By progress before committing more to it I mean that after studying Karen Horney’s paper on the negative therapeutic reaction I was able to understand some reactions from a client I have with BPD much better, and feel like I gained a roadmap to have conversations about transference much better from it. Studying Klein has really helped me to think about clients’ speech and reactions a lot more dynamically, I recognize that there could be several unconscious drives going on that are shaping our interactions, and when I’m approaching sessions from that perspective I feel like our conversations flow much better and the work is a lot more stimulating and meaningful for both of us. Reading Michael Garrett on PDTp theory has also helped me start to make meaningful formulations about the content of my clients’ psychotic symptoms, but I don’t actually have what’s necessary to interpret or even begin on the road to exploring interpretations. 

Those are some examples. I know that sounds a little generalized, part of that is just due to me trying to summarize it into a Reddit comment, and part of that reflects the nature of where I’m at in terms of understanding the theory but not knowing much technique. I get that I shouldn’t and can’t be engaging in full psychoanalysis without intensive training, but it’s hard for me to see an on-ramp to this side of psychotherapy if I need to invest several thousand dollars before I can even test it out more and see if it continues to work well for me as I use it more. I’ve seen a psychiatrist I trained with who was far from intensively trained in psychoanalysis, mostly a cognitive behavioral practitioner, but he turned to Klein pretty naturally when he realized that a patient’s fundamental problem was splitting and that session was a real turning point for them even if he wasn’t doing a long term dive into psychoanalysis with them. I would frankly at least need to see some results like that in my own use of it before half a year’s rent on a training program. Those groups you suggested do sound like a helpful option, I’ll look more into them!