Yep. I'm a chemist, and speaking from personal experience and observation: the PhD process seriously damages almost everyone who goes through it. Fortunately my self-taught outside interests (other fields of science, and nonscientific subjects) preserved my intellect from being totally destroyed by graduate school.
I hear you, bro. My biggest challenge during my Gummint career was to keep my brain from becoming deranged and atrophied by my work environment.
Happily, and unlike most of my fellow "civil servants," I am able to start and prosper in a number of business enterprises totally unrelated to "science."
My Ph.D. and other scientific training has served me well in my private sector biomedical career, my subsequent days in the Government's biomedical research morass, and in my new pursuits, which range from freelance writing to private investigative work, the latter of which I began during my years as a "civil servant'.....