The bulk of transcultural research has concentrated on particular themes, which include parasuicides among British Asian women, schizophrenia among Afro-Carribeans, and clinical presentation of somatisation in different races (Littlewood & Lipsedge, 1989). The focus has largely been on clinical patterns of illness and the social determinant of distress as experienced by ethnic minorities in the community remains largely neglected. An attempt has been made, after two years experience of working in a Birmingham city catchment area with an Asian Muslim community, to highlight day to day cultural issues which directly or indirectly contribute to psychiatric morbidity.