Conversations: Psychology & Relationships

When journalist Jason Om turned his skills towards his own family story he began to understand the real story of his perfectionist Buddhist Cambodian father and his Catholic Eurasian mother, who was stricken with an inexplicable sadness Jason is a journalist with ABC TV. A few years ago he turned his journalistic skills to his own family story. Jason wanted to find out what had happened to his mot...

Sian Prior with the story of the years of longing and loss which marked her quest to become a mother, and what happened when she found herself childless at the age of 50 For many years Sian Prior desperately wanted to have a baby. Her longing to be a mother played havoc with her relationships and her body. It never happened, and Sian had to decide what to do with the freedom that was hers. Further...

Psychiatrist Dr Warren Ward treats patients who are severely ill with eating disorders. Understanding the mystery of human nature has driven him since he was a young doctor, and has led him down a strange path into examining the love lives of philosophers

David Heilpern with stories of drama, crime and heartache from his 21 years as a country magistrate (CW: references to drug use and sexual assault) For 21 years David Heilpern was a country magistrate in towns including Dubbo, Brewarrina and Lismore. This meant he was the Coroner, the Children's Court Judge, and the person handling all the domestic violence, assault, robbery, drug and driving offe...

How a boy from Glasgow named Norman Swirsky grew up to become Australia's most famous doctor

Gordon Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which works to remove the stigma around depression, mental illness and bipolar disorder. For the past few years he's been looking closely at the phenomenon of burnout at home and at work

How does Ben Crowe get elite athletes to the top of their game? What he asks footballers, surfers and tennis players to do seems counter intuitive, and a lot of the work happens off the field. (R) Ben Crowe is a mindset coach who has worked with elite athletes like surfer Steph Gilmore, tennis superstar Ash Barty, and the Richmond Football Club. But Ben's method of coaching seems counter-intuitive...

Ianto Ware with the story of growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide with his radical feminist lesbian mother Dimity

'Love on the Spectrum' star Jodi Rodgers on her life as a sexologist and relationship counsellor for people with Autism, and her unexpected chapter in reality TV

Parenting educator and retired psychologist Steve Biddulph was in his 50s when a chance conversation over lunch shifted almost everything about how he saw himself

Glenn was working at Enron in London when his mental health began to unravel. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and lost nearly everything. Then a Bowls Club in Queanbeyan helped him begin again

Betty O'Neill's father disappeared when she was a baby. Decades later, inside a tiny apartment in the Polish city of Lublin she opened a green suitcase to find a huge clue to his secret life Betty O'Neill grew up in country New South Wales with her mum Nora. Nora worked in hotels in Kyogle and Coffs Harbour, and because she wasn't able to live at the hotels with her mum, Betty was often fostered o...

Midwife Christian Wright with tales of emergency evacuations and surfing with crocodiles while working in remote Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, helping Yolŋu women birth their babies Christian lives in the tiny town of Nhulunbuy right on the tip of the Northern Territory. His job there is an unusual one. Christian doesn't work in the mines like most of the whitefellas in town. He's a midwi...

Philippa's parents wanted her to move in the 'right' circles, so they sent her to a Swiss finishing school. Instead she became a debt collector, went to Hamburger University then became a psychotherapist

Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhood Maggie Dent grew up in the country and she always felt she 'spoke bloke'. As a high school teacher and a family counsellor, she discovered she had a real affinity for teenage boys, and understood how to communicat...

Comedian and writer John Doyle was raised in a mining town in a music-loving Catholic family. Behind closed doors, his family life was often turbulent, as his sister Jen had been born profoundly autistic at a time when the condition had no name

Glennon made a big name for herself in the US as a ‘Christian mommy blogger’ with her candid and often hilarious writing when she fell wildly in love with U.S Women's Soccer star Abby Wambach Alongside her blackly funny posts about the challenges of parenting, Glennon wrote about her recovery from alcoholism and bulimia. She encouraged her growing tribe of followers to feel their feelings rather t...

Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days

Mark is an experienced consultant psychiatrist who also suffers from Australia's most common mental health condition, anxiety. His direct insight helps him understand how people with anxiety can thrive at work and in life Mark is a consultant psychiatrist with thirty years' experience, a senior university lecturer, and specialist in the mental health of young people. He came to public attention in...

Esther is a therapist who spent years studying intimacy, monogamy and sexuality. She became the world's most well-known expert on modern love When Esther was a teenager she was voraciously curious about human behaviour. She thought she'd become a journalist or a translator, but instead she grew up to become the world's most famous contemporary psychotherapist. Esther became known around the world...

Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patient Psychotherapy, also known as 'the talking cure', is based on a profound and usually ongoing connection between a person and their therapist. This type of work, often dealing with long buried events or feelings, can be transformative for patients. Gill Straker has a lifetime of experience as a psychother...

Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it

Helen Elliot was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward

Understanding and managing the psychopaths in our midst at work and at home David Gillespie is a former corporate lawyer and investor and the author of the best-selling book, Sweet Poison. Some years ago, David found himself working alongside a toxic human being, whom he now considers to have been a psychopath. Psychopaths are typically people incapable of human empathy. They tend to be charming i...

Liz is probably best known for her international best-seller Eat, Pray, Love.