Hi - Do you ever have times when you really just hate the phd? I do, and I'm having them a lot lately, so sometimes I think about dropping it out. It seems like my paper ideas rarely fit that of my professor's and he's not saying"don't do it." but he lets me know i'll have trouble publishing, so I'm having trouble finding motivation. I don't want to lose myself in this process and be someone else, but it doesn't seem like who i am is the same as my professor's or my colleagues. i'll be done with my classes in a year or a year and a half, i've finished about a year and a half already.... the other thing I notice too is that I don't want to be a complainer, but I want to ask my advisor questions that I think woudl help me, but I might look like I'm complaining...so I don't know what to do?

Hi Stardreamer - I often hate doing my PhD. I go through periods of hating it and losing my motivation, but I always seem to come out of the other side and get interested again. I think however much you love your research and are committed, there will always be times when you want to quit and find it hard to cope. Doing a PhD is a tough task, its lots of responsibility and pressure to succeed and to publish can be overwhelming but I really think you should stick at it. If ever you need to vent frustration or it starts to get you down, its a good idea to talk to people. People come on this forum all the time to complain and get advice, and its a really great thing. It helps to read other people's troubles so you realise you're not on your own. So if you need to complain, come and share with us on the forum. If you're having trouble with motivation, I find it helps to attend seminars/conferences etc to get me thinking and get ideas, are there any that you might be interested in? or if you really can't face that just yet, take a break. You won't get anywhere if you don't give yourself breaks every now and then. A PhD is like a marathon and if you put in too much too quickly you will burn out and you will probably find it hard to get motivated again. If you give yourself time out, things will be put into perspective and you should find it easier to cope and get motivated again. With regards to asking your advisor and questions, I think its important that if you have a problem, you should ask. Thats what I would do, complaining or not, its best for everybody if you know where you stand and establish good communication lines. At the end of the day, your advisor is there to help you, its their job. Also if you have ideas for papers, thats great! You should be encouraged. Remember your supervisors interests are mainly to publish, yours is to complete your PhD developing skills as a critical thinker etc (hopefully with a paper along the way), so don't let go of your ideas so easily, just make sure you've thought them through. I agree its very hard not to lose yourself during the PhD, but do try and stay yourself. I would say stand up for yourself and defend your research. If you are completely heading down the wrong path, I'm sure your supervisor would stop you (they would stop you in no uncertain terms), if you're unsure about this, ask directly and make sure. But as yet they haven't so maybe you're onto something! Stick with it for now, let us know how it goes!:-)

Hey.
I agree with below. I actually withdrew from my PhD as I was having very similar problems that you are having now. I felt that I was turning into a different person, and my sups were judging this person I didnt even know. I have no regrets about leaving, though I made sure I had something to go onto before I did. I'm doing an MPhil instead. Keep going for now, until you have been miserable for a long time. Good luck, and don't worry, however things turn out. People leave, and it's ok!

I think that hating your PhD is just a normal part of the process..its a lot of work, its a lot of stress, it is a lot of at times very unpleasant things, and only a masochist would embrace those unpleasant parts. I think that is probably HEALTHY to hate your PhD from time to time, and its a sure sign you have retained "you" in the process of doing it. I hate mine from time to time, sometimes even in the space of the same day when I love it....its just part of it.

I loathe my PhD with passion.  When you live with a research project for as long as you do with a PhD you are bound to hate it at some point. As everyone else has said, the process of completion is not pleasant.  You receive constant criticism, which can be pretty depressing when you thought you were doing okay. For example, my supervisor told me last year that he thought I'd given up because I never did any work. I did point out to him that he wouldn't have a clue how much work I did because I never had any supervisory meetings and the few times I did ask for help, he told me that the whole point of a PhD was for me to work out problems on my own. The reality is that he and his little band of minions were too busy earning money from external consultancy work to bother with me. Just for the record, I used to work for him and his minions and they used to get me doing all their lit searches and data analysis so they were free to earn even more money. It left me very little time to do my research but I nonetheless I did it. Bitter? Moi? Never!

You will also come into contact with the most spectacular egos. You might be able to tell that my supervisor has an ego, the size of which rivals Everest. If you have supervisors who are keen to help and are generally positive in the way they treat you then you are lucky. This might sound depressing but it is the reality for many of us.  But having said all that, the PhD is yours and you are doing it for you. If you want it, don't let anybody stop you.  Be prepared to accept constructive criticism but don't be put off by your supervisors if you genuinely believe they are wrong (make sure you've got your facts straight though!). Remember that their motivation is completely different from yours. Have faith in yourself. If you couldn't do it, you wouldn't be there in the first place. Good luck.

I wonder, what IS the motivation for supervisors, especially experienced ones...