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:

Art in the Asylum: orphans of the art world? Part 1 of 2 (The Cunningham Dax Collection) Oct 13, 2007

Show notes

Germany and Australia are home to two of the largest collections of art by psychiatric patients gathered from old asylums - the Prinzhorn and Cunningham Dax collections. The Nazis exploited the European works in their horrifying campaign against 'degenerate' art. But what are the ethics of displaying the art now? Are they clinical records, or orphaned creations? Some see them as diagnostic tools, others as deeply private expressions of tormented, incarcerated minds.

Burma: 'I resist in my mind only' Oct 06, 2007

Show notes

Medical anthropologist Monique Skidmore has conducted field work in Burma for over a decade, carefully probing the ways the state manipulates the emotional life of the Burmese, and the psychological strategies they adopt to survive under a military regime. Fear threads through every conversation and gesture. Also, updates from a health worker in the longstanding refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. The mental health challenges are immense.

Therapy Goes Digital: Is the Internet good for your head? Sep 29, 2007

Show notes

The Internet is celebrated and castigated in equal measure -- but is it good for your mental health? Are you compelled to check your email morning, night and day? Some believe Internet Addiction Disorder is a very real and growing concern. Others aren't at all convinced it exists. Also, the rise of psychological therapies online -- from depression to social phobia or bulimia -- can a computer really replace your therapist?

The psychological power of forgiveness in South Africa Sep 22, 2007

Show notes

Psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela was on South Africa's historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chairing many of its tortuous public hearings about atrocities committed in the apartheid era. In an unprecedented dialogue she met with one of apartheid's most abhorrent killers, in jail, to explore forgiveness, psychological redemption and the symbolic language of trauma. She joins Natasha Mitchell in a feature interview.

Carer Couples: when a partner has a mental illness Sep 15, 2007

Show notes

Lover or carer? Partner or dependant? This week, when a partner is afflicted with a severe mental illness, how is the relationship redefined? Do they feel like the body and soul you first fell in love with? Two couples -- Lana and Paul, Gerard and Brendon -- share the trials and triumphs of confronting illness and prejudice together.

Inside Intuition Sep 08, 2007

Show notes

Gut feelings, hunches - some people swear by them to make the really big decisions in life. But is there really anything to the idea of trusting a deep, inner sense? Or is intuition little more than superstition? From jam tasting to speed dating - a sceptical neuroscientist delves. Please note: the podcast for this week is a highlight from our archives, not this show which is a feature produced by BBC Radio 4 that cannot be podcast for copyright reasons. The transcript and mp3 audio download for the replacement podcast program are available here.

The Nature of Fear debate: 2007 Australian Science Festival Sep 01, 2007

Show notes

From terrorist threats to bushfire anxiety, the rise of panic disorders to political game play - are we living in an era of fear? A world leader in psychopath research; a personality psychologist, top political scientists; and author of The Chemical Weapons Taboo join Natasha Mitchell to take on a hot topic of the times. The good, the bad and the ugly of that visceral human emotion - Fear.

Mind games: coma calamities and delusional deliberations Aug 25, 2007

Show notes

Where does the Self go when it is battered and bruised beyond recognition? Traumatized after head injury; altered through autism; deconstructed by delusion? TV columnist Ruth Ritchie and neuropsychologist Dr Paul Broks join Natasha Mitchell to navigate the wilderness from very different perspectives, and opposite sides of the doctor's table.

Addiction: Dis-ease over diseased brains Aug 18, 2007

Show notes

Your brain hijacked -- possessed by a chronic, relapsing brain disease. Scientists now view addiction as a disease, not a behavioural problem. Brain circuits involved in reward and pleasure, planning and control are dramatically changed. The priority is medical treatment, not shame and blame. But others challenge what they dub the 'disease rhetoric', arguing it's fatalistic and reductionist. Do we treat the brain, or the person? And, should we surrender control to the addicted brain?

81 Words: the inside story of psychiatry and homosexuality (Part 2 of 2) Aug 11, 2007

Show notes

Being gay was considered a mental disorder by psychiatry - until 1973 - when the battle lines were drawn. In this final episode, reporter Alix Spiegel continues the gripping story that spurred a radical rethink. It's the story of a closeted cartel of powerful, gay psychiatrists; of confrontations with angry activists; a shrink dressed in a Nixon mask, and a pivotal encounter in a Hawaiian bar. From Chicago Public Radio's This American Life.

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