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 silent disability: acquired brain injury and the justice system May 09, 2009

Show notes

Impulsive behaviour, anger, mood swings, poor concentration, memory loss. A knock to the head that qualifies as a brain injury can transform your behaviour in unexpected ways. Confronting research suggests acquired or traumatic brain injuries - past and recent - are rife in prison populations, with little to no screening or targeted interventions in place.

Spirit Child (broadcast edition) + Beyond Coma (podcast and Radio Australia edition) May 02, 2009

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An unusual behaviour, an enlarged head, a limp, or a superb musical talent -- ability, disability or difference? In Northern Ghana, disabled children labelled as evil 'Spirit Children' are killed. Acclaimed African BBC reporter Sorious Samura reports. For copyright reasons, this week's podcast and online edition is an alternative from our archives, Beyond Coma: The Plight of the Persistant Vegetative State.

Comedy and the psyche Apr 25, 2009

Show notes

Good comedians push us where few of us dare to go -- we find ourselves rolling in the aisles with shock and delight. Two top-of-the-bill acts at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival reflect on Freud, the comedic psyche and the power of the potty mouth. And, New Yorker columnist and science journalist Jim Holt unravels the rollicking history and philosophy of jokes.

Thomas Szasz: psychiatrists respond Apr 18, 2009

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Controversial psychiatrist Professor Thomas Szasz wrote The Myth of Mental Illness in 1961. Nearly 50 years later, on the eve of his 89th birthday, he continues to both ignite and inspire -- as the huge number of comments on the All in the Mind blog indicates after our extended interview with him. This week, two psychiatrists respond to their profession's most vigilant critic.

Thomas Szasz speaks (Part 2 of 2) Apr 11, 2009

Show notes

In 1961 maverick psychiatrist and libertarian Professor Thomas Szasz published his controversial and influential epic, The Myth of Mental Illness. Half a century later he maintains we live in a therapeutic state—a 'pharmacracy'—and that psychiatry is a 'pseudoscientific racket'. On the eve of his 89th birthday he joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation. Next week, psychiatrists respond.

Thomas Szasz speaks (Part 1 of 2) Apr 04, 2009

Show notes

In 1961 maverick psychiatrist and libertarian Professor Thomas Szasz published his controversial and influential epic, The Myth of Mental Illness. In it he argued that mental illness is a fiction and a medical metaphor. Half a century later he maintains we live in a therapeutic state—a 'pharmacracy' where psychiatry is synonymous with coercion. On the eve of his 89th birthday he joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation over two weeks about his contentious legacy.

The modern teenager: myth or marvel? Mar 28, 2009

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Monosyllabic, messy, self-conscious and sleepy—science now has the tumultuous teenager in its sights. Are they risk-takers with brains still under construction? Or competent adults grossly misinterpreted by modern science? From evolutionary theories to the bright lights of the brain scan—a provocative debate is being waged.

Doctoring with Darwinian medicine Mar 21, 2009

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Look in your doctor's kitbag, and you'll probably find a stethoscope, a thermometer, a first-aid kit. But a copy of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species too? 'Darwinian Medicine' asks: why do we get sick, and why didn't the body evolve to be better? Psychiatrist Randolph Nesse argues physicians ignore evolutionary theories at the peril of their patients. All in the Mind continues Radio National's celebrations of Darwin's 200th birthday...

Ancient brains: Rare finds and past lives Mar 14, 2009

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Archaeologists in Yorkshire have dug up a 2,000-year-old human skull, incredibly with brain tissue still intact. When this brain last saw the world, the Romans were yet to invade Britain and tribes occupied the North. And in another stunning find -- the first ever fossilised brain -- that of a 300 million-year-old fish, last alive in the Late Paleozoic.

Dreams: the stuff memories are made of? (Part 2 of 2) Mar 08, 2009

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Dreams feel meaningful—drawn from a mishmash of content from our waking lives. But it's a hot debate among scientists, who are yet to confirm why we sleep, let alone dream. Neuroscientist Matthew Wilson's extraordinary experiments involve eavesdropping on the sleeping minds of rats. He proposes dreaming is central to how we remember and learn.

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