All In The Mind

People who hear voices or have delusions often don't believe they're sick with a psychotic illness. It's their harsh and frightening reality. Coming to terms with the need for treatment can be a mighty battle, for both themselves and their families. Lynne Malcolm speaks with two men who've found their own unexpected routes towards acceptance and recovery. And, psychologist Xavier Amador - a forens...

The Chimera - a creature of Ancient Greek mythology - was part lion-goat-snake. Crossing the boundaries between species is everyday in science. To test the therapeutic potential and behaviour of human stem cells, scientists implant them into animals first. But transplanting our brain cells into our closest primate relatives has raised eyebrows, and the prospect of the 'humanzee'. Could this make t...

Artist Pro Hart died of it, so did actor David Niven - the nightmarish legacy of Motor Neurone disease which paralyses the body as the disease progresses. Communication can become restricted to an eye-blink, with the mind remaining intact and active in a frozen body. But the technological cutting edge of the brain-computer interface could make a difference, and help people communicate with the out...

Incest, infanticide, honour killings - different cultures have different rules of justice. But are we all born with a moral instinct - an innate ability to judge what is right and wrong? Could morality be like language - a universal, unconscious grammar common to all human cultures? Eminent evolutionary biologist Marc Hauser and philosopher Richard Joyce take on these controversial questions in im...

Rituals, checking the stove, repetitive thoughts. Everyday patterns for all of us, but when they go awry, the impact of these imps of the mind is devastating and life-consuming. This week, a provocative theory with new, convincing science - could Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in some children be triggered by a common bout of strep throat? And, nipping the obsessions and compulsions in the bud - on...

Sucking on cigarettes. It's a public health nightmare for the world's indigenous peoples. Maori women have the word's highest rates of lung cancer. Smoking rates haven't dropped in 15 years amongst Aboriginal Australians. But, for Native Americans native tobacco still has sacred, ceremonial value. Three First Nation leaders discuss the complex past and present of tobacco use and abuse in their cul...

Katrina Firlik's business is brains. Carving into the 'flesh of the soul' is her day job. The first woman admitted into one of the most prestigious neurosurgery programs, she's just penned an insider's account of her world. Part mechanic - part scientist, her intimate encounters of diseased and damaged brains offer a unique, and grisly, lens onto our most mysterious and wondrous organ.

This week, delivering therapy to the enemy. Meet Jewish psychotherapist and anthropologist Dr Henry Abramovitch, president of the Israel Institute for Jungian Psychology. In Jerusalem he soothes the souls of both Israeli and Palestinian clients. But with suicide bombs exploding in the neighbourhood, politics can't help but creep into the therapeutic setting. Continually confronted with their combi...

Ever had a case of 'placenta brain', or 'pregnancy stupidity'? Can carrying a foetus make you drop your cognitive bundle? Expecting women worldwide find themselves suddenly forgetful and absent minded. So why is there so little research into the phenomenon? Are hormones to blame, or the psychological burden of approaching mumhood? Does it have an evolutionary function? Libbi Gorr and others contem...

The imagination of an artist living with schizophrenia can feel like it's been colonised...by diagnostic labels, by medication and by the often unforgiving and frightening contents of hallucinations or delusions. What then does it mean to reclaim imagination? Is madness a muse or a hurdle? Artists Simon Champ and James de Blas are joined by acclaimed pop artist Martin Sharp, to reflect on the perp...

Bird brains don't deserve the bad rap they get. Like us, songbirds are among the only animals that can learn new and complex vocal skills. Mental time travel isn't beyond them, and even mastering grammar-like patterns could be part of their cognitive repertoire! This week, three top bird brain researchers leave their aviaries and join Natasha Mitchell to discuss the unique heads of our flying feat...

Chronic pain. Gnawing, throbbing, aching. Like a rotten apple at the core, razor blades down the spine, barbed wire coursing through the body. Talking about it is difficult enough, but does how we think about pain actually change the nature of pain itself? Many of us still consider pain as solely biological, with major implications for the treatment we seek and receive. This week—a philosopher, a...

Mind. Brain. Are they the same thing, or is the mind something special? The conundrum has perplexed us for centuries. Descartes' split the two - into a spiritual, soul-like mind and fleshly, material brain. But in 1956 a group of 'renegade' Oxford graduates Down Under, now international stars in philosophy, launched a challenge. Consciousness and the brain were united, and any talk of mental spook...

This week, a candid family story of life inside. Inside psychiatric hospitals, inside schizophrenia, and inside a remarkable journey towards compassion, activism and understanding. Penelope and Lloyd met and married after years of cycling in and out of Perth's psychiatric institutions. Penelope's 19-year-old daughter, Tynx, reveals a wisdom beyond her years about the impact of growing up with a pa...

What adventures does your sleeping brain take you on at night? Wild rides into vivid landscapes with a strange cast of characters from your past? Or, mundane replays of the day's events? The purpose of dreams remains the focus of heated scientific conjecture. Do they serve to consolidate our memories and experiences, or is their meaning more complex? The second episode in this BBC series leaves th...

Prick up your ears and eyelids and listen in. Despite over 100 years of theory and research, no-one knows exactly why we need to sleep and dream yet we know we can't survive without precious slumber. Why? Join BBC radio broadcaster Claudia Hammond as she's wired up in a sleep clinic to reveal the inner workings of her own sleepy brain, and yours too. NOTE: The transcript or podcast won't be availa...

Why can two children born into the same household be like two different peas in a pod? Harvard's Jerome Kagan trailblazed the controversial science of temperament to investigate why. In a career that spans more than half a century, now he's going into battle for our minds, with a compelling retrospective, An Argument for Mind. To some an iconoclast - one of the biggest names in psychology of our t...

Why do you believe what you do? Is the human mind an organ designed for belief? Why are we so convinced of the existence of things we can't prove or see? Are some beliefs healthy and others pathological? Margaret Wertheim, author of Pythagoras' Trousers, and The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace; cognitive scientist Professor Max Coltheart, co-editor of Pathologies of Belief, and theologian, film-maker a...

Northern Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Sri Lanka, Columbia. Some of the world's conflicted countries where young children are recruited, or violently abducted, to serve as soldiers. Two psychologists at the coalface, and a teenage abductee, join Natasha Mitchell to discuss the complex psychology of child recruitment, reintegration and repatriation. Little innocents or self-aware a...

Your memory is your personal archive. But it can trick you too - sometimes with serious consequences. Are children more susceptible to false memories, or adults? Striking new research has important implications for how we handle children in courts and therapy, and for our understanding of this fallible human talent. Join Natasha Mitchell for the latest from the International Conference on Memory.

As the world wages war over geographical, religious and historical turf - a growing number of big note scientists want religious faith put under the microscope. Uber-philosopher of mind and popular provocateur, Daniel Dennett, author of Darwin's Dangerous Idea, is one of them. He joins Natasha Mitchell to discuss his latest controversial offering, Breaking the Spell. Be provoked...

Around 10 per cent of the population hear voices that aren't there. Some people can live harmoniously with them, but for those whose voices are associated with a psychiatric illness, they can be frightening and menacingly real. We discuss the latest research on how auditory hallucinations occur in the brain, what it's like to live with voices in your head—and the healing power of the international...

Repeated unwanted advances, being followed, distressing packages and letters in the mail, relentless phone calls and emails can all be part of the often-terrifying experience of being stalked. It's a social problem that's increasing and it doesn't just happen to celebrities. From the latest research in forensic psychiatry, we hear what motivates those who stalk, and one woman gives an open account...

We now know that we all differ in the way we think. We have different areas of natural strength and weakness which can deeply affect our learning experience. We look at some alternative approaches to helping children achieve their potential and we hear from the mother of a boy with Tourette's syndrome whose school experience has been transformed. Also a psychologist speaks about the importance of...

Australians seem to be working harder than ever, highlighting an increased need to manage stress and establish a better balance between work and family life. This week we hear about some learnable techniques that might help people be more self-aware at work, allowing them to use their emotions as a positive force.