I just realized the major cause of my "suffering" from my PhD lies in the fact that it is such a long period commitment, and it is bilateral: me and my superviors and colleagues. I used to have a hell-like PhD in the past (I just started a new one) that my (only) supervisor somehow managed to get into a deep prejudice against me! I know it may be an extreme case, but the (attitude) change of supervisors and colleagues do seem to happen a lot! my PhD is heavily dependent on others' work and honestly, without the strong support of the supervisor, I cannot easily get my degree. If it were a normal job, you can just leave and start over; but nobody wants to waste the time he/she spents on the PhD. I really like research, but probably not do it "professionally"..

Just thought I'd put in a quick reply for you! Having just said goodbye to my second supervisor, who really didn't understand what I was doing and wanted to make it all about teachers. I've got another second supervisor, who should be better - but has loads of enthusiasm and being only part time I just hope I can keep up! My thesis also depends upon a lot of printed stuff, some of which is written by these two, who work closely together on occasions, and who probably know many of the other people I will be quoting and I'm just hoping I get the gist of their arguments right, it would be horrible if they said ' thats not what I meant at all'

it happened to me as well.. sometimes ,the writing can be quite ambiguous. so for some key points, now I learnt I need to confirm in person..