ABSTRACT
At first glance, the question of cultural matching between professional assessor and family being assessed is one that a minority ethnic psychiatrist, such as the author (South Asian, Hindu), might least wish to be asked publicly. For, either answer (‘yes’ or ‘no’) is easily open to being misunderstood unless the interrogator is willing to do a number of things-to be patient, to adopt the position of multiple disadvantage that many minority cultures occupy, and to identify and question the cultural assumptions of Western psychology.
