Minding Your Mind

When threats are right in front of us, whether it be a sabre toothed tiger or Covid, we are usually pretty good at taking action. But what about threats that we know are coming, but which are a little further away, like Climate Change? Why can it seem so hard to get the same type of unified action to deal? Is it the fault of politicians? Or of the three year electoral cycle, that incentivises shor...

In Covid lockdown there were clear rules to follow. Now, things have changed and Governments are urging us to exercise personal responsibility. The onus has now shifted to us to assess risk and make sensible decisions, even though we often lack access to the information we need to do so. How do we assess the risk of getting Covid from getting on a plane or a bus, going to the pub or letting our ki...

In 2021 we recorded 49 eps of Minding Your Mind. In this ep, James and Ian run through their favourite topics and guests, and the pieces of information and advice that have stayed with them. If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can...

It’s all very well to make resolutions, but how do you stop them dissolving into well intentioned nothingness? How do we turn worthy objectives into repeatable actions? How do you make something that is difficult but good for you, like exercise, a habit? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover...

We examine Irish psychiatrist Anthony Clare’s 7 secrets of happiness. What are they? What did he miss? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to Health at www.headtohealth.gov.au   Beyond Blue at www.beyondblue....

What is the relationship between mental and physical health? What sort of physical health issues are those with mental illness more likely to experience? What implications does this have for the way we treatm both physical and mental health? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out...

When does something you enjoy - alcohol, drugs, online porn,  shopping, your phone -  become an addiction? Are some more prone to addiction than others? What are the most successful ways to break addictions? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression a...

Christmas is supposed to be this perfect family day, but what if it’s not? What if every year the same sniping, arguments and resentments re-surface until it ends in drunken tears? Is Christmas compulsory, or is it sometimes wiser to duck it? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find ou...

How do parents, children, siblings and partners influence each other’s mental health? How do families patterns of behaviour continue to influence us as we grow older? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to Health...

Ketamine has been used as horse tranquiliser but it might also be able to help treat mental illness. We discuss it, and other novel mental health treatments. Do they work? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to He...

Over the last 20 years, a lot has been done around the world to raise awareness of mental health. Miranda Wolpert, Director of Mental Health at the UK’s Wellcome foundation, joins us to discuss the results of a worldwide survey of attitudes toward mental health, and the future of research and treatment. If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let t...

Schizophrenia might be the most difficult to understand mental illness. Why do some people hear voices? How do you treat schitzophrenia? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to Health at www.headtohealth.gov.au &nb...

Some great thinkers, writers and painters have experienced mental illness, but so have plumbers, accountants and school teachers. Is there a link between creativity and mental illness? If so, then when you treat the mental illness, is creativity lost? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. T...

Our reliance on technology - phones, screens, apps – is often seen as detrimental to mental health, but there are innovative ways new technology can help us diagnose and treat mental illness, and improve our mental health. If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depress...

If you can’t get to sleep and don’t get enough sleep, it can affect your mood and your mental health. Why does insomnia happen and what do you do about it? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to Health at www.head...

How does your brain change from when you are born until, let’s be optimistic, you reach 100? Is it like a bell curve? Does it start out not being able to do much at all, then increase its’ capacity through childhood, coast along in adulthood until it starts to slow down? Or is it not like that at all? Do different parts of your brain – the rational, the emotional, risk-assessment etc – evolve at d...

Is exercising your sense of humour good for your mental health? Greig Pickhaver, aka HG Nelson of Roy and HG, This Sporting Life and Bludging on the Blindside fame, joins us to discuss the links between humour and good mental health, how to exercise your sense of humour if you think you’re just not a funny person, and the line between ‘just joking’ and picking on someone If you have any questions...

At what point does being vigilant about your health become over-anxious hypochondria? Why does it happen? How do you treat hypochondria? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to Health at www.headtohealth.gov.au &nb...

If you experience trauma in childhood, how likely is it to be a cause of later mental illness? To what extent do traumatic experiences become embedded within a person, and become almost a part of you? How do you work out how past evets are affecting you? If you do work it out, what do you do about it? investigative journalist Rick Morton, author of One Hundred Years of Dirt , and My Year of Living...

What is trauma? If something traumatic happens to you as a child or an adult, how does your mind and memory process it? How can that trauma affect us, even years later? What can we do to deal with those affects? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and sup...

Professional golfers sometimes forget how to putt. They’ve spent years putting thousands of balls, then suddenly they can’t do it anymore. It’s called ‘The Yips’ and a similar thing can afflict gymnasts, baseball players and tennis players. What is ‘The Yips’? How can you forget an action that you have practiced for years? Is it about anxiety, or something else? How do you cure ‘The Yips’? If you...

COVID prompted discussion about how we reconcile economic priorities with our collective mental health and wellbeing. Why can’t we have both? Should we broaden our focus past economic growth and the simplistic notion that ‘the economy comes first’ to include the ‘mental wealth’ of our nation. What would that even mean? How would it help? How would you measure it?  SMH Economics Editor Ross Gi...

What is bi-polar disorder. How does it manifest? Why does it happen? What do you about it? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d like them to cover. To find out more about depression and support services you can contact Head to Health at www.headtohealth.gov.au   Beyond Blue at www.beyondblue.org.au , Lif...

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, or OCD, is having repetitive, intrusive thoughts, or feeling the need to repeat routines, like washing your hands, counting, or checking doors are locked. Many of us have habits and routines, but some find they take over their life. How do you know when patterns and routines become an issue you should deal with? Why does OCD happen? How do you treat it? If you have a...

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks openly about experiencing depression following his loss of the Liberal leadership in 2009, and what he learnt from that experience about himself. Afterwards, knowing he had a vulnerability to depression, he explains how he managed it. If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics...