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:

Is being gay in your biology? Aug 02, 2008

Show notes

What makes someone gay? The quest for the biological roots of sexual orientation remains rife with controversy. Is it in your genes, handedness, or the hormonal soup of the early foetus? Or, is the answer hidden deep inside the brain? Homo or hetero—the science of sexual attraction captures everyone's attention.

Special Series (Part 3 of 3) Up the Line to Goodna: Patient rights and staff fights Jul 26, 2008

Show notes

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. During a time of major institutional and cultural upheaval, the Office of the Patient's Friend opened its doors in 1977, the first patient advocacy service to operate within the confines of an Australian psychiatric hospital. Part advocate, part whistle-blower—running the service has taken a might of steel and a heart of gold. Thirty years later, Nadia Beer remains in the role.

Special Series (Part 2 of 3) Up the Line to Goodna: stories from inside the asylum Jul 19, 2008

Show notes

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. In this series All in the Mind unearths stories from people who lived and worked there. A nurse reflects on life in the asylum during World War II before the dramatic arrival of modern medications, and two sisters reminisce on growing up at Goodna with their matron aunt in the 1930s. Very different insights from opposite sides of the ward walls.

Special Series (Part 1 of 3) Up the Line to Goodna: stories from inside the asylum Jul 12, 2008

Show notes

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australia's largest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. In this series All in the Mind shares stories from people who lived and worked there; from a nurse who worked there from the 1940s to a woman incarcerated as a young ward of the state, now fighting for justice. Warts-and-all recollections of madness, care and abuse.

Apes, legal personhood and the plight of Nim Chimpsky Jul 05, 2008

Show notes

In Austria, animal activists have taken the case of a chimp called Matthew as far as the European Court of Human Rights. Controversially, they're fighting for his right to legal personhood. And, the incredible saga of Nim Chimpsky. A landmark effort to teach a chimp sign language and raise him like a human child. Project Nim became a scientific soap opera of epic proportions.

Brain hijinks: out-of-body experiences and other tricks of consciousness Jun 28, 2008

Show notes

What happens when your brain sees the world not as it really is? This week, the scientific effort to simulate out-of-body experiences to probe the limits of the self. And, remarkable stories of vision gone heywire—what they reveal about our 'seeing brain'. Two scientists join Natasha Mitchell with extraordinary insights into how your brain creates your mind...

Michael Gazzaniga: Split brains and other heady tales Jun 21, 2008

Show notes

One of the big names of the brain is Michael Gazzaniga, whose career was forged in the lab of Nobel laureate Roger Sperry. His striking experiments continue to uncover the differences between your left and right hemispheres. Today he's on the US President's Bioethics Council, heads up a major project on neuroscience and the law, and is a prolific writer of popular neuroscience. He joins Natasha Mitchell to reflect on the brain's left and right, and the mysterious nature of free will.

Brave New Mind: Smart drugs and the ethics of neuro-enhancement Jun 14, 2008

Show notes

An April Fools prank this year saw the launch of the World Anti-Brain Doping Authority. Jokes aside, drugs like Ritalin for ADHD and Modafinil for sleeping disorders are now being popped by people who want to be weller than well. Some argue that the spectre of 'smart drugs' and 'cosmetic pharmacology' pose a challenge to our authentic selves. Do we know the long term risks? And in the classroom, would brain-doping be cheating?

Courage: Guts, grit, spine, heart, and verve. Jun 07, 2008

Show notes

Polish-born Sabina Wolanski, now 80, was a teenager when her entire family was killed by Nazis, and was the sole Holocaust survivor to speak at the launch of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Russian-born Maria Tumarkin came to Australia as a teenager in 1980s. Her new book unearths courage in the crevices of everyday life, and she's defiantly not interested in heroes. They join Natasha Mitchell in an intimate exchange about brave minds.

When Words and Science Meet - All in the Mind at the Sydney Writers' Festival May 31, 2008

Show notes

Stefan Merrill Block's debut novel, The Story of Forgetting, is a clever tale about familial Alzheimer's disease. Spanning time and place, it's the surprising story of a gene, a fantasy land where memory is absent, a hunchback, and one boy's quest to understand the disease stealing his mother's mind. And, Canadian emergency physician Dr Vincent Lam takes us inside the lives of four young doctors in his compelling debut, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. They join Natasha Mitchell in discussion from the 2008 Sydney Writers' Festival.

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