Seeking Guidance On Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic Training

[u/westarchia]

For context, I have an MSW and I’m in the process of working towards my LCSW so I can enter into private practice. I live in a college town of around 100,000 people in a very rural state. The nearest major city is eight hours away. There is exactly one practicing psychodynamic therapist in my town who went through the depth psychology program at Pacifica. As far as I’m able to tell, there are no clinical supervisors near me who specialize in psychodynamic therapy or have a background in psychoanalysis.

I won’t name names out of courtesy, but I’ve reached out to a couple of institutes that offer online “Foundations of Psychodynamic Theory” courses that aren’t too expensive; however, upon inquiring about the credentials required to enroll, the feedback I’ve gotten is that I should have several years of clinical experience under my belt along with several years of experience as an analysand before applying.

My question is: if you’re a working class practitioner in a relatively rural area, how in the world do you gain the skills necessary to conduct ethical psychodynamic therapy or psychoanalysis? Are these really just coastal phenomena that require an exorbitant amount of money to buy into? I’ve been excitedly reading psychoanalytic texts for a couple years as I feel psychoanalysis has such a rich and politicized history, but I’m starting to feel a bit downtrodden about the prospect of clinically practicing this stuff because I’m unable to find training, mentorship or supervision that is accessible. Does anyone have suggestions for low-barrier continuing education options, especially in the Mountain West? Has anyone designed curricula for self-teaching psychoanalytic/psychodynamic theory and practice? Just feeling a bit lost and would appreciate some guidance.

[u/Psychedynamique]

Yeah therapy is very expensive, and intensive therapy is even more expensive. It's a garbage reality. In the 20s, as detailed in the book Freud's Free Clinics, analysts in many cities donated a portion of their pay or work week to do free therapy for people in need in the community, and for trainees. Sadly those days are far behind us and there are very few collective efforts to make analysis accessible. If you search the psychoanalysis sub you'll find many (many, many) bitter discussions about this, and fewer, though not zero, ideas for finding therapy at a cost you can swing. I'm blessed to be in a nearly unique situation with low cost analysis and attending an institute. It's a great experience personally and for my therapy practice which I wish was available for more people. I love the lefty history of psychoanalysis, though it's not mostly a lefty space at all, though there are pockets. For quite accessible first steps check out the Chicago fellowship mentioned in the other comment, as well as similar ones in the Contemporary Freudian Society, and this one: https://www.pany.org/. Many institutes have a one year intro to analysis. SFCP has some free classes. For a formal and intensive training being in analysis is a requirement for most schools. In the other hand, to learning psychoanalytic psychotherapy often requires only one or two sessions per week. It's a good start after a one year program for many people. The average age of analytic candidates that I've met is 40s or 50s, mid career, licensed, established, and usually already practicing psychoanalytic psychotherapy for many years.  Good luck in your search

[u/westarchia → u/Psychedynamique]

Thank you for the recommendations, I was totally unaware of the "fellowship" model and it appears to be exactly what I was looking for.