 'get out' more when not working, and so on, or anything that will bring human contact. Working as a solo musician is quite similar in many ways. Maybe it becomes most problematic when one sees one's work as one's life, and when work seems lonely, isolated, possibly fruitless, then the rest of life can seem the same way? But it doesn't have to be that way - it's important to maintain, as far as possible, a life outside of one's work. It's obviously a bad situation for you at the moment, and easy to dwell on in a self-perpetuating manner - it's time to tell yourself to get your arse in gear!  If you know you are capable of finishing your studies and doing them well - which I reckon you are - then won't the consequences of not doing so be worse than however you feel at the moment?

That's also an endemic problem when one works in a very specialised area of research, in any discipline. Not sure what to suggest there - perhaps it would be better to think in terms of establishing your reputation by impressing others with your work, rather than simply by 'getting on'? I wouldn't trust academic social contacts too much, anyhow - I don't know what it is about academia that engenders such a high degree of bad feeling and back-stabbing amongst colleagues, but it is certain palpably the case in most fields, as far as I can see.

Don't know if this helps - could you do some even small thing today? Even just 30 mins worth or something - before posting on here again? I think you'd be much happier if you did.

Excellent advice from Ian and Ron if I may say so. I particularly endorse the point about making yourself, or maybe it's just allowing yourself (?), to do something not related to the immediate work in hand. It's very easy to get caught up in the bind of, "I've got this important task and so I musn't waste time or energy doing anything else until it's done. And until I've got it done I certainly don't deserve to spend time or energy on doing anything enjoyable."

It's very tempting to think like that, as I have known to my cost too in the past, but I really am convinced it is a mistake. 'Energy', in particular, doesn't seem to work like that. You generate more, and kick-start what you have got already, by doing something unrelated  -  either useful or just pleasurable, but definitely something active. And don't think of it as 'instead of', or 'opposed to', getting on with the work. It's part of servicing the machine that will get the work done, so it's part of getting it done.

On the point about seeing your supervisor, I'd offer one other thought but only because I think I, again, recognise from experience the sort of thing you are describing. I wouldn't get too hung up on the idea that you must get such and such amount of work done before you go and see him. If you do that you will probably keep persuading yourself that you haven't done enough yet, and put it off again. It's again a bit of a self-imposed trap that doesn't actually need to be there. My suggestion would be to make what progress you can on the detailed work you are doing but, more importantly perhaps, draw yourself up some sort of sketch of how you see the work going over the next few months, what areas you want to cover, what lines of investigation you want to take, what research you will need to do to pursue them, who you might talk to to take them further (or whatever it may be). And then use that as the basis of a discussion with your supervisor so that the conversation can be about "I've got in a bit of a hole here and run out of momentum. These are the sort of things I was proposing to do to get back on track and take this forward. What do you think? Which bits look useful? Which bits would you advise pursuing and which dropping? Any other suggestions for people whose work I should be looking at? " (etc, etc, or whatever is appropriate to your field). That way, the conversation doesn't get stuck on 'the problem' but starts off being about your plans for solving the problem.

If that doesn't seem to fit the circumstances then obviously please just ignore. But I just offer it in case it does, and because the situation sounds a bit familiar.

Oh, and (I know it goes without saying but I'm going to say it) supervisors are there to help in these circumstances. That's their job. And you won't be the first to have hit a low patch. They do know about these things or, if not, they ruddy well ought to as part of the job. They would much rather people came to talk these things through rather than letting them fester.

Whatever you decide to do, all best wishes for pulling through this patch.     

All the best from me too, 'patio. I shan't add much (nor could I) to the excellent advice above. But just to say that, as a supervisor of postgrad/doctoral work myself, I heartily endorse what George says on that matter. You have to meet him/her halfway of course - and that means checking your emails and suchlike! - but I see the sort of problems you describe as being very much part of a supervisor's remit to address and advise on. It's a kind of 'academic support', and our university at least offers professional training to us in all aspects of supervision, including this one.