All In The Mind

Why do people lie? Why do relationships fall apart? Can trauma change your brain?

Every week on All in the Mind, award-winning journalist Sana Qadar explores the psychology behind the biggest questions in our lives — how we think, feel and behave.

Featuring leading experts like Esther Perel, Billy Garvey and Ethan Kross, you’ll hear personal stories and practical insights that will leave you thinking long after the podcast ends.

Whether it’s debunking pop psychology trends or translating the latest neuroscience research, more than 100,000 listeners join Sana each month to learn the best strategies for surviving life with your mental health intact.

All in the Mind is created for ABC’s Radio National by specialist journalists and reporters at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and was awarded Best Health and Wellness podcast at the 2026 Australian Audio Awards

Latest Episodes:

The brain and Omega 3 - fishy or fact? Mar 18, 2006

Show notes

It's now recognised that Omega 3, essential fatty acids mainly found in fish, can help to prevent conditions like cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis but the evidence is accumulating for just how important fish oil is for mental health and wellbeing. We hear some remarkable findings from a British study looking at the effect of giving fish oil supplements to children with ADHD and learning difficulties. And the figures showing significantly lower depression rates in countries which eat lots of seafood may give you an idea for tonight's dinner!

Outsider art Mar 11, 2006

Show notes

For some individuals living with psychosis, art-making becomes an act of necessity, a way to bring coherence to experiences that threaten to overwhelm. We meet an artist whose hallucinatory episodes serve as inspiration for paintings and drawings, as we learn about the fascinating history of outsider art.

The Creating Brain - Reaching Xanadu Mar 04, 2006

Show notes

Is there anything different about the brains of extraordinary creative geniuses like Michelangelo, Coleridge or Mozart? World renowned psychiatrist and doctor of English Renaissance Literature Dr Nancy Andreasen unravels the 'creative brain' and explores how we can foster creativity in ourselves and throughout our society.

Epilepsy - Taming seizures and dispelling myths Feb 25, 2006

Show notes

Until the 18th century epilepsy was associated with the supernatural or seen as the work of the devil, and it continues to be surrounded by social stigma. There's still a hard core of sufferers who aren't helped by medication - despite the plethora of new drugs being developed. Lynne Malcolm speaks with a brave young girl who turned to brain surgery after years of daily seizures, a woman whose life has been transformed by nerve stimulator implanted in her chest and a geneticist who gives us hope for the future.

What's in a face? Feb 18, 2006

Show notes

Faces are the most important biological stimuli we see and we've evolved to be exquisitely sensitive to the most minute changes in another person's face. But what happens when our brain's ability to recognise the human face breaks down? In All in the Mind this week, some intriguing research on how our brains process faces, and we hear one inspiring woman's story of what it feels like not to even recognise her family and friends, and what strategies she uses to adapt to her condition of 'face blindness'.

The prison of depression - a conversation with Dorothy Rowe Feb 11, 2006

Show notes

Dorothy Rowe has always seen herself as an outsider, yet this psychologist and prolific author is considered one of the 50 wisest people in the UK and her many books continue to sell like hot cakes. Depression, she says, is an intolerable prison we build for ourselves, but we can escape by choosing to change the way we interpret our lives. Hear her controversial yet heartfelt views on the 'prison of depression' in this frank conversation with Lynne Malcolm.

The Other End of Shyness Feb 04, 2006

Show notes

Do you privately shake with nerves or shyly blush when the attention is on you? Most people experience some form of shyness but others are so immobilised by the fear of being judged negatively that they can barely function. Social phobia is the third most common mental illness after depression and substance abuse. We hear about one woman's 20 year struggle with social anxiety and some recent scientific findings about the brain activity associated with this disorder.

Petrol sniffing and the brain: 'petrol blackbella, chuck im la bin' Yilila Jan 29, 2006

Show notes

The practice of petrol sniffing is devastating some Australian Aboriginal communities, with some kids starting to inhale petrol fumes as young as six years old. But amazingly very little was known about the effect sniffing petrol has on the brain until recently. Lynne Malcolm speaks with a scientist whose research is beginning to cast light on a problem which has been too easy to sweep under the carpet. And we hear from an Aboriginal mental health worker who takes computerised card games out into the community to test the brain function of her people.

If this is a Man? Men and mandatory detention Jan 21, 2006

Show notes

The majority of asylum seekers held in Australia's immigration detention centres are men. Detention centres impose severe restrictions and for men long-term incarceration can be devastating. Aamer Sultan is a doctor and refugee and he believes the three years he spent in detention changed the core of his identity. The director of the NSW Institute of Psychiatry, Dr Louise Newman, assists some of those critically disturbed by their incarceration. Together they offer insight into the impact of long-term detention on men.

Growing Up a Clone: The Psychology of Reproductive Cloning Jan 14, 2006

Show notes

The prospect of human clones walking amongst us is a while off yet. Some argue that human reproductive cloning is inevitable, others suggest our moral sensibilities will hold us back even when the technology is ripe. But whatever our brave future holds for us, ethicists are already asking what it might be like to grow up a clone? Can we predict what the social and psychological impacts of being born a 'mini-me' will be - an exact genetic copy of just one other? From identical twins and stepchildren to the progeny of famous parents, Psychiatrist Stephen Levick and other guests join Natasha Mitchell, and embark on a remarkable thought experiment to find out.

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