Minding Your Mind

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...

Sometimes we realise we’re not perfect. It’s very confronting. If you want to change something about yourself – become less irritable, or more assertive, stop losing your temper, worry less – how do you do it? Are our character traits hard-wired, or can we change our brains and improve ourselves? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them kno...

High profile athletes look like they’re living the dream, but they are often under tremendous psychological pressures. They might have support from psychologists etc, but does that actually help? What can we learn from high profile sportspeople about what psychological strategies work, and which don’t? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let th...

What is ‘burnout’? A temporary loss of motivation and energy at work that can be fixed by a week at the beach? Or an indicator of mental exhaustion and a sign a person might be psychologically unwell? If you experience ‘burnout’, what should you do? 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...

As kids grow up, the two places they learn most about mental health and wellbeing, are at home and at school. What role do educational institutions - childcare, school, tertiary education – play in teaching children and young adults about mental health? How do they do it? Should they be doing more? What is the right balance between challenging students to help them build skills and confidence, and...

What runs in families and what doesn’t? We inherit eye colour and height, but can our parents also pass on an anxious temperament? What about optimism? A quick temper? Shyness? Ambition? A vulnerability to depression?  We discuss what we inherit, and what we don’t. If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at mindingyourmind2@gmail.com . Let them know any other topics you’d li...

As children grow up, how do they learn to assess risk and make good decisions? How do parents help kids learn to weigh up risks, when usually their instinct is to protect the little darlings. At what age should you let your kid walk to the shops alone? Where is the sweet spot between ‘helicopter parenting’ and going ‘free range’? Daisy Turnbull, author of 50 risks to take with your kids, joins us....

Anxiety is the most common mental health problem in children. Children can feel anxious about meeting new people, entering new situations, being alone, school marks, dogs, and more. Being a bit anxious about danger keeps kids safe, but too much anxiety can feel horrible, and stop kids from socialising and experiencing new things. What can parents do to help an anxious child? If you have any questi...

When someone tries to take their own life, it’s common for family, friends and workmates to think, ‘What did I miss?’ What are the signs someone is considering suicide? What can you do if you notice 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 depressi...

The term ‘Self Help’ is a promise; ‘If you do this activity, you will feel better’. But which Self Help practices actually help? We assess common self-help practices, from yoga to reading, exercise to socialising, meditation to ‘purposeful activity’ and assess the benefits of each. If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at  mindingyourmind2@gmail.com  . Let them k...

Are we humans primarily rational or emotional? Are our decisions driven by carefully worked out thoughts? Or are we bundles of emotion, driven by feelings? When you make a big decision, do you work out the pros and cons in a rational way? Or, deep down, are feelings – fear and hope especially – in the driver’s seat? How much does the balance between making emotion and thought based decisions vary...

Despair and Hope. Opposite sides of the same coin. What is despair? Is it normal and natural, or a sign of poor mental health and something that should be ‘cured’? Can despair be appropriate and even, sometimes, useful?  What about hope? Is it a bright shiny jewel that helps us through tough times, or dreamy escapism? Does hope that things will improve sustain us in the tough times, or is it...

Sam Hockey’s first experience of the mental health system was as a young person seeking help. Now he works within the mental health system. We hear how Sam’s experience as a patient has shaped his work, and his views on how to improve mental health and it’s treatment. You can listen to the Facing It podcast co-hosted by Sam and Haley Venables here . If you have any questions or comments email Ian...

Who do you trust, and why? With COVID, our trust is being tested. What level of trust do families, communities, workplaces and societies need to operate effectively? Why can trust break down? What happens when it does? How do you build it back up again? If you have any questions or comments email Ian and James at  mindingyourmind2@gmail.com  . Let them know any other topics you’d li...

What is the difference between religion and spirituality? What influence does each have on our mental health? The ABC’s Geraldine Doogue joins us to examine what ‘spirituality’ can mean, and  whether feeling connected to something  bigger that yourself is good for your mental health. Geraldine mentions two books in the podcast, The Politics of Hope by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and Intimacy an...

Is anger useful? Where does it come from? Why is it so hard to control? When we lose our temper, why do we so often regret it? Sure, anger helped us punch out sabre-tooths, but how useful is it the 21st century? 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 d...

What challenges do people, especially young people and women, face when they present for mental health care?  Psychiatrist Dr Liz Scott joins us to discuss the ways in which people’s experience of mental health services can be less than ideal, and what we can do to improve them. Dr Liz Scott is a psychiatrist and an Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow at the Brain and Mind Centr...