Conversations

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This anxious life: Dr Mark Cross Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

Mark is an experienced consultant psychiatrist who also suffers from Australia's most common mental health condition, anxiety. His direct insight helps him understand how people with anxiety can thrive at work and in life

Mark is a consultant psychiatrist with thirty years' experience, a senior university lecturer, and specialist in the mental health of young people.

He came to public attention in Australia through the landmark ABC TV series, Changing Minds.

The series went inside Campbelltown Hospital’s mental health facility where Mark was senior psychiatrist at the time, and in charge of the youth ward.

Away from work, Mark's suffered from anxiety his whole life, as did his mother and grandmother.

Anxiety is extremely common in Australia, with up to one in four people suffering at some time in their lives.

Even so, Mark says for medical professionals, disclosing a mental health condition remains especially difficult.

But it does give him direct insight into navigating life and work with this pernicious condition.

Further information

Anxiety is published by ABC Books

Listen to Mark's 2016 interview with Richard Fidler Explore a collection of our conversations with mental health professionals

Mental health services

Find the mental health service you need SANE Australia If you need to talk, you can phone Lifeline 24/ 7 Phone 13 11 14

Bushfire Recovery Phone 13 43 57

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The secret life of the Grey Plover Mar 04, 2020

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Andrew Darby flew around the world on the trail of a small, unassuming migratory shorebird called the Grey Plover. In the middle of his journey, without warning, he began to fear for his own survival

The songs of trees Mar 03, 2020

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Biologist David George Haskell on how he discovered the unique songs of trees, and the way they interconnect (R)

Julia's forgetful heart Mar 02, 2020

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Julia Stevens was one of Australia's top triathletes when doctors told her they needed to implant a tiny defibrillator inside her chest wall to keep her alive

Matt Okine on growing up when everything is falling apart Feb 28, 2020

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Matt on his Brisbane childhood, losing his mum at the age of 12, and how a chance conversation with his university drama teacher altered the course of his life

Jackie French and the Valley Feb 27, 2020

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Jackie has lived in the Araluen Valley of NSW for 46 years, where powerful owls boom through the nights and lyrebirds scratch up the garden. In recent months hundreds of native animals have arrived, seeking shelter from Australia's worst-ever fires

How a former ironman made the beach accessible to everyone Feb 26, 2020

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For a time, surf-loving athlete Nick Marshall was a professional Ironman. Then he created a new way for kids with special needs to be included at the beach

A revolutionary idea to stop good food going to waste Feb 25, 2020

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Ronni Kahn saved 45,000 tonnes of food from landfill and changed how we think about food waste

Eric Idle's life on the bright side Feb 24, 2020

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Eric on life before and after Monty Python's Flying Circus (R)

Mike Hayes and the Holy Grail of winemaking Feb 21, 2020

Show notes

Mike was 15 when he left school to chip weeds in a Queensland vineyard. Forty years later he found himself in Portugal holding one of the world's oldest grapevines trying to discover if grapes can survive global warming.

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