Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training (PPA)
Training Location: 37 Mapesbury Road, London NW2 4HJ. Part-time course.
Training in the PPA incorporates best clinical practice and high standards. It is accredited by the British Psychoanalytic Council. Once qualified, members are eligible for registration with the British Psychoanalytic Council which is regulated by the Professional Standards Authority. You will be equipped to work intensively and in depth with adult patients.
With this foundation, therapists are well equipped to develop a private practice or to apply the model to work in the NHS, higher education and the third sector.
Qualified psychotherapists with the right experience may be eligible for modified entry to this course. See our PPA MES scheme to learn more about the entry requirements.
Course starts in January annually.
Email: [email protected] to receive an application form.
- Course content
- Course structure
- Entry requirements
- Course fees
- Resources
- Access information
- How to apply
The practice of psychoanalytic psychotherapy seeks to explore, understand and work in depth with the emotional problems of another. It necessarily requires a rigorous and thorough training which entails the therapist’s time and commitment and the capacity to explore themselves in their own personal therapy.
Our training is underpinned by a theoretical framework derived from the rich, longstanding and well-founded psychoanalytic traditions of Freud, Klein, Bion, Winnicott and the British Object Relations School. Based on Freud’s discovery and elaboration of the unconscious and its effects in everyday life, the work explores the ways that unconscious aspects and conflicts of the personality may be hindering development and informing conscious choices in an unhelpful way.
Intensive Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy involves seeing a patient three times a week, usually on the couch. This frequency, together with the psychoanalytic setting, enables a depth of contact between therapist and patient that is significant and effective. It is an internationally recognized standard of psychoanalytic work that is also practically manageable in terms of time, money and the other demands of contemporary life.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy allows for a sustained and meaningful therapeutic relationship to develop. This allows both patient and therapist to explore and understand the patient’s difficulties and conflicts in his inner world in the safe and contained setting of the consulting room. Treatment aims to reach beyond the initial symptoms which may have initiated the desire for therapy, to the underlying causes which reside in deeper layers of the personality. Working in this way can provide profound and lasting change for the patient, and a deeply rewarding and creative experience for the therapist and patient alike.
Our qualifying course comprises the following strands: the trainee’s own personal psychotherapy/analysis; the completion of an infant observation (which can be undertaken prior to applying to the training); a psychiatric placement; undertaking clinical work with patients under supervision, and attendance and participation in weekly theoretical and clinical seminars.
The Theory and Clinical seminars are held on one weekday evening between 6.30 – 10.00pm. A further seminar, for Infant Observation, is attended, at a time to suit the individual during the first year (or two, if a two year observation is undertaken). Two Saturday mornings a term are also scheduled with workshops and plenaries with the Training Committee.
This component allows the trainee to gain first-hand experience of the development of an infant and his/her attachments, and therefore to develop a greater understanding of the early states of mind and human experiences which exist within us all. It also facilitates the development of a capacity to experience and observe intense emotional states both in the mother and baby and in the observer themselves.
Trainees are required to observe a mother and baby in the family setting once a week for an hour. Detailed reports on these observations are written, which are then discussed at a weekly seminar led by an experienced psychotherapist. The observations begin at birth and continue for a one or two years. The length of the observation is agreed with the family at the outset.
A piece of written work on the observation is to be completed before beginning with the first training patient.
This component allows the trainee to gain first-hand experience of the development of an infant and his/her attachments, and therefore to develop a greater understanding of the early states of mind and human experiences which exist within us all. It also facilitates the development of a capacity to experience and observe intense emotional states both in the mother and baby and in the observer themselves.
Trainees are required to observe a mother and baby in the family setting once a week for an hour. Detailed reports on these observations are written, which are then discussed at a weekly seminar led by an experienced psychotherapist. The observations begin at birth and continue for a minimum of one year, with an option to continue for a second year.
A piece of written work on the observation is to be completed before beginning with the first training patient.
Usually beginning in the second year of the course, trainees begin therapy with the first of two training patients, three times weekly. Before qualification one patient must be seen for at least two years, the other for at least 18 months. The trainee submits a report on each patient every 6 months, describing the process of treatment, and attends a seminar once a term to discuss these reports.
The clinical work with each training patient is discussed in one-to-one weekly supervision with a PPA approved supervisor, until qualification.
Theoretical seminars are attended for four years. These provide trainees with a thorough grounding in classical and contemporary psychoanalytical theory. They take place on a weekday evening, and on two Saturdays in each term.
Clinical seminars take place weekly until qualification, and take place on the same evening each week as the theoretical seminars. During the first year they will take the form of weekly work discussions in which trainees present patients or clients with whom they are working in. This might be at an honorary placement in a hospital or counselling setting, or come from professional work that you are already doing. Issues relating to working once weekly, or in a time-limited frame, will be introduced and discussed.
Later in the course, the seminars provide an opportunity to present and discuss the treatment of training patients in a small group with experienced seminar leaders of different psychoanalytic orientations.
2022 term dates
Spring term
11th January – 22nd March
Half Term: the week of 15th February
Saturday seminars:
- Platform group only: Saturday 8th January
- Rolling group only: Saturday 29th January
- All trainees: Saturday 26th February
Summer term
26thApril – 5th July
Half Term: the week of 31st May
Saturday seminars:
- All trainees: Saturday 7th May
- All trainees: Saturday 25th June
Autumn term
20th September – 29th November
Half Term: the week of 25th October
Saturday seminars:
- All trainees: Saturday 8th October
- All trainees Saturday 12th November
Personal therapy
It is crucial that psychoanalytic psychotherapists have a thorough knowledge of their own emotional conflicts and difficulties in order to be able to work in an appropriately professional way with their patients. We believe that a trainee’s personal psychotherapy is central to their development as a psychotherapist and is a core part of the training.
Therefore we require trainees to be established in a minimum of three times a week therapy before starting the training and continue in it until reaching qualification. This therapy should be undertaken with an approved PPA training therapist, which will ensure that the therapy and training are congruent with that which trainees are learning to practice.
If you are not yet in therapy we will assist you in finding a suitable training therapist.
Selection of candidates for training is made solely on the basis of qualities directly concerned with the ability to learn and to function as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, and each application is carefully considered on a case-by-case basis.
Typically, successful applicants have some experience of working with adults on emotional difficulties within a one-to-one relationship, either professionally or on volunteer basis. They may have a degree, but we also accept applications from those able to demonstrate the capacity to undertake the academic components of the course.
An application is likely to be strengthened by having some familiarity with psychoanalytic ideas.
Following acceptance onto the course, those without previous psychiatric experience will need to undertake a psychiatric placement, either before or during the training. Those with little relevant clinical experience will need to undertake a clinical placement, as all trainees need to be engaged in one-to-one therapeutic work with adults during the first pre-clinical year of the training, so that they can participate fully in the clinical work seminars.
Undertaking a clinical training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy represents a major personal investment in terms of time, money and individual development. We hope the following information will give you a sense of what training at the bpf might be like.
We aim to keep fees as affordable as possible, and they are currently set at £4120 annually for the four years of the theory curriculum. If clinical work needs to continue, there is a reduction in the annual fee to £2060.
If an Infant Observation is undertaken there is an additional fee of £1605.
Trainees also pay an annual bpf membership fee of £144.45 which provides access to the bpf library, to PEPWEB (an excellent online resource of psychoanalytic literature), and access to bpf’s wide-ranging scientific and cultural life.
The trainee’s fees for their own personal therapy is negotiated with the training therapist on an individual basis. Similarly, when beginning to see training patients the cost of supervision will be discussed with each training supervisor. Trainees will need to provide an appropriate setting to see training patients and this may involve room rental costs.
PPA Curriculum
Attend our Virtual Open Day to watch a presentation about this course.
What’s it like to be a psychotherapist? Psychoanalytic psychotherapist (youtube.com)
What’s it like to be a psychotherapist? Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist (youtube.com)
What’s it like to be a psychotherapist? Jungian Analyst (youtube.com)
Contact us at [email protected] to discuss any access requirements.
If you are considering training with the PPA, please email the PPA Training Coordinator, ([email protected]), who will put you in contact with a PPA Advisor (a member of the PPA Training Committee). Before contacting the PPA Training Coordinator, please ensure you have carefully read the information on the PPA pages of the bpf website including the entry requirements.
PPA Advisors can help you prepare to apply, as well as answer questions about the structure, content and cost of the training. If your enquiry is at an early stage, the PPA Advisor can offer guidance with regard to the next steps to consider, including how to find an approved training therapist.
The application closing date for the January 2025 intake is July 1st 2024.
The bpf is committed to diversity and inclusivity in all the work we deliver. We are fully dedicated to promoting, maintaining and supporting equality of opportunity in all aspects of our organisation and, as such, the bpf welcomes applications from all sections of society.
Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training (MES)
The PPA offers a modified entry into the Clinical Training. Qualified child psychotherapists, couple therapists, and those already qualified in psychodynamic therapy are eligible to apply throughout the year.