I have read this thread with interest, mainly because I've had no one to academically argue with! My Director of Studies changed midstream, the first was too involved with the sound of her own voice, the second was clueless. The second supervisor was a little man who tore me apart consitently - me, not my work - but last week I picked up my thesis(es) all leather bound and gold lettered and consider myself self-taught - am all the prouder for it :)

Surely an offspin of doing this is that we are keen observers, in my case, of social worlds and individual psyches (behaviours) which makes us have an opinion on every interaction we have. Yep I allow myself the luxury of shouting at the telly but no, I wouldn't do it in public. Mind you, I have reduced my number of conference attendances as in 'that's an hour I'll never get back' and eschewed various publishing opportunities because well... not really wanting to include my work with that collection.

On the othe rhand I have learned to give my students every opportunity to question, question, question. It's something I didn't have and I would have valued it and so don't want them to miss out too - risky though ;-) but to my mind, the right thing to do.

Dr Potentilla x

Wow and I thought my journey was tough... well done you :-) I come from an abusive background, had a husband who had to go for battering and another who died of cancer during my PhD, I take my hat off to you girl!

To be honest it wouldn't matter if she lived with you or you with her... a PhD takes us away from everything we hold dear. But on the upside, a break away from study can not only make us have a better and closer time with someone we love but when we get back to work, make us concentrate better. It is a finite period, if the love is going to last, it'll be there anyway. I hope this works for you :)

Well done you :-) Yep years of mess sounds familiar...

Hi Pineapple, I found you through Google (my search was 'I've got a PhD, what do I do now' and really feel for you having just been through this stage myself. Today, after minor amendments and waiting for their acceptance, I'm sat in my same little room but this time looking at a leather bound thesis with my name on it, saying - in gold- Doctor of Philosophy... I can't stop staring at it, I've read a few bits and it's definitely mine but whilst my colleagues and husband are going nuts with joy (and expecting me to do the same), like you I'm tired, sad, numb, asking myself what the last few years in addition to my lecturing job (which I love) were for. Here in the UK a PhD gets you nothing special, no pay rise but ok maybe a new name badge ;-). But I am proud and I suspect that I just need a little time to take the whole overwhelming thing on board. My examiners are insistent I publish and I've published before (course text book chapters) so that's not too scary but yeah, it's an odd feeling, doing this, being amongst the best. All I can say is stick with it Pineapple, and if you need a couple of duvet days when 'job done' well, who's counting? Very best of luck :-)