All In The Mind

Most of us love being able to look up just about anything on our smart phones and know the answer in an instant. But do you ever worry about what that’s doing to our brains and our capacity to retain knowledge?

We go behind the closed doors of the consulting room with renowned psychotherapist of 40 years—Susie Orbach.

After self-harming as a teenager, a historian delves into the past for some important insights into how we can better manage and treat those who self-harm today.

There’s nothing like a favourite piece of music to lift your spirits, and music is known to play a powerful role in the healing process. Musician Andrew Schulman now uses music as medicine in hospital intensive care units.

We’re beginning to understand the most complex piece of highly organised matter in the universe: the human brain. In international collaborations, scientists are unravelling its mysteries by using brain-inspired approaches to computing

Martin is a happily-married GP, until he’s suddenly hit with the lows, then the highs of bi-polar disorder. A fictional work by one of Australia’s leading psychiatrists gives an intimate insight into people living with mood disorders.

Imagination is vital for children's development, but sometimes kids hear voices of characters who aren’t there—a new book helps kids understand what's behind these voices.

Indigenous people in the heart of our country are adversely affected by the harsh racial divide, and their history of suffering and trauma. We hear from psychologists and indigenous leaders about a ground-breaking community psychoanalytic approach to Aboriginal mental health

Today’s kids are well connected to smart devices and social media platforms. Growing up digitally offers exciting opportunities, but also has its challenges.

Are you a good singer, or are you only comfortable singing in the privacy of your shower? We explore a condition called congenital amusia—also known as tone deafness—and track a self-confessed bad singer trying to get back in tune.

The compelling account of a woman who lived with dissociative identity disorder—and how she eventually became integrated.

The faces of our friends and family are instantly recognisable to us—but about 1 in 50 of us say that looking at a face is like looking at a brick wall.

Do men and women have fundamentally different minds? We re-examine the science to see if testosterone really is king when it comes to our gender formation.

Being a parent can be very rewarding, but if you are managing your own mental health you may not be able to be the parent you’d like to be. It can be sad and confusing for kids too—and they often take on a caring role.

Now that we know about brain plasticity, many of us hope that we can improve the control we have over some of our brain states.

Placebos, virtual reality gaming, Pavlov’s-dog-style conditioning, and just plain care are some of the proven ways that our minds can treat and heal our bodies. There’s a growing body of scientific evidence confirming what we may already suspect about how mental states can affect health—but what are the limits of mind-body medicine?

When a professor of artificial intelligence had disturbing brain injury symptoms as a result of a concussion, he lost his former self—but encouraged by the potential of brain plasticity he changed the course of his life.

The corpus callosum links one side of our brain to the other. It’s not essential for survival, but in some people it’s missing or malformed, causing quite mild to extreme disabilities. The good news is that research is now revealing that it holds intriguing secrets about brain plasticity.

9/11 was an inside job, Princess Diana was murdered in a government plot, and the Apollo 11 moon landing was faked. There’s a conspiracy theory for just about every major event—but believers aren’t just on the paranoid fringe, wearing tin foil hats.

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

Having a sense of meaning in life can protect against chronic disease—but those who lack social connection are more prone to ill health. We talk with Steve Cole about social genomics.

Rhythmic music can affect how the brain controls our stress response. We discuss with counsellor Simon Faulkner how group-based drumming taps into people’s emotions—and when combined with reflective discussion this can be an effective alternative form of therapy.

Psychiatrist Daniel Fisher would like to shift the paradigm of mental health services and empower people to play a strong role in their own recovery—so he’s teaching emotional CPR.

As the festive season—and budgets—approach, we discuss how to wise-up to money. Lynne Malcolm and Claudia Hammond talk dollars and sense.

Twenty percent of American boys are diagnosed with ADHD by the time they turn 18—is ADHD being overdiagnosed and overtreated? Alan Schwarz, Florence Levy, and Rae Thomas give their perspectives.