Podcast
Mental health: success, family and wellbeing
What shapes us? Childhood, emotions, relationships, pressure to perform, therapy
1 h 44 min
Also listen on
TAMly podcast s odborníky
In short
- Mental health is not only about diagnoses or psychological difficulties. The episode asks how wellbeing shows on an ordinary day and reminds us that we can look for support before life starts falling apart.
- Pressure to perform and fear of failure: why some young people feel they must finish school, build a career, find a relationship and reach other milestones before thirty. The conversation shows how family and the environment we grow up in feed into these expectations.
- Relationships and adulthood: the episode covers deciding about parenthood, conflict in young couples and couples therapy. It also asks why men often come to therapy only once they are in crisis.
- Vietnamese families in Czechia: the idea of the “good child”, expectations of success, the stigma of failure and differences between generations. The episode asks what can happen when family values meet the Czech environment.
- Emotions: not everyone grows up where feelings are talked about openly. Care and love are sometimes expressed in other ways, and keeping a distance from emotions can also be how a person learned to protect themselves.
- What we carry from home: values, rules and ideas of what is “right” can stay with us long into adulthood. The episode also covers childhood and trauma, and invites us to gradually work out which of these rules are truly our own.
- How psychotherapy works: the conversation explains how much the relationship and trust between client and therapist matter, and what decides whether therapy works. It compares therapy with coaching and closes with the question of when to give it a chance.
- It also touches on ADHD, diagnoses and psychology on social media, which is best taken as food for thought rather than a diagnosis. If you are looking for a therapist, the Opatruj se map or the Nevypusť duši website can help you find your way.
How can we tell that we are doing well mentally? Why do we sometimes feel we have to manage everything, succeed and never disappoint anyone? And how does the environment we grew up in shape us as adults?
In the next episode of the series “TAMly podcast with experts”, Dan Le talks with psychotherapist Dominika Čechová about mental health, emotions, family patterns, relationships and psychotherapy – including the experience of Vietnamese families in Czechia.
Produced by Linda Duong (TAMly).
What it covers
What mental health means
The opening part looks at what mental health actually means and how wellbeing can be recognised in everyday life. The conversation starts from the idea that it is not only about diagnoses or psychological difficulties.
It also covers when it is worth starting to look for support and why we do not have to wait until life starts falling apart.
Pressure to perform, relationships and adulthood
The following chapters explore pressure around school, career and success, and why some young people feel they must reach every life milestone before thirty. They also touch on relationships, deciding about parenthood, conflicts in young couples and couples therapy.
The conversation also pauses on why men often come to therapy only once they are in crisis.
Vietnamese families and the “good child”
The conversation turns to the experience of Vietnamese families in Czechia: the idea of the “good child”, expectations of success, the stigma of failure and differences between generations. It also asks what can happen when family values meet the Czech environment.
For many second-generation listeners these are familiar themes. Hearing them named out loud can help people understand both themselves and their parents.
Emotions and what we carry from home
A large part of the episode is about emotions: how we learn to feel and name them, and why not everyone grows up where feelings are talked about openly. Care and love are sometimes expressed in other ways, and keeping a distance from emotions can also be how a person learned to protect themselves.
The episode also covers childhood, trauma and what we take on from parents and other important people – values, rules and ideas of what is “right”. Over time we can discover which of them are truly our own.
How psychotherapy works
The closing part explains how psychotherapy works, how important the relationship and trust between client and therapist are, and what decides whether therapy works. The conversation compares it with coaching, returns to men, emotions and couples therapy, and also touches on ADHD, diagnoses and psychology on social media.
The final chapter is called “When to give therapy a chance”.
Did you know? Facts behind the episode
Click a question to play exactly that moment of the conversation.
Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realise their abilities, learn and work well, and contribute to their community. It has intrinsic and instrumental value and is an integral part of our overall well-being.
At any moment, mental health can be protected or threatened by the interplay of many factors – individual, family, community and structural. Although most people are resilient, those exposed to adverse circumstances – such as poverty, violence, disability or inequality – are at higher risk of developing a mental health condition.
Many mental health conditions can be treated effectively at relatively low cost, yet health systems around the world remain significantly under-resourced and large gaps in treatment persist. The mental health care that is provided is often of poor quality. People with mental health conditions also frequently experience stigma, discrimination and violations of their human rights.
World Health Organization (2019)
Help-seeking for mental health and social attitudes in urban Vietnam are shaped mainly by how severe symptoms appear, mental health literacy, sociodemographic factors, stigma and the burden on carers.
Professional medical care is largely reserved for overt, socially disruptive psychotic symptoms (e.g. aggression). Non-disruptive conditions such as depression or generalised anxiety are mostly handled within the family, because they are rarely recognised and lack an everyday name.
Sociodemographic factors strongly influence social views. Disorder-specific stigma attached to conditions that disrupt public life (especially schizophrenia and alcoholism), combined with a heavy burden on family carers (financial strain, emotional exhaustion, patient aggression, lack of medication), creates a systemic barrier: formal psychiatric consultation is delayed until home care can no longer cope.
Van der Ham et al. (2011)
Longitudinal research on Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrant families in the US showed links between intergenerational cultural dissonance, parent–child conflict and weaker bonding. Acculturation gaps between parents and children are also described in Vietnamese families.
Choi et al. (2007)
A meta-analysis of 124 independent samples shows that childhood emotional abuse is linked to difficulties with emotion regulation in adulthood, marked by a broad tendency to avoid negative emotional experiences. More childhood emotional abuse is associated with greater use of avoidant strategies such as rumination, experiential avoidance and behavioural avoidance.
It is also linked to difficulties tolerating distress, controlling impulses, accepting emotions and seeing them clearly. These associations stay fairly stable across overall levels of childhood maltreatment, while childhood neglect and deprivation additionally increase the tendency to suppress emotional expression.
Amini-Tehrani et al. (2026)
A meta-analysis shows that parents’ use of physical punishment is consistently associated with a higher risk of harmful outcomes for children. In childhood it was linked to more aggression, antisocial behaviour, externalising and internalising problems, mental health problems, poorer parent–child relationships, lower cognitive ability, lower self-esteem and a higher risk of physical abuse.
In adulthood, a history of physical punishment predicted antisocial behaviour, mental health problems and stronger support for physical punishment. These associations held across studies and did not differ by children’s age or by country.
Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor (2016)
Research has shown a positive relationship between the therapeutic alliance – the working relationship between client and therapist – and psychotherapy outcomes. The link holds across therapeutic orientations (including CBT, psychodynamic and humanistic therapy), across client, therapist and observer ratings, and regardless of the alliance measure or research design used.
Flückiger et al. (2018)
Stronger conformity to traditional masculine norms (such as self-reliance, stoicism and emotional control) is linked to lower willingness to seek psychological help and weaker engagement once treatment has started. Most studies (59%) frame masculinity as a barrier, yet most recommendations (60%) build on masculine strengths – for example presenting help-seeking as a sign of male strength – revealing a gap between research frameworks and practical clinical recommendations.
Burns et al. (2025)
Tips for you
You can answer the questions anonymously. Answers appear once the TAMly team has checked them.
Notice how you are on ordinary days – sleep, energy, relationships, interest in things. Mental health is not only about the worst moments.
You can look for support before things “fall apart”. Talking to a professional is neither a failure nor an admission of weakness.
Try writing down the rules and expectations you brought from home and ask of each one: is this really mine?
If talking about feelings is hard for you, start simply: name one emotion a day, even if only to yourself.
When looking for a therapist, the relationship and trust matter. It is fine to ask how they work at the first meeting and to keep looking if it does not fit. The Opatruj se map or the Nevypusť duši website can help you find your way.
Treat psychology from social media as food for thought, not as a diagnosis. Only a professional can make one.
Sharing guidelines
- Anonymously – no names or personal details.
- With respect – no insults, hate or attacks on others.
- Speak for yourself – your own experience and views.
- We protect privacy – do not share sensitive details about other people.
Sources and further reading
- Amini-Tehrani, M., Mazidi, M., Ranjbar, S., Ohan, J. L., Weinborn, M., & Naragon-Gainey, K. (2026). Meta-analysis of associations between childhood emotional abuse and adulthood emotion regulation. Clinical Psychology Review, 128, 102778. doi.org ↗
- Burns, L., Olive, L., Turner, A., Rice, S., Wrobel, A., Montgomery-Farrer, B., Norton, B., Seidler, Z., & Hayley, A. (2025). The role of gender norm conformity in men’s psychological help-seeking and treatment engagement: A scoping review. Journal of Mental Health, 35(2), 230–248. doi.org ↗
- Choi, Y., He, M., & Harachi, T. W. (2007). Intergenerational cultural dissonance, parent–child conflict and bonding, and youth problem behaviors among Vietnamese and Cambodian immigrant families. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 37(1), 85–96. doi.org ↗
- Flückiger, C., Del Re, A. C., Wampold, B. E., & Horvath, A. O. (2018). The alliance in adult psychotherapy: A meta-analytic synthesis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 316–340. doi.org ↗
- Gershoff, E. T., & Grogan-Kaylor, A. (2016). Spanking and child outcomes: Old controversies and new meta-analyses. Journal of Family Psychology, 30(4), 453–469. doi.org ↗
- Van der Ham, L., Wright, P., Van, T. V., Doan, V. D. K., & Broerse, J. E. W. (2011). Perceptions of mental health and help-seeking behavior in an urban community in Vietnam: An explorative study. Community Mental Health Journal, 47(5), 574–582. doi.org ↗
- World Health Organization. (2019, December 19). Mental health. www.who.int ↗
- Sue, S., Cheng, J. K. Y., Saad, C. S., & Chu, J. P. (2012). Asian American mental health: A call to action. American Psychologist, 67(7), 532–544. doi.org ↗
- Cheng, A. W., Chang, J., O’Brien, J., Budgazad, M. S., & Tsai, J. (2017). Model minority stereotype: Influence on perceived mental health needs of Asian Americans. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 19(3), 572–581. doi.org ↗
- Lee, R. M., Choe, J., Kim, G., & Ngo, V. (2000). Construction of the Asian American Family Conflicts Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47(2), 211–222. doi.org ↗
- Clement, S., Schauman, O., Graham, T., Maggioni, F., Evans-Lacko, S., Bezborodovs, N., Morgan, C., Rüsch, N., Brown, J. S. L., & Thornicroft, G. (2015). What is the impact of mental health-related stigma on help-seeking? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. Psychological Medicine, 45(1), 11–27. doi.org ↗
- Wong, Y. J., Ho, M.-H. R., Wang, S.-Y., & Miller, I. S. K. (2017). Meta-analyses of the relationship between conformity to masculine norms and mental health-related outcomes. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 64(1), 80–93. doi.org ↗
- Nevypusť duši – duševní zdraví, informace a pomoc. nevypustdusi.cz nevypustdusi.cz ↗
- Opatruj se – mapa péče o duševní zdraví. opatruj.se www.opatruj.se ↗
- Národní ústav duševního zdraví (NUDZ). nudz.cz www.nudz.cz ↗
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