I am working on my masters in psychology and have an assignment due with regard to how Czech ethnicity/culture might affect family therapy and its outcome (marriage family therapist). Do Czech families generally view seeking counseling services as acceptable and productive? Is it popular to seek a therapist? Or, viewed as tabu or weak? For instance, traditionally, the Polish people are known for being self reliant and showing their love through action. Emotional neediness and expression as well as anxiety and fear are not generally expressed and are typically viewed as "weakness." "Suck it up and move on." Mental illness is tabu because a Pole can work with a broken leg but has no control over mental illness. Alcohol is prevalent and accepted as a form of release (emotional). Husband and wife and children all pull their part of the family's responsibilities. Robust women are viewed as prosperous because weight is a sign of being a good wife and mother. Lots of kids is a sign of being a good Catholic and the more kids the more hands to work. This is a picture of a traditional Polish family. What is a picture of the traditional Czech family? And, a Czech family today, in 2007? Are there many therapists in the Czech Republic? Is it considered a good job? Thank you to all and to anyone who responds!!
Well this is certainly interesting topic. Unfortunately I'm hardly expert on it. So consider my opinions only as pure amateur's. Psychology/psychiatric therapy is definitely much less popular in CR than in USA - I don't know if it's because Czech attitude (Czechs are much less emotional then Americans and they don't like to express emotions) or because it's too expensive - I don't know how much is this kind of therapy supported by medical system - Czech medical care is "free" - it's financed from public funds from compulsory medical insurance. Marriage counseling service maybe isn't considered as taboo, but probably it isn't popular conversation topic - but Czech society is very family oriented - family (extended family - include grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws ) is more closed and solve things without public in privacy. Public expressiong of strong emotions isn't considered as weakness, but more as unpoliteness and little embarrasing - in accord to Czech nonemotional/down-to-earth personality. I believe that two childern are considered as reasonble number - but of course it can be different for different social groups. Government family report 2004: http://www.mpsv.cz/files/clanky/1213/family_report.pdf
One addition: Considerable young Czech couples today start family without marriage - they live in one household and even have childern without offical marriage act. Because low number of Christians/Catholics it isn't considered as "sin" by society.
[Czech society is very family oriented - family (extended family - include grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws ) is more closed and solve things without public in privacy.] OK. What does family oriented mean exactly? The nuclear (immediate) family shares their problems with the extended family (looks for advice from them?) See, I would not air my dirty laundry to my extended family... so I am trying to get a feel for what you are saying (my husband and I handle our issues privately with regard to our affairs and our children). However, we do go to church with the in-laws and have weekend or holiday dinners together. The idea of culture in and of itself is kind of hard for me to grasp because a lot of "American" culture is convaluded... I am 7 nationalities and my husband 2. After the great grandparents died and ethnicities mixed further, culture and tradition became watered down and now tradition is kind of what we make it. I guess the best question to ask you is if you could point out the obvious differences between Czech and Americans. Anything I should as a therapist before going into therapy with a Czech family? Do you feel like the Czech culture is also becoming watered down? Where were you born and raised? Thank you for taking the time to write with me! I really appreciate it. [/quote]
Ok - again, me amateur talking and only IMHO: Family is here really close - there is no problem when older son or daughter lives with parents - no "you live in my house, so I make rules" mentality, grandparents commonly babysit grandchilds, even if childs live no more with parents, thay can meet them on daily basis. Czech people still don't move to other cities too much. It's common, that married child live in parent's flat and parents move to smaller flat or village house. Of course, there are exceptions and things are changing, but I think this system is still prevalent. Well - only about 4% of Czech people visit church reguralry - 60% of Czechs are non-believers. Czech society was for 40 years isolated with minimal effect from outer cultures, so it's still very unified. Well, I really don't know, where to start And my knowledge of American society is only partial. I guess there are many levels - Americans: emotional, Czech: nonemotional American: religious, Czech: non believer American: highly individualist, Czech: equalitarian American: blazing smiles, Czech: frowning etc etc... I suggest you to look on internet about information. Or just look to section Culture on this site: http://www.myczechrepublic.com/czech_culture/ Well, I'm not sure what this means - that it's too monollithic and not enough colourful? Or maybe right opposite? I was born in Kladno, I was raised in Kladno and I live in Kladno (I work in Prague, which is about 30km from Kladno) Which is very typical for Czechs, i believe. Most people I know moved twice in their live top (I don't count staying on college etc). You are welcome
Ethnicity is not good word, culture is much better. Possibly. No! Psychology is often considered an obscuranist pseudo-science. No. Most of such therapies are state-forced. No. Yep, the same is right for Czechs. What? What emotional neediness and expressions and anxiety and fear? How expressed? Where (not) expressed? Sorry, it’s impossible to think clearly in such understatements. … as viewed by Americans. Maybe it fits some weird Polish communities in America, but regarding the Poles here in Europe it is nothing but a load of prejudices. The robust woman stuff made me laugh. That is not Poland, that’s baroque. Isn’t it a tautology? No, there is too small demand. But there is a lot of people graduated in psychology. After the fall of communism, psychology, sociology and pedagogy became domains of the escapist students who were not able to study something else. Yes, but there’s no council of the whole extended family. You contact only some particular persons. The Czechs too, but we definitely prefer to air it to the known members of the extended family than to an unknown therapist. Well, I guess a lot of the problems you solve with your childern would be in the Czech culture solved by the childern themself. Only the problems you are not able to solve with your husband would be discussed by some members of the extended family. The Czech rule number one is “not bother others if you are able to solve the problem yourself”.
Hello wer: [No. Most of such therapies are state-forced] What do you mean state forced? How does the state find out that you need therapy and then how do they force you? [No, there is too small demand. But there is a lot of people graduated in psychology. After the fall of communism, psychology, sociology and pedagogy became domains of the escapist students who were not able to study something else.] Is this your opinion? Please expand "escapist students who were not able to study something else." [What? What emotional neediness and expressions and anxiety and fear? How expressed? Where (not) expressed? ] I mean do Czechs share their emotions with one another in the family? Are emotions a focal point? Is there a need to understand one another emotionally? Does the father interact and connect with the kids emotionally or is his primary role the provider whose view is kids are to be seen and not heard? There is a trend here in America to get in touch with your emotions and to communicate with each other. Gushy stuff. [Well, I guess a lot of the problems you solve with your childern would be in the Czech culture solved by the childern themself. ] Are you talking about older children? What do you mean? [Maybe it fits some weird Polish communities in America, but regarding the Poles here in Europe it is nothing but a load of prejudices. The robust woman stuff made me laugh. That is not Poland, that’s baroque.] This is the problem with the lack of first hand experience with modern cultures - there is very little literature to shed any light on how ones culture might affect a therapeutic setting. The literature that is available is old and from an American view point. So what is prejudices? You mean stereotype or misinformation? Are Polish women now-a-days primarily thin and concerned with their figures? Thank you for chatting with me.
Eso: My great grandparents were Czech. They lived in New York (Manhattan and then Astoria). The last names I know of are Gregor, Dyndor, Hubinek and Skrivanek. My grandmother was born in New York. She married my grandfather who was also born in New York and was Polish. One document that my grandmother still has (that nobody can read/interpret) says something about my great grandfather being a subject of Austria? My grandma is the only one left that has any knowledge of the Czech and Polish cultures back during the depression. After that, we entered the great mixing pot of America and everything else that I got from my dad's side of the family is a little bit known to me but not very much. It is interesting to hear about the Czech culture and to learn a little bit of the transgenerational traits that were passed down to me. :lol:
Eh, I've always thought that in pretty much all the "western" countries it's the same. While not all women might be slim, most of them ARE concerned with their figures and wish to be slim. And it's no wonder, when you think about the the current image of an attractive woman imposed upon us by media and accepted by most of society. Unfortunately, women diagnosed with bulimia / mental anorexia are not something to be unheard of here and are one of the clients of psychologists. And my 2 cents about the topic If it can serve as any indication, I'm "scared" of frequency you use the word "emotion." Here we think about one's emotions as of a private matter better kept to oneself or at most to be shared only with the people closest to you. Going to a psychiatrist when there's no real need (at least from our - Czech - viewpoint) is one of the things we joke about (and don't approve, considering it to be a sign of weakness or inability to cope with common daily-life problems = incompetence) when it comes to the American way of life. I have to admit I have no idea what wer means by therapy being enforced by state. Does he mean therapy ordered by court (e.g. for a person who has committed crimes with sexual motives) or by social authorities (I don't think school has much say in this) for juvenile delinquents? I would say these are quite rare. To my best knowledge, most common kind of a therapy is going to advisory centre specialised in marital problems. For example I was quite shocked when I learned that in the USA, prescribing drugs with calming effects to children is not uncommon. That was something pretty much unheard of here when I was young (like 2+ decades ago) and I really hope it didn't change. I can't really agree with wer's "Psychology is often considered an obscuranist pseudo-science." I believe psychology is accepted by most people here. I don't think majority of people can't even tell the difference between a psychologist (graduate from Faculty of Arts/Philosophy) and a psychiatrist (medical school graduate). I myself am aware of the difference only because my mother was a psychologist. On the other hand, going to a psychologist/psychiatrist is not something you would openly talk about as it indicates issues with your mental health which bears certain stigma here - no one wants his sanity to be questioned (keep in mind we wouldn't normally visit a psychologist just because of some minor issue). And I have no idea about the quality of recent psychology students/graduates. All I know that when I graduated from high school (15 years ago), there were two majors where getting accepted for was almost a miracle: Law and - what a surprise - Psychology. But maybe it's changed. Back in my time it was Pedagogical Faculty where people went when they wanted an easy way to a degree.
Petr_B: Thank you for sharing. I have to run out right now, but would love to speak with you later - Do you IM? instant message? I haven't but it sure would make talking a lot easier. Let me know! Thanks
I was not speaking about all kinds of therapies, but only about marriage family therapies you did ask about. Most of them are related to the family disputes (mostly the divorces) solved by the justice which always tries to persuade the sides in dispute to an out-of-court solution. Therefore the justice iniciate the therapy. (OK, I admit the term “state-forced” is too strict, “stated-iniciated” is much better, if only because of the purpose of this state policy, which is to prevent a cruel state action.) Well, small, that’s relative, isn’t? But in the CR, the demand on this type of services is definitely much lower than in the USA or in the Western Europe - you can call it my opinion, but it is simply a fact. And the small demand drives a small number of the therapists, right? Concerning the students, Petr_B is right it was difficult to be accepted to the studies of the psychology. That’s because initially, the universities were not able to meet all the demand. Later, they did extend the capacity and with the following fall of the demand they did decrease the demands on the quality of the students. (The liberalization of the education was quite turbulent and it takes some time to find an equilibrium.) BTW, Petr_B, I did write about pedagogy as well. Of course. And we definitely share more emotions within the family than in public. Sorry, redchelle66, your question concerning the emotions are hard to answer. The range of emotions is wide. There are emotions you can express in public, emotions you can share in the family, among friends, to your partner, there are also emotions we don’t express at all. Your questions lead to the overgeneralization. Is it possible to understand emotionally? Maybe it’s a language barrier, but as I understand it, the understanding is a rational process. What? That sounds like a silly question if, for example, the Czech fathers do love their childern. Of course they do, we are not robots. I’m not speaking about some special relations of the parents and their childern, nor about persons of some particular age. It’s simply a consequence of the Czech self-reliance (the attitude “don’t bother others needlessly”). Rather stereotypes, the Poles do drink (wódka), but it doesn’t mean the alcohol is accepted as a form of release more than somewhere else. The Poles, as catholics, tend to have more childern, but it doesn’t mean they think of childern as of hands to work. Robust women are not viewed as prosperous (nor unprosperous). And the Polish women, if concerned in their figures and fashion, keep track of the global trends. Our statements are not contradictive, by “often” I did not mean “by the majority”. I mean “more than expected”.
I don't use any of IM applications. More importantly, I'm sorry but don't have any additional information related to psychotherapy than what I have already written here. If you really want some detailed information, you will be better off trying to get into contact with someone more knowledgeable (= someone working in the field). My mother has been working as forensic expert in the field of psychology for decades. Lots, if not most cases she worked at were disputes about which parent will keep the child(ren) in his/her custody. So, I accumulated some very limited knowledge about it (though it might not be exact, covering all the possible cases, etc.). Here it goes. When it comes to dispute over child custody in the court, it is not something what I would call a therapy. It's just one-shot examination of parents/children/new partner of a parent/etc. (usually done by both a psychologist and a psychiatrist) ordered by the court resulting into providing an expert opinion which aids the judge to decide. And one more thing. I think it's obvious but still, just to be safe. The Czechs are not some small tribe following a small set by rules carved in stone (I have no idea how it is with about emigrant communities abroad though). Just like everywhere, there can be huge inter-family differences (as in e.g. authoritarian vs liberal). By the way, due to my very limited knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar, I'm quite struggling with expressing my thoughts in English exactly the way I wish. I can only hope that all I wrote makes sense and means the same thing I wanted to say.
[Most of them are related to the family disputes (mostly the divorces) solved by the justice which always tries to persuade the sides in dispute to an out-of-court solution. Therefore the justice iniciate the therapy.] Ok. I get it. We call this process Mediation - it is also court mandated. The process: a couple with children is seeking a divorce, the court acknowledges the divorce proceedings and sends you to mediation (1) to try to work out any disputes between the parents with regard to child custody and visitation; (2) mediator's professional opinion about child custody and visitation; and (3) not waste the court's time.
[And one more thing. I think it's obvious but still, just to be safe. The Czechs are not some small tribe following a small set by rules carved in stone (I have no idea how it is with about emigrant communities abroad though). Just like everywhere, there can be huge inter-family differences (as in e.g. authoritarian vs liberal).] Oh, I don't think that at all. I was more curious about how disputes were solved... obviously every culture communicates, has feelings (emotions), and deals with adversities. I was simply trying to get a feel for how the Czech culture deals with these issues so that I can one day be a more effective therapist. I don't want to sit down with a person, couple or family from another culture and offend or not have a large enough knowledge base to be effective with interventions.
This makes me laugh. I don't think Czech fathers are like male hamsters or something and eat their young! lol. I was trying to get a feel for what type of parenting was used, i.e. authoritarian, etc. :lol:
That is not given by the Czech culture, rather by the character of the parents. It differs family by family.
Just out of curiosity - you'll have translator on your session with you? Or is it about Czechs living in USA? (because these will be quite different tribe
Good question. The likelihood of a Czech speaking person arriving at my office in Redding, California, is quite unlikely. While it certainly would make sense to contact Czech people here in America, I didn't go that route. I approached through a historical perspective to understand where and why certain behaviors, beliefs, etc. (culture) were passed down from generation to generation.
Ok, just for explanation, why I'm asking - Czechs are known for very quick adaptation to changing conditions - kind of legacy of bumpy history, so difference can be considerable.
I'm American, but I spent some time with my Czech fiancee's family. Here were some differences I noticed between Czech and American families. 1. Americans go out to eat : Czech mothers cook dinners and make various other foods and treats all the time. Grandmothers take pride in cooking well and a lot. 2. My American family is... (with cousins, grandparents, uncles/aunts, and the nuclear family) only 27 people : The Czech family I encountered was probably over 60, and they counted first and second and third cousins as near family which extended them over 150... considering they all lived within an hour of eachother, and I live 8 hours from my nearest relatives, there is a HUGE difference in structure!!! 3. US Grandparents come once a year : Czech Grandparents raise young kids a lot. They can often be as close as parents. One often spends the night over at their grandparents house once a week or more. 4. Czech families do express emotion to eachother. Whenever her stepfather would get mad, he would get quiet and become full of thought. Everyone would avoid him, or pester him to eat his dinner, lol. He just emoted his mood. But, His problem was HIS PROBLEM. Everyone else just tried to avoid and let him deal with it. If they bug him, they are going to be in for an earfull! Furthermore, whenever my fiancee has a problem, I am the only one really allowed to help her. Strangers or my family that try to aid her just simply PISS her off or annoy her. She then goes on about how she can handle it and people are too nosey. She can handle her own emotions better than someone not in her head, and if she wants advice, she will ask. That is the rule and it really holds true. 5. Czechs may not see themselves as individualists in the American sense, but they are very individualistic in thought and expression. They do not have an overbearing pop culture to tell them that cheating is normal, fast food is alright, and smoking pot is cool like America does. Czechs are products of their parents raising more than the TV. 6. Czechs will probably talk emotions to their one close friend if they really have to, or their mother. lol. Oh, and their husbands/ wives. My fiancee will express her emotions freely to me, but in public she will shut it and just stew. Why should she be obligated to let strangers know how she feels when they will just say "awww poor thing." Ya see... "poor thing," now they are making fun of her. That is her psychology. 7. Czechs are more practical than Americans. They don't have the money to pay for a Hummer or big screen TV, so they buy a little TV and fuel economy Skoda, and they wonder why anyone would want a gas guzzling Hummer anyway. It is just common sense to them. They are practical and subtle. Also, Czechs work to live. Americans live to work. Much different attitudes. Americans have to fix their emotions quickly so they can run off and be "normal." Czechs sit down and try to fix the actual thing causing them a problem. Different approaches ya see? The American wants to fix the emotion. The Czech wants to fix what causes the emotion. just my 2 cents
