Advisor problems

[sallykrist]

I have some serious trouble with my advisor. She is emotionally unstable. All she does is scream at students every chance she gets. Our "group meeting" involves her going around and telling students how stupid their work is and how they are not working as hard as they should (literally saying that). She is a typical advisor everyone warns you about. Here is my dilemma. I want to leave, but previous students who tried were unable to get professors in the same field take them in once they leave her lab. She is a big name professor so i guess others don't want to be on her bad side. I feel my options, if I want to leave her lab, are to leave the sub department i am in or to change schools. Or i need to find a way to work with her.

I need advise from someone who was able to do either, work with an emotionally unstable advisor or switch out of a lab where the professor is powerful and the department has lots of politics.