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:

Disembodied brains, culture and science: Indigenous lives under gaze (Part 1 of 2) Dec 20, 2008

Show notes

The incredible saga of Ishi, California's last 'wild' Indian, is the stuff of American folklore. It's also the quest for a lost brain, taken from Ishi's tuberculosis ravaged body at death—only to be rediscovered and repatriated 80 years later. And next week—a young Maori scientist working with post-mortem brain tissue is breaking new ground, to keep her lab life 'culturally safe'.

Untangling the talk Dec 13, 2008

Show notes

What humans say to each other is perplexing at the best of times. But what if all you have is sight, no sound? Deaf people 'see' language through signing and lip-reading -- with surprising brain scan results. Forensic linguists often only have sound, no sight -- working with grisly sound recordings from murder scenes and covert criminal deals, to sleuth for suspects. Tune in to untangle some tricky talk.

Extraordinary Cases in psychology: Part 4 of 4 - Little Hans and the oedipus Complex Dec 06, 2008

Show notes

The oedipus Complex - Dr Sigmund Freud's unusual theory that children desire their parent of opposite sex, and want harm to come to the other - has provoked much controversy. Head back to 1904, and it was a little Viennese boy's phobia of horses who became the unlikely evidence for Freud's thinking. A curious tale of castration anxiety, penis envy and the plight of poor Little Hans. NB: The All in the Mind podcast edition is a different program from the broadcast edition this week for copyright reasons. And, the streaming audio is on the BBC's website here.

Extraordinary Cases in Psychology: Part 3 of 4—The man with the hole in his head Nov 29, 2008

Show notes

Extreme cases of brain damage litter the history of neuroscience. Phineas Gage is perhaps the most famous. A railway worker in 19th-century Vermont, he managed to survive a catastrophic accident—the penetration of a metre-long iron rod through his head. What happened to Gage has become the stuff of legend, and fundamentally changed him and the way we think about the brain. NB: The All in the Mind podcast edition is a different program from the broadcast edition this week for copyright reasons. And, the streaming audio is on the BBC's website here.

Extraordinary Cases in psychology: Part 2 of 4 - The wild boy of Aveyron Nov 22, 2008

Show notes

In 1800, a young boy emerged from the woods of the Aveyron District in France, naked and wild. He became a scientific enigma to influential psychologist Dr Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, and redefined the nature vs. nurture debate. His legacy lives on today, especially in the Montessori approach to learning. NB: The All in the Mind podcast edition is a different program from the broadcast edition this week for copyright reasons. And, the streaming audio is on the BBC's website here.

Extraordinary Cases in psychology: Part 1 of 4 - The story of Kitty Genovese (broadcast not podcast only) Nov 15, 2008

Show notes

When a young woman, Kitty Genovese was brutally killed in a prolonged attack in New York in 1964, not one of 38 witnesses called for help until too late. The case led to the naming of the phenomenon known as the Bystander Effect. The first of four compelling programs on influential cases in the history of psychology. NB: The All in the Mind podcast edition is a different program from the broadcast edition this week for copyright reasons. And, the streaming audio is on the BBC's website here.

The voices within... Nov 08, 2008

Show notes

Many people hear voices inside their head -- some are diagnosed with schizophrenia, others live privately with the experience. International leaders in the Hearing Voices Network gather in Australia this week, controversially challenging the belief that voices are a pathological symptom without psychological meaning. They argue people can find it therapeutic to 'dialogue' with the voices. Meet three clinicians pushing the boundaries.

Future mind: are computers radically changing the way we think? Nov 01, 2008

Show notes

We live in a world mediated by flickering screens. But do 'people of the screen' think fundamentally differently to 'people of the book'? What will the brain look like in generations to come? Eminent neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield paints an apocalyptic picture of an identity lost, and cognition fundamentally compromised, forever stuck in the sensory chaos of early childhood.

The secret life of bacteria - small, smart and thoughtful! Oct 25, 2008

Show notes

We can't survive without them -- and we've long underestimated their prowess. Controversially, bacteria could even have cognitive talents that rival our own. Predatory behaviour, cooperation, memory -- Jules Verne eat your heart out -- Natasha Mitchell takes you on a strange adventure into the secret world of microbial mentality.

Working with the mind in dementia, not against it (Part 2 of 2) Oct 18, 2008

Show notes

Dementia can produce challenging and erratic behaviours. The disease itself is one cause, but so is the world outside. Which psychosocial interventions really make a difference? And, a tour through an orthodox nursing home for the most extreme cases -- there's a bus stop with no bus, a car that won't go -- and it really works.

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