Raj Persaud, the television psychiatrist, has admitted copying the work of other academics in his book `From the Edge of the Couch' and in articles

TV psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud admits copying work of other academics
article in the Telegraph

Extracts:

"Dr Persaud, who is a regular on Richard and Judy, made the admission on the first day of a General Medical Council hearing that will determine whether he has been guilty of misconduct.

Today the presenter of Radio 4's 'All in the Mind' programme was found to have "copied" other people's papers and written articles that were not his own work."

"Dr Persaud's 2003 book `From the Edge of the Couch' contained passages plagiarised from four different academic articles written by nine authors.

Passages from an article and book by Professor Thomas Blass titled `The Man Who Shocked the World' were also plagiarised for four of Dr Persaud's articles.

Extracts from Prof Blass's work were found in Dr Persaud's paper `Why the Media Refuses to Obey' published in the March 2005 edition of 'Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry'.

Prof Blass's work was also lifted for an article 'Frailty That Allows Evil to Triumph' published in the Times Educational Supplement in February 2005.

Dr Persaud's paper 'The Man Who Shocked the World: The Life and Legacy of Stanley Milgram', which was published by the British Medical Journal in August 2005 also drew from Prof Blass's work.

The same applied to Dr Persaud's article 'Do You Obey Or Do You Rebel' submitted to the BMJ for publication before the end of 2005.

On June 30 2005, the Independent newspaper ran a piece by Dr Persaud titled 'A Dangerous War on Psychiatry', which was plagiarised from 'The Globalization of Scientology; Influence, Control and Opposition in Transnational Markets' by Professor Stephen Kent.

The allegations first arose in November 2005. At the time Dr Persaud was a consultant psychiatrist for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, a position he still holds."

I've always considered Raj Persaud one of the better psychiatrists. (There are a lot of lousy ones.) His books show sympathy and understanding, and he gives good advice. Many years ago he used to have regular short articles in British Mensa's monthly glossy magazine. They were excellent.