Psycho copies bizarre and chaotic sex

The Telegraph today tells the sad tale of the investigation of popular TV psychiatrist Dr Raj Persaud by the General Medical Council (GMC), following allegations of plagiarism. Says the newspaper, Dr Persaud admitted copying on the first day of a GMC hearing that will determine whether he has been guilty of misconduct. The GMC has already declared his actions to be "inappropriate" and "misleading", but the fitness-to-practice panel hearing has yet to decide whether his behaviour was dishonest or liable to bring the profession into disrepute.

Dr Persaud's book, From the Edge of the Couch, is said to contain passages plagiarised from four different academic articles written by nine authors as well as 'borrowing' text from Professor Thomas Blass's book The Man Who Shocked the World to fuel four of his articles. Other allegations of plagiarism are listed in the Telegraph article.

Helpfully, the Telegraph gives examples of the copying, of this is one:

"Persaud's From the Edge of the Couch, published 2003: Not infrequently, bizarre and chaotic sexuality is expressed in a primitive way through lycanthropic symptoms. Patients whose internal fears exceed their coping capabilities may externalise them via projection and constitute a serious threat to others."

American Journal of Psychiatry article, 1977, reports: "Not infrequently, bizarre and chaotic sexuality is expressed in a primitive way through lycanthropic symptoms. Patients whose internal fears exceed their coping capabilities may externalise them via projection and constitute a serious threat to others."

Says the IPKat, it's probably worth considering the GMC rather than the courts where you've got a medical copyright infringer. Litigation is too expensive and the measure of damages is likely to be small, but you can really make sure that whoever copies you this time round will think twice once he finds his picture in all the papers. Merpel says, I like the bit that says "patients whose internal fears exceed their coping capabilities may externalise them via projection and constitute a serious threat to others" -- but that's because I read "coping" as "copying" ...

Review of From the Edge of the Couch here
Google Image hits for the search term 'nasogenital' here
More on doctors and misconduct here and here
Really scary doctors' misconduct here