All In The Mind

Everyone seems to have a hunch that their phone is destroying their attention span, but is there any science to back it up? In episode one of Brain Rot, we’re doing our best to focus on the topic of attention for a full 25 minutes — and find out what's actually happening in your brain every time your phone buzzes or dings. Is brain rot a real thing? Or just another moral panic? And how do you know...

Revenge feels sweet... At least for a moment. James Kimmel Jr knows that better than most. As a lawyer, he made a career out of helping clients get payback. But the drive for revenge started to eat away at him, threatening to destroy his work life and relationships. Coming back from the brink, he started to wonder — why are we drawn to payback? What impacts does it have on the brain? And can reven...

Five years of unpaid taxes. Homework handed in on the last day of an extension. Some people are champion procrastinators. Why? And what does task paralysis (sometimes called ADHD paralysis) have to do with it? Today: the personality traits that make you more prone to procrastination, the types of tasks we're most likely to put off, and what to do if your to-do list sends you into fight-or-flight m...

If you opened up a magazine in the 2000s, you'd likely be met by countless images of celebrities on their worst days. And the conversation accompanying those images? Pretty toxic. We've come a long way in how we talk about mental health since then, but how did we get here? What changed? Today, we reflect on the cruelty of tabloid culture and how the internet shifted the narrative about mental heal...

When was the last time you decluttered? Was it a satisfying process, or did it fill you with dread? Where you sit on the clutter spectrum differs person to person, so today, we investigate if decluttering is worth the hype.  Why can it be so hard for some people? Could there be a way to reduce clutter before it builds up? And what's the relationship between hoarding disorder and clutter?  If you w...

Can serial killers ever learn empathy? Is their psychology similar to mass shooters? Why are they almost always men? Welcome to All in the Mind’s first ever ‘mailbag’ episode! These are just some of the many questions you sent us after our recent episode on serial killers, called Where have all the serial killers gone? Forensic psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee is back on the show, answering these ques...

Have you ever felt like things were not quite real? That you were no longer connected to your body or didn’t know who you were? Nathan Dunne felt this way for years. And it’s never quite stopped affecting the way he sees himself or the world around him. Today, depersonalisation disorder — and what we know about its symptoms, causes and treatments. And a heads up, this episode discusses heavy topic...

Love it or hate it, there are reasons you might read your star sign and relate to what it says about you as a person. We all fall into cognitive traps — but if we’re aware of them, is it such a bad thing to indulge in your daily horoscope, or a tarot card reading? Today, we delve into the occult, to understand why some people seek messages from the universe, and if it can play a role in therapeuti...

The backpacker killer. The Claremont killer. Ted Bundy. The crimes serial killers commit linger in our memories for decades. But when was the last time you heard about an active serial killer in the news? In our final episode of Criminal Psychology, we probe the lead-crime hypothesis, find out about 'chemical castration' and ask — where have all the serial killers gone? And a heads up that this ep...

What drives some people to steal compulsively? This week, as part of our special four-part series Criminal Psychology, we're talking about kleptomania and the impact it can have on a person's life. We speak to someone who’s been diagnosed with kleptomania about their experiences; from their urges to steal, to the guilt and shame they feel. We also chat to a psychiatrist about what treatment looks...

Australians know the devastation of bushfires all too well. So why would anyone deliberately light a fire? In this episode of Criminal Psychology, our new four-part series on unusual crimes and unusual minds, we're exploring the psychology of arson. Answering questions like, how does it relate to pyromania? What do we know about the profile of a typical arsonist? And how do investigators track dow...

Why would any parent lie about their child's health? Or worse, intentionally make their child sick? In episode one of Criminal Psychology, our new four-part series on unusual crimes and unusual minds, we dive into a disorder that’s long been sensationalised in the media: Munchausen by Proxy – and ask: how do these parents get away with their lies? Can their behaviour ever be reformed? Guests: Bren...

On All in the Mind, we investigate why people behave the way they do. But there are some perspectives we don't often hear about. Introducing Criminal Psychology, a special series diving into just that. On this four-episode series, we'll cover arson, kleptomania, serial killers and Munchausen by proxy as we look at what drives people to the extremes of human behaviour. And we'll examine how our und...

Time and time again, Dr Rangan Chatterjee has seen chronic stress wreak havoc on his patients' lives — contributing to autoimmune disorders, gut problems, low libido and more. But the most devastating blow struck his own family, when his father's punishing work schedule forced him to medically retire in his 50s. It’s an experience that led Rangan to rethink his own work and approach to medicine. T...

Loneliness hurts. And we know it's bad for us, worse than smoking or obesity. Even though a third of us are lonely, we're embarrassed to say so.  So, what would happen if we talked about our loneliness openly? And how can we build more meaningful connections? This week we have a special episode from our friends at Ladies, We Need To Talk . Host Yumi Stynes speaks to women who are lonely, one withi...

Concussions are hard to diagnose, often get missed, and don't always get taken seriously. And if you're not a professional athlete, it can be surprisingly hard to get clear information on how to manage and recover afterwards. Why? The brain is your most important organ, after all! This week, we try and make sense of the confusion around concussions. This episode was first broadcast in October 2023...

Avoiding your emotions is generally a recipe for disaster — but Ethan Kross makes a case for occasional 'strategic' avoidance. He’s a professor of psychology from the University of Michigan, and he’s appeared in some of our most popular episodes: Controlling the chatter in your head and What influences your inner voice? Controlling 'chatter' part two . He’s back to share more tools for taking char...

Panicky. Irrational. Impulsive. These are the traits that have long been associated with crowd behaviour. But modern crowd science suggests that’s an incomplete, if not inaccurate picture. From crowd crushes to terrorist attacks, we take a closer look at how people really behave in crowds, and what you can do to keep yourself safe in one. Want to listen to more All in the Mind? Check out our episo...

Whether it's stamps, figurines, antiques or toys, plenty of people love collecting. But why? What are the psychological drivers behind the hobby? How much is marketing influencing us, and is there a risk of collecting turning into hoarding? If you enjoy the show or if you have feedback you'd like to share, please check out our survey here . Guests: Sam ToddContent creator and collector Professor N...

Over years of clinical practice, psychologist Dr Mary Anderson started to notice a peculiar pattern across her many clients. Despite being impressive high achievers on the outside, inside they were struggling with burnout, imposter syndrome, anxiety and self-criticism. So she set out to develop a guide for these high achievers. A framework to support their success ... without sacrificing their men...

If you're watching sport or browsing social media, odds are you will come across gambling ads. If you work in an office, you might've joined Melbourne Cup or footy tipping comps. In Australia, it can feel like gambling is everywhere. Today, we look at how everything from video games to shopping sites seem to be priming us for betting-like behaviours, and how the ubiquity of gambling ads is influen...

For years, psychologist Patricia Harney avoided true crime podcasts and documentaries. They hit too close to home. Recently she's been testing the waters, and noticing these whodunnit shows often leave out a crucial element of the story. This episode was first broadcast in July 2023 Take our listener survey here: https://forms.microsoft.com/r/pMNc8TK7b7

All in the Mind is doing its first-ever listener survey — can you tell us a bit about who you are and why you listen? We'd love to understand you better! We’ve kept the survey snappy — it's only seven questions. We’re especially keen to know the age range of our listeners. Take the survey here: https://forms.microsoft.com/r/pMNc8TK7b7 And you can always reach us at mind_rn@abc.net.au On behalf of...

Chat bots as therapists. Apps that can track your mood and behaviour, offering earlier detection of psychiatric illness. There's a lot happening at the nexus of mental health and AI – some of it promising, some of it perilous. Today, science writer and author of The Silicon Shrink, Daniel Oberhaus, takes us on a journey through this emerging space. We'll look at the potential benefits, the major l...

The brain might be an undiscerning blob that makes up just two per cent of your body, but what it does for you is extraordinary. How much about the day-to-day workings of the brain do we fully understand, and what does the future of medicine have in store for it? In this recording of our live show from the World Science Festival Brisbane, we explore the wonder of brain surgery, advances in neurote...