Abstract

Differences in therapeutic outcome can be explained to a significant extent as a therapist effect (Wampold & Imel, 2015), and hence it has become clear the need to investigate therapists as individuals and their role, in their interaction with techniques and also with patients (Orlinsky & Rønnestad, 2005). Given the cultural character of subjective experience (Geertz, 2003) and therefore of therapists’ experiences in psychotherapy, the cultural references related to psychotherapy, and in different contexts are elements that contribute to a better understanding of professional development (Rønnestad & Skovholt, 2013).The present study follows the questions about cultural references that could be identified in Chilean and German Psychotherapists’ Careers in therms of convergences and divergences. A cross-sectional qualitative approach were used. The data of 17 German and Chilean therapists were analyzed with the method of Discovery Oriented Biographical Account (Duarte, Fischersworring, Martínez, Tomicic, 2017), identifying convergences and enhancing divergences regarding cultural references of Chilean and German Psychotherapists and their relationship to a professional career. The analysis of the cultural references regarding to psychotherapy, and their divergences between contexts enlighten the understanding of professional development of Chilean and German psychotherapists and contributes to a cultural sensitive model of professional development.