How do the companions surrive The Doctor?

I'd say they survive by being intelligent, brave, and instinctive. One would have to be the kind of person who could easily deal with spending a full year in each of twenty completely different countries, over twenty years, without too much trouble; comfortable with complete uncertainty, maybe a little reckless, but with essentially great instincts.

Some companions did get rough treatment in the original series. Companions' tortured. Jamie & Zoe lose their memories of everything. Adric explodes. But on the whole, they generally seem to do better. One thing that bothers me about the new series companions, every last one of them was put through the ringer in one way or another.

Rose: romantic not typical relationship. Separated for X years. Gets the Meta-crisis Doctor who, despite The Doctor's words, might not actually be quite the same.

Martha: love unrequited, etc. Improved, but burned a bit.

Donna: Has had to have her mind wiped (Caveat: I'm in my S1-S4.5 specials rewatch. I know something happens with Donna in the specials but I have quite forgotten what it is).

Amy & Rory: On the one hand, traveled. But, River. But, Amy cannot have another child. But, zapped back to the 40's (and weirdly never picked up by the Doctor a year later).

Clara: Splinters, death, treats him worth as time goes on, gets herself killed. But then gets a mixed blessing: effectively eternal life, but with no prospect of engaging in normal human things. Again, no family, etc. She just has to choose the moment of her death (a blessing, as some cultures have considered the possibility).

Bill: Travels, learns, gets killed, but gets to travel X years with The Pilot, then at some point (unclear) also has her memories loaded into a super-futuristic robot (Clara too). Mixed bag?



Seems to me that a lot of original series companions didn't quite get their lives so utterly disheveled via traveling with him.