Raj Persaud MD FRCPsych

Raj Persaud, M.D., is a Consultant Psychiatrist who has worked as a Consultant at the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Hospitals in London from 1994-2008, and as an Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London. These are the premiere research and training institutions for Psychiatry in Europe. He was also Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the USA and Institute of Neurology at Queens Square. His training in psychiatry since leaving UCH medical school in1986 was entirely at the Institute of Psychiatry and the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals. Unusually for a psychiatrist, he also holds a degree in psychology, obtained with First Class Honours, and 8 other degrees and diplomas including a Masters in Statistics. He was awarded the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Research Prize and Medal as well as The Maudsley Hospital's own Denis Hill Prize, and The Osler Medal. The Royal College of Psychiatrists' recently also awarded him the Morris Markowe Prize. In 2004 he was appointed Visiting Professor for Public Understanding of Psychiatry at Gresham College, and he was asked by the Royal College of Psychiatrists to edit its first book aimed at educating the public on psychology and psychiatry. The Mind: A Users Guide was published in 2007 and reached the top ten best-seller list. All of his 5 previous books have been top ten best-sellers. His writing is in several established textbooks, including the Oxford Companion to the Mind and he has contributed a chapter in the latest comprehensive textbook of psychiatry for trainees: Psychiatry – An Evidence Based Text. He has approaching 100 publications in Journals such as The British Journal of Psychiatry, British Medical Journal and The Lancet. Recently he was elected Fellow of University College London and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He is patron or supporter of numerous mental health charities including OCD-UK, The Manic Depression Fellowship, Association of Post-Natal Illness, Childline, Action Aid and The Samaritans. The Independent on Sunday Newspaper conducted a poll amongst members of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Institute of Psychiatry to discover who were the top ten psychiatrists in the UK as rated by fellow psychiatrists. Dr Raj Persaud was the youngest doctor to make it into this esteemed list. The Times Newspaper also recently placed him as one of the Top Twenty Mental Health Gurus in the world. He is now podcast editor for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and also now has a free app on iTunes and google play store entitled 'Raj Persaud in conversation', which includes a lot of free information on the latest research findings in mental health, plus interviews with top experts from around the world. Download it free from these links:

Peter Bruggen, M.D., was part of the UK Royal College of Psychiatrist's Podcast Editor Team and co-author on this blog for many years, before dying in 2018. We have kept his name in the title of the blog to honour his great contribution to this blog for many years. From 1969 to 1994 he was a consultant psychiatrist at Hill End Adolescent Unit, St Albans. That unit had the UK's lowest length of stay and attracted around 100 professional visitors a year. He was also a consultant psychiatrist from 1969-90 at the Tavistock Clinic from where, with Sandy Bourne, he published several BMJ papers exposing the origins of systemic discipline and gender bias in the Distinction Awards process. He has been published in the BJP, BJMP, BMJ, Journal of Family Therapy, Family Process (USA), Journal of Adolescence and others. He was the first to use the words 'family therapy' in the BJP. Topics included family therapy at the death bed, working with families in the community rather than admitting adolescents to hospital, and staff relationships. Dr Bruggen has also written three books, including Surviving Adolescence and Helping Families (both with Charles O'Brian), and Who Cares? True Stories of the NHS Reforms, for which he conducted face-to-face interviews with one-hundred people.