Thank you for your replies and kind words

Well, I also thought that maybe he was being helpful at first..so I really worked hard at the paper and of course acknowledged that it would be good for me if I want to stay in academia (right now, not sure about this). BUT, he has already informed me that I'm no longer first author as the post-doc did a couple of things (badly, I might add) while I've been ill. This would not be my first second author paper. It is hard to explain this without particulars, but for various reasons I dont believe he has my best interests at heart. The group on the whole is going through a rough period financially, having not published for years...and a previous student were also bullied into deferring but still came out with no paper, and incredibly, almost failed her viva (thankfully passed with major corrections). Plus, I didn't say that I wouldn't do the experiments..I said I would do them as soon as physically able to. In my first post, I meant I am NOT going to defer not ignore the paper.

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I'm in my 4th year, writing up and seriously wondering why I ever started this PhD. From the onset, I've had problems with my supervisor. Firstly, he never "supervised" at all...I was left to the devices of a competitive and somewhat incompetent post doc and once in a while my sup demanded powerppint presentations of the work. In these meetings, he would either offer useful advice or scream at me, depending on his mood (sometimes different response to the same experiments). He is consistently unprofessional, inappropriate and intimidating. I put up with it for 3.5 years as I liked the project, didn't mind the lab work and had good friends. The lab had a strong work ethic, people were there 8am-8pm most days, students were not allowed to attend conferences, give grad seminars or any other "extra-curricular" activity that could take time away from the lab, never mind take a holiday. I worked most weekends too, as I simply couldn't keep up with the project (it was very broad and I think enough for two PhD projects) and reading. Anyway, this is normal for many labs and certainly all PhDs require hard work. Frankly, it was difficult to not receive any form of feedback or encouragement though..and to be verbally put down and bullied (so many petty things, I can't begin to divulge). Anyway, came to the crunch, this year, I worked solidly for 3 months for a paper, wrote the draft and sent it to the lab. I then started my thesis, but around the same time I had an accident and sustained a back injury. I couldn't walk and sit, even lie down on one side for weeks without pain. In the meantime, the paper was read (took two months) and my sup decided that it could go into a high impact journal with substantial experimental work. I wasn't particularly pleased about this as I'd hoped to be rid of the experience and was happier with a lower impact, decent journal. But, I responded and said I'd do the experiments after submitting since I'm physically not able to do lab work yet. Surprisingly, even though I'd seen them treat people badly..I was then ordered to defer the PhD (which I'm NOT going to do) to concentrate on the paper and now I feel there is a real risk that my plan to continue writing and submitting will not be cooperated with

Sorry for the very long rant. I am tired of it all, and feel so vulnerable as a PhD student - anybody experience similar?