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This article resonated so strongly with me! I too was left broken by my PhD as a result of poor supervision, and sadly - speaking to friends from other institutions - it is all too common. There is no level of pastoral care, consideration for the strain that this huge workload is placing on you as a person, or understanding that yes, you do need a break or a holiday once in a while!
One particular example was the feedback I received from my supervisor during write-up. I had poured over my literature review for weeks, and the extent of my feedback, aside from crossing out huge chunks of text, was "This is boring. I am bored so I'm not reading any further" scrawled across the top of a page. How soul destroying for someone who is already pushed to their limit delivering the entirety of their research in one document! Where is the constructive feedback there?
Luckily I continued to write in my own style, including my opinion and demonstrating my passion for the work I was presenting, and it paid off to be told by my viva examiners that my thesis was a joy to read, I could have cried with relief then and there, but I still had a whole viva to get through first!
I nearly fell at the very last hurdle under the pressure placed on me by my supervisor, and found my last dose of strength and scrap of self belief to get myself over the finish line in spite of his lack of support, but no one else deserves to be treated this way!

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