All In The Mind

A rock musical about mental illness? The Pulitzer Prize winning, Broadway blockbuster Next to Normal is now being staged in Australia by the Melbourne Theatre Company. Living with bipolar disorder can be a dramatic experience, but how does it translate into a night at the theatre? Meet the director, lead, and two women living with Bipolar who don theatre critic hats for All in the Mind.

Alice is just 50 and at the peak of her Harvard career when Alzheimer's arrives. High-flyer mother Sarah is driving to work when an accident and brain damage erases the left side of her world. Bestselling neuroscientist-turned-novelist Lisa Genova has a knack of getting inside her characters' dislocated minds and lives.

Celebrated fantasy novelist Terry Pratchett has mined the terrain of his imagination more than most. What shaped this passionately adventurous mind, and now, how is it being reshaped by early-onset Alzheimer's? Next week, a neuroscientist novelist's poignant exploration of the disease.

The brain is the star of an exhibition at one of the world's great cultural institutions, the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Get off the subway at West 79th Street and take a tour with Natasha Mitchell of her very favourite organ!

When people with mental illness and cognitive impairments cycle in an out of jail—is there a better solution? 'Problem solving courts' are one approach, and shift the relationship between the judge and the judged. Join Natasha Mitchell at a symposium considering the 'for and against' with key players in Australia.

From Dexter and CSI to the nightly news - murder fills our media, and lethal violence never ceases to fascinate and frighten. A forensic look at the tense history of murder, and a modern rethink of the psychology of shame and honour in preventing it.

Rock star by night, neuroscientist by day—Joseph LeDoux's research has redefined our understanding of fear and emotion—and now the possibility of treating fearful memories. Natasha Mitchell visits his NYC studio to talk science, song, and his band, The Amygdaloids, where mind and brain take centre stage.

Advertising used to be straightforward. Now neuromarketing has arrived, armed with a brain scanner and seeking to unearth your real buying desires. The Mad Men are excited, there's enticing potential, but neuroethicists have concerns for the autonomy and privacy of your inner-most sanctum - your thoughts.

Many Anglo-Australians lament speaking only one language when they travel overseas. But now we know being bilingual pays big dividends -- culturally and cognitively. From bilingual babies to slowing the deterioration of Alzheimer's, three leading psycholinguists join Natasha Mitchell to share their striking research.

Growing up with a depressed parent takes its toll, reframing how you look at the world as a child. In 2007, Mike Bernstein recorded a moving dialogue between 12-year-old Cameron and his father, Bob. Four years later Mike returns, to discover a staggering story in Bob's past. A rare insight into the anatomy of depression.

Are you a supertaster? Do your favourite flavours leave others flummoxed? Psychologist Linda Bartoshuk's influential work has unveiled how taste varies between people, and the striking impact that has on your health and wellbeing.

S.B grew up blind. But at middle age his sight was returned to him. His case transformed the field of visual perception, but it's also the bittersweet story of the fruits, and spoils, of science. Due to BBC copyright, this week's podcast, Radio Australia and streaming version is the triumphant story of Zoltan Torey, blinded as a young man.

In 1987, 46-year-old Nikki Palin's head 'exploded', according to her daughter Hannah. After a ruptured aneurysm, Nikki's personality radically changed and recovery was slow, but surprisingly Nikki likes her post-aneurysm self so much more! A before and after story that'll make you grin...and sing.

Floods, fires, cyclones and the anniversary of Black Saturday. Psychological debriefing is a technique aimed at helping us process traumatic events, so the emotional scars can heal not harm. To some the approach is discredited, ineffective and may even do damage -- to others it can still have an important role. Beyond the controversy, where does the field stand today?

Nobel laureate Gerald Edelman rarely gives interviews. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine in 1972 for his work on antibodies, but at 81 he's a true Renaissance man of the brain, heading up what he describes as a 'scientific monastery' in San Diego. He joins Natasha Mitchell to talk consciousness, creativity and 'neural Darwinism'.

You've heard the common refrain, 'Oh, I'm so bad at maths!' But for up to eight per cent of us, a condition called dyscalculia means numbers are a serious struggle, with serious consequences. Scientists are now revealing its biological basis, and in Australia there's a push for it to be seen as a legitimate and unique disability.

Acclaimed neuroscientist Fred Gage is a serial trailblazer. Decades of dogma were overturned when his team confirmed the adult brain continues to make new brain cells. Incredibly, now scientists can even turn skin cells into brain cells with a chemical push! But, if their potential to treat brain diseases or damage is to be realised, transplanted cells need to be able to call your brain home. Stan...

Top clinical psychologist and psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison took the world by storm with her book An Unquiet Mind. In it she revealed her own torrid experience of bipolar disorder, and a passionate life marred by mania and depression. She joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation to discuss her new memoir, Nothing Was the Same. Recounting two decades with her partner, leading schizophreni...

Eminent psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist offers an ambitious, provocative thesis about how the brain's two hemispheres came to be, and construct the world. Today there's a power struggle being played out between the left and right brain that he argues is reshaping Western civilisation in disturbing ways.

A little tension keeps us on our toes - we're biologically primed for it. But 'toxic' stress makes us physically sick, and powerful research is now revealing its potent impact on our developing bodies and brains. Don't miss two world leaders transforming our understanding.

The Cove took out this year's Oscar for best documentary for its confronting coverage of the annual dolphin culls in Taiji, Japan. Scientists argue dolphins have complex, large brains - second only to human brains relative to body weight. Join Natasha Mitchell with leading cetacean scientists and an ethicist for a tour of a waterborne 'alien intelligence'. What are the consequences for captivity,...

You've seen it in suburban Australian gardens with its bright, pendulous flowers in full bloom. But in Colombia, Angel's Trumpet has a dark side. It's used to rob people by robbing them of their memory, and allegedly, their free will. For All in the Mind, clinical psychologist Dr Vaughan Bell goes in search of the truth about the drug Burundanga, and Brugmansia, a popular plant with a complex pers...

David Webb's powerful account of suicidal feelings, and call for a more open and nuanced public conversation about suicide, has sparked rich discussion among listeners. This week, an Australian suicide prevention leader reflects thoughtfully on the issues raised. Be part of the conversation.

David Webb has penned what's described as 'the world's first PhD on suicide by someone who has attempted it'. He suggests we need to honour suicidal feelings as real, legitimate, important and 'a sacred part of the human story'. But how does this view sit with health campaigns urging us to understand suicidal thoughts as a sign of untreated mental illness? An opportunity to hear a voice absent fro...

80% of the world consumes it, coffee bean aficionados relish it, but is caffeine the pick me up we think it is? Surprising evidence says it's all an illusion. And, the rise of caffeinated energy drinks is causing concern. The dark side to caffeine we rarely hear about. And we want your coffee stories too -- speak to us! We've just launched the new All in the Mind Audioboo channel for your feedback...