Abstract

Differences in therapeutic outcome can be explained to a significant extent as a therapist effect (Wampold & Imel, 2015). Also 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). However, the subjective experience of the therapist in terms of his own change from his therapeutic work in terms of a professional development has been neglected (Rønnestad & Skovholt, 2013). Given the cultural character of the subjective experience (Geertz, 2003), identifying those elements that are present in singular trajectories and are shared in different contexts contributes to a better understanding of professional development. The present study follows the questions about the subjective construction of professional careers, and how the identified convergent elements are articulated. A qualitative approach were used, with the narrative question “How did you become the psychotherapist you are?” The data of 17 German and Chilean therapists were analysed with the method of Discovery Oriented Biographical Account (Duarte et al., 2017), identifying convergences and divergences between the different professional careers. The analysis of the singular trajectories bring to light the role of context and cultural references. While a professional development is articulated around the experiences in psychotherapy which results in growing and stagnation, professional identities are diverse and strongly influenced by context in connection with cultural references. The method offers a culturally sensitive approach to study professional development, suggesting a difference between professional development and professional identity.