All In The Mind

To help determine consciousness, a neuroscientist tells jokes to a person in a vegetative state, and scans their brain—Professor Adrian Owen describes his research.

At the age of 12 Martin Pistorius developed a mysterious neurological illness. He fell into a coma and was unable to move or communicate. It was assumed he had no awareness but a couple of years later he began to wake up—yet no-one knew. He was trapped inside his body for almost 10 years until he found a way to communicate. Using computer-generated voice technology he tells us about how he coped w...

Genetic testing for risk of a mental illness could be helpful to its management.

It may be that we don't need to be face to face to provide quality mental health care.

Social media it is compelling—but perhaps we depend on it too much.

The story of an Irish design engineer who suffers from an extreme form of bipolar disorder—charting his relationship with the illness from an idyllic childhood, through a drink and drug-fuelled adolescence and early adulthood, to relative stability today.

We all have different approaches to how much stuff we accumulate. But what happens when your attachment to things becomes so strong that a decision to let go of anything is impossible?

For some people certain sounds not only annoy them, but send them into panic, anxiety, and even rage. This hyper-sensitivity is a recently discovered condition called misophonia. We discuss the the research trying make sense of it.

A good night's sleep is divided into cycles, some of which are REM, or Rapid Eye Movement sleep—and may be important for memory.

People with autism often have difficulty with social interaction. In a candid and poignant interview, spokesperson John Elder Robison shares his experience of living with autism.

Stroke can happen at any age—knowing the signs and how to act can be vital.

The evidence now being found about the vital role of attention and engagement in effective classrooms.

We all know the importance of having a healthy self esteem, but what happens when it gets out of hand?

Researchers are finding new clues to early identification of autism, and computer games to help autistic kids unlock their true potential.

Science is now showing an interesting connection between highly creative people and mental illness.

The brain is a complex organ which may be at the centre of all human experience—but is it really all it’s cracked up to be? A neuroscientist and stand-up comedian from the UK calls it ‘The Idiot Brain’.

In the ancient world mental disturbance was explained in religious terms or by the action of evil spirits—we look at the cultural history of insanity for insights into modern-day treatment.

The idea of technologies that could help us read the minds of others just by scanning their brains is both exciting and unnerving—and it’s imminent.

Imagine if it were possible to read people’s thoughts by detecting their brain activity with a brain decoder. We hear from the researchers who can already tell something about what you’re watching or listening to.

Traditional Aboriginal Australian songlines hold the key to a powerful memory technique used by indigenous people around the world.

The latest research shows that hearing voices is not just experienced by people with schizophrenia and psychosis. We follow up on last week’s ‘inner voices’ programme by exploring what hallucinations can tell us about mental illness.

We all hear voices. For some people the inner conversation brings reason, memory, self-encouragement or rebuke. For others, the voices seem to come from outside—and they might be friendly or deeply malicious. This week All in the Mind explores the workings of our inner voices and how they link to our development and creativity.

Sometimes people with autism develop mental illness too, which can cause misunderstanding and misdiagnosis. Hear one woman's story as she shares her insights to empower others.

Michelle Wyatt’s father sat devotedly by his wife’s side in the dementia ward every day from eight o’clock in the morning until eight o’clock at night. It was an intense and poignant journey through Alzheimer’s disease for the whole family—but along the way they used their wicked sense of humour to get them through.

It’s estimated that nine percent of the Australian population has an eating disorder. Many of these people are also anxious and depressed. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness but little is known about the cause—so treatment is challenging.