I hope I'm not repeating something others have said, but I am at work and unable to read all the detailed replies (: I was in a PhD program and decided to leave after finishing my MSc, a decision I now somewhat regret. My advice to you is that if you are to finish a PhD, you must own your own research and be very passionate about it. If you are not happy with your advisor and still early into the process, by all means switch - there is no shame in that. Ideally, you should love your research topic but many people don't. If you are further along and could finish your degree soon? Just do what is required of you and get it! The point of the PhD is to show how you can do independent, significant research and if you can get funding and publications out of this just take the shot and do it. You should absolutely have your own research agenda. That may require working 60-70 hours a week, but so what? That is often what it takes to get ahead in life. Find a contribution that you can make and find a professor interested in that topic and try to get a paper published on it. Once you have finished your degree, you will be certified as an independent worker and you can then pursue your own research. All that being said, if you are a first year change advisors now! If you are a second year, maybe you can get an MSc out of this and move on to a new advisor. If you are past that why not just get the PhD and publish more work? (repetitive...)