Is psychoanalysis something only wealthy people can train to do and only wealthy people can afford to have?

[scientista]

It seems you have to pay for the psychoanalysis five days a week for years before you can even train. Who can afford that? And then the customers are all wealthy too as they are paying the same. It seems like an interesting world but so elitist that it puts me off.

The process is lengthy to stop charlatans from exploiting people. It’s to weed out the therapists who really ought to do some work on themselves, rather than project their issues onto clients. The number of therapists who get to the above level is vanishingly small for a reason. Most people, infact the large majority really aren’t in a position to psychoanalyse others. Ethical analysts always spend around 10-20 percent of their time volunteering their skills in the charity sector.

I had free psychoanalytic psychotherapy on the NHS, attending 3 times a week for 2.5 years.

Can I ask how you got that? What were your issues?

I think that's the case for a lot of therapy to be honest, even studying to be a counsellor requires a lot of hours providing counselling at part of your course, and paying on top for your own supervision and your own therapy. Psychoanalysis in particular (traditionally, it might have changed) was seen as a long term commitment, almost indefinite. So yes it is a luxury and one that most people couldn't afford, and also one that isn't going to be commissioned by public health services usually. NHS provision needs to be time limited to be cost effective and psychoanalysis as a model doesn't fit with that very easily.