I was in exactly the same situation. It ruined my life & very nearly my PhD for two years. Back out now and get a different supervisor, however painful it is. It will be a whole lot more painful in the long run, believe me. But hindsight is a wonderous thing ... !

Her behaviour is BULLYING. Plain and simple. Here is a definition of it if you don't believe me:

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=797

Your uni should have procedures in place for people being bullied / harassed -- they are legally obliged to -- and I really think you need to take advantage of these.

I agree with Rick ... that's how I work. Intuition is important & I do think you can actually OVER plan and end up too bored of the material to write it. I always have to leave a bit of the fine-tune thinking undone to keep up that energy and excitement as I write ...

I've cried in a library too! To be honest, it sounds as though you're really stressed. I would suggest taking a break -- and I mean a week or two completely off free of any guilt and self-castigation. If possible, go somewhere else entirely. I promise that on your return you will feel restored and ready to go that final mile. If I have learnt one thing during the PhD, it is that time off is the best favour you can do your work.

Okay. I work in an entirely interdisciplinary centre, rather than two departments, so I don't have much of a problem with that. However, my PhD itself will be from one discipline (rather than interdisciplinary), which is a bit irritating in terms of trying to get a job ...

What do you mean? It is humanities rather than science, so I don't know if that makes a difference ...

Between two weeks and a month depending on their schedule / other student's needs / the urgency of reading it ...

I do ...

http://www.indobase.com/study-abroad/countries/canada/phd-programs-in-canada.html

Be very careful with this & check your bank statements. The SLC randomly started taking money out of my account in January (no idea why), when I was in the States researching so couldn't do anything about it. They have been singularly unhelpful since then, feeding me a whole host of different lines about whether or not I should be paying them money ... All very irritating. Have finally managed to sort it out but they will only pay me back three months worth of money. They are, indeed, mostly lobotomized.

I feel like that all the time. I think it happens when you get a group of PhD students together. They just get all odd & competitive (though not always in an obvious way), and this leads to a feeling of intense discomfort. Most likely, you do belong & they don't

That's funny. I realised exactly the same thing on saturday. Except my atrophy has only been a week. Am actually forcing myself to attend a departmental graduate conference today in order to socialize *shudder*

Sorry -- ESRC not EHRC ... Brain & fingers very tired ...

Are you an Arts / Humanties student, lollerskates? Funding is quite different for that compared to the sciences ... Which funding body / bodies are you applying to? I could give help / advice if you're going for the AHRC / EHRC.

golfpro -- Maybe just because they want to do a PhD (ie - out of a desire to learn more rather than to get a qualification for a specific purpose .. ) I know that was always my motivation.