Need advice on continuing research after a toxic PhD-like experience

Hey everyone, I’m kind of lost and wanted to get some advice.

I’m a 24yo guy, and I’ve been doing research for about a year. I have some publications. On paper, I guess I’m doing well, but my experience hasn’t been easy.

I had a really bad experience with my supervisor. It started fine, but then the calls became constant—every day or every other day. I’d wake up in the morning stressed and scared, sometimes still half-asleep, and not know what to say. If I didn’t answer fast enough, they’d get angry. Just seeing their name or hearing their voice would trigger anxiety. I hated that.

The main problem wasn’t research itself—I actually like designing ideas, writing papers, and drawing schemas—but the constant pressure to produce ideas or progress for updates made me feel like I had nothing to contribute. I felt trapped and stressed, and there were times I wanted to quit completely. But when something finally worked, like when a paper got accepted, I did feel proud.

I’ve realized that I work best with autonomy. My ideal supervision would be something like: we sit down once, plan everything, I work independently for 2–3 months, and then we review progress. Anything more frequent triggers stress and panic.

I’ve taken 6 months off to heal. I blocked my supervisor, muted notifications, and now I feel much calmer. I feel more like myself again, though I’m still wary of repeating the same pattern.

I want to go abroad, maybe for a PhD or research, but I’m afraid of experiencing the same trauma. I know I’m good at research, but I’m anxious about supervision styles, deadlines, and constant check-ins.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? How do you move forward in research without reliving past trauma? How do you set boundaries with supervisors in a healthy way? Any advice would really help.