All in the Mind

On the spectrum

Being diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome makes a big difference to some people’s lives—providing them with an identity and an explanation for their daily challenges. The latest version of the psychiatric Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM V) which is due out this month does away with a separate category for Asperger's. In this program we get an insight into being on the autism spectrum and what impact the changes to the criteria may have.

Monkey Mind

Do you have a monkey mind? New Yorker Daniel Smith does. He says chronic anxiety is the only mental disorder which can be both excruciatingly painful and funny at the same time.

Remembering together

We feel we should be able to recall all sorts ofthings at will—but how often do our individual memories fail us?As part of a study on social memory, a group of cognitive psychologists and philosophers heard the shared histories of long term married couples to investigate how they combine their memories. The strategies they use could help people with dementia.

Memory: The Thread of Life

Memory – it’s the thread that runs through our lives.Psychologists are finding that the way we talk with our young children affects their early memories and we hear why we soon forget what we learn when we cram for an exam.

The Psychology of Cults

If you sign up to a weekend personal development workshop, you don’t really expect to emerge 10 years later a shadow of your former emotional self.What sets many groups apart from what we regard as cults is a range of powerful psychological techniques which can be difficult to see through—particularly if you are at a vulnerable time of your life. We hear the story of one woman’s escape from a cult and some insights into those persuasive techniques

A history of memory (online only)

For centuries scientists have grappled with the concept of memory—what is it, how does it work and can we really rely on it? US historian Alison Winter traces the history of the way we have conceptualised memory—from the use of truth serums and hypnotism to the science of forgetting. She describes the way memory has been compared to filing cabinets, flashbulbs and motion pictures over the past century.

Art, science and schizophrenia

Many heads are now coming together to improve the lives of those who experience schizophrenia. Join Lynne Malcolm for this public discussion on art, science and schizophrenia.

The bilingual brain

We explore how speaking more than one language influences our cognitive capacity.

Changing your brain

Neuroscience now demonstrates that we can actually change the structure of our brains by engaging in certain mental tasks. Barbara Arrowsmith-Young tells the inspiring story of how she overcame her severe learning difficulties with specific brain exercises she developed herself. We also hear the moving accounts of two Australians who’ve taken a leaf out of her book. They’ve found the hard work has paid off. IMAGE

Subliminal - the new unconscious

Leonard Mlodinow is a theoretical physicist who’s turned his mind to the unconscious. Not the unconscious mind of Freudian fame which was examined through psychoanalysis in the 19th century – but a new science of the unconscious made possible by technologies which reveal the physiology of our brains. We discuss the hidden forces that rule our behaviour.

i-Disorder - the psychology of technology

Keeping up with phone calls, sms messages, Facebook updates, tweets ... sometimes it feels like technology rules our lives. Psychology of technology researcher Dr. Larry Rosen warns that our technology is causing us to develop symptoms of disorders such as narcissistic personality disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. He points out the warning signs of what he calls "i-disorders" and suggests some strategies to maintain our humanity.

Behind the Shock Machine

In 1961 Stanley Milgram conducted a controversial series of experiments which were said to show that we're all capable of evil in certain circumstances. Many of the participants are still traumatised. This is a panel discussion about the lessons and ethics of these experiments..

The Creating Brain: reaching Xanadu

Is there anything different about the brains of extraordinary creative geniuses like Michelangelo, Coleridge or Mozart? World renowned psychiatrist and doctor of English Renaissance Literature Dr Nancy Andreasen unravels the 'creative brain' and explores how we can foster creativity in ourselves and throughout our society.

Our Emotional Brain

Pioneering neuroscientist Richard Davidson deepens our understanding of the mind-body connection. He’s identified six unique emotional styles and explains the brain chemistry underlying them. He explains that there are simple strategies and interventions which we can use to change our emotional styles. He believes one effective example is through mindfulness meditation, after studying the brain scans of people who practice it.

Sunday 22 April 2012

All in the Mind 10th Anniversary Special 6: The Power of...

Psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela was on South Africa's historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chairing many of its tortuous public hearings about atrocities committed in the apartheid era. In an unprecedented dialogue she met with one of apartheid's most abhorrent killers, in jail, to explore forgiveness, psychological redemption and the symbolic language of trauma.

All in the Mind 10th Anniversary Special 4: Brave New...

Celebrate All in the Mind's tenth birthday! Over the decade the show has tracked some of the provocative technological developments and ethical debates about our state of mind. From stem cell therapy to the spectre of animal-human chimeras or cyborgian selves...we love to get heady and technical!

All in the Mind 10th Anniversary Special 2: Are You...

All in the Mind started with Zombies back in 2002...not of the Day of the Living Dead kind, but the philosophical variety! Celebrate All in the Mind's 10th birthday with us. This week, Natasha revisits the great conundrum of human consciousness with leading thinkers - it's a problem that continues to stump the brightest minds.

Mind the gap! The seduction of the synapse

Bah! All that talk about brain cells and grey matter! Let’s focus on where the real interesting action is inside your head: theconnections betweenyour brain cells – synapses. From the ancient past to the frenzied future - it's all about making connections.

2011-11-26 A personal tour: Sigmund Freud's Vienna

In the 50 years before he emigrated to escape the Nazis, Sigmund Freud, his wife Martha and six children lived and worked in the house at Berggasse 19 in Vienna. His most famous works were penned there, his most famous patients bared their 'souls' there. Join Natasha Mitchell for a personal tour through the archives of the Fin de Siecle mind.

2011-11-12 Loneliness: breaking the taboo

Loneliness has been with Emily White for as long as she can remember. Smart, savvy, popular - none of this has inoculated her against 'the ghost in her life'. Her memoir is an encounter with the emerging, powerful science of loneliness, and a taboo like few.

2011-10-29 7 Billion: It's getting crowded in here!...

High density living is great for the environment, right? But what does it do to our heads and hearts? The Australian psyche was moulded by the myth of the 'wide brown land', so what might life packed like sardines look and feel like? With the world's seven billionth person about to be born, can we learn from the Asian megacity experience? And will we still be sharing a cup of sugar with our neighbours? As the population debate gets mental, we're going in search of the soul in urban sprawl. A...

2011-10-15 The Marshmallow Test (broadcast edition) and...

It started with two marshmallows back in the 1960s, and it became one of the most influential experiments in 21st century psychology. Walter Mischel on the role of willpower and the developing mind. Due to BBC copyright reasons the podcast and overseas edition is an archival feature instead, Proust was a Neuroscientist.

2011-10-01 On the Couch in a brain scanner!: Putting the...

Putting the ego, id and subjective Self back into the brain sciences, and vice versa. That's the ambitious quest of Neuro-psychoanalysis. Natasha Mitchell joins neuroscientist and psychoanalyst, Dr Maggie Zellner, in a very psychoanalytic sort of city, the Big Apple!

2011-09-17 Dont follow your instincts! Supernormal...

'Follow your instincts' - it's that old adage we all hold true. Well, dont. Harvard psychologist Deirdre Barrett argues our ancestral minds are leading us astray in a 21st century world. From obesity to beauty, warfare to television, it's time to use our big brains better.

2011-09-03 Profiling the criminal profilers - the inside...

Criminal profiling has captured the pop culture psyche - from CSI to The Silence of the Lambs, with star forensic psychologists who have an uncanny knack for getting inside the criminal mind. But what's profiling like in the real world - and does it really work?

2011-08-20 An inflammatory story: Depression and immunity

Hippocrates thought melancholia was caused by too much black bile. Now some scientists describe the Black Dog as an inflammatory illness. Heart disease, oxidative stress and omega 3 are all part of the compelling story too, where body and mind reunite.

2011-08-06 Taking charge: mind, body and recovery

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Professor Graham Martin is an international leader in suicide prevention, educator, researcher, a sometime thespian, poet, mediator and black belt in Karate. But in 2009, life took a radical turn when he was suddenly paralysed, and the tables were turned - doctor became patient.

2011-07-23 Hell in Paradise: Mental health care in Bali

Bali is a tropical holiday paradise, but there's a darker side few tourists witness. People with mental illness being chained, caged, or shackled by their family members, often in shocking conditions. All in the Mind joins the rural rounds of prominent local psychiatrist Dr Suryani, as she meets and speaks with families, determined to make a difference.

2011-07-09 Dialogue with the Dalai Lama - Part 3 -...

Mental illness is reportedly on the rise in young people. Why? And, what role for secular ethics education in fostering developing minds? Patrick McGorry joins His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Natasha Mitchell in conversation.

2011-06-18 Feature Series (Part 3 of 3) - Getting geeky...

This is the century for visual communication - video conferencing, youtube, smart phones - and deaf people are at the forefront. Were getting geeky at the worlds first and only deaf university, Gallaudet University in Washington DC. Scientific surprises too - could the genes that contribute to deafness have paradoxical benefits?

2011-06-04 Feature Series (Part 1 of 3) - Gallaudet...

Gallaudet University in Washington D.C is the world's first and only university for deaf students. Abraham Lincoln signed it into existence and its impact on the global deaf community has been enormous. From the radicalisation of deaf culture to the redefining 'Deaf President Now' protests of 1988, the design ethos of deaf architecture to the aesthetics of sign language poetry, and new bilingual pedagogies - join Natasha Mitchell on campus.

2011-05-21 Live from the Sydney Writers' Festival...and...

Join us for a super smorgasbord of books and brains! Natasha Mitchell hosts live from the Sydney Writers' Festival for Radio National's special weekend broadcast from the harbour's edge. On Monday's edition and the podcast, acclaimed sociobiologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy with a provocative take on the evolution of our big brains.

2011-05-07 Neuroscientist-turned-novelist Lisa Genova -...

Alice is just 50 and at the peak of her Harvard career when Alzheimer's arrives. High flyer mother Sarah is driving to work when an accident & brain damage erases the left side of her world. Bestselling neuroscientist-turned-novelist Lisa Genova has a knack of getting inside her character's dislocated minds & lives.

2011-04-23 Easter special: The Brain in New York

The brain is the star of an exhibition at one of the worlds great cultural institutions, the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Get off the subway at West 79th Street and take a tour with Natasha Mitchell of her very favourite organ!

2011-04-09 Murder in mind

From Dexter and CSI to the nightly news - murder fills our media, and lethal violence never ceases to fascinate and frighten. A forensic look at the tense history of murder, and a modern rethink of the psychology of shame and honour in preventing it.

2011-03-26 Buying desires: Neuromarketing or neurohype?

Advertising used to be straightforward. Now neuromarketing has arrived, armed with a brain scanner and seeking to unearth your real buying desires. The Mad Men are excited, there's enticing potential, but neuroethicists have concerns for the autonomy and privacy of your inner-most sanctum - your thoughts.

2011-03-12 Sit with Me: an anatomy of depression

Growing up with a depressed parent takes its toll, reframing how you look at the world as a child. In 2007, Mike Bernstein recorded a moving dialogue between 12-year-old Cameron and his father, Bob. Four years later Mike returns, to discover a staggering story in Bob's past. A rare insight into the anatomy of depression.

2011-02-26 The Man Who Was Disappointed with What He Saw...

S.B grew up blind. But at middle age his sight was returned to him. His case transformed the field of visual perception, but it's also the bittersweet story of the fruits, and spoils, of science. Due to BBC copyright, this weeks podcast, Radio Australia and streaming version is the triumphant story of Zoltan Torey, blinded as a young man.

2011-02-12 The mind in crisis: to debrief or not to...

Floods, fires, cyclones and the anniversary of Black Saturday. Psychological debriefing is a technique aimed at helping us process traumatic events, so the emotional scars can heal not harm. To some the approach is discredited, ineffective and may even do damage - to others it can still have important role. Beyond the controversy, where does the field stand today?

2011-01-29 That Does Not Compute: the hidden affliction...

You've heard the common refrain, 'Oh, Im so bad at maths!' But for up to eight per cent of us, a condition called dyscalculia means numbers are a serious struggle, with serious consequences. Scientists are now revealing its biological basis, and in Australia there's a push for it to be seen as a legitimate and unique disability.

2011-01-15 Kay Redfield Jamison - UPDATED

Top clinical psychologist and psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison took the world by storm with her book An Unquiet Mind. In it she revealed her own torrid experience of bipolar disorder, and a passionate life marred by mania and depression. She joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation to discuss her new memoir, Nothing Was the Same. Recounting two decades with her partner, leading schizophrenia researcher Richard Wyatt, who died in 2002, it's a story of deep love and deep loss. To her,...

2011-01-01 Stressed out! The powerful biology of stress

A little tension keeps us on our toes - we're biologically primed for it. But 'toxic' stress makes us physically sick, and powerful research is now revealing its potent impact on our developing bodies and brains. Don't miss two world leaders transforming our understanding.

2010-12-18 Cultural Chemistry (Part 3 of 3): Colombia -...

You've seen it in suburban Australian gardens with its bright, pendulous flowers in full bloom. But in Colombia, Angel's Trumpet has a dark side. It's used to rob people by robbing them of their memory, and allegedly, their free will. For All in the Mind, clinical psychologist Dr Vaughan Bell goes in search of the truth about the drug Burundanga, and Brugmansia - a popular plant with a complex personality.

2010-12-04 Thinking about suicide: one survivor's...

David Webb has penned what's described as 'the worlds first PhD on suicide by someone who has attempted it'. He suggests we need to honour suicidal feelings as real, legitimate, important and 'a sacred part of the human story'. But how does this view sit with health campaigns urging us to understand suicidal thoughts as a sign of untreated mental illness? An opportunity to hear a voice absent from the public conversation about suicide - that of an attempt survivor - and, next week, a...

2010-11-20 Glenn Close: 'We are exactly who we are meant...

Acclaimed actress Glenn Close, her sister Jessie and nephew Calen are star guests at this weeks huge Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego. Hear their candid account of a family history of mental illness, and why theyre speaking out. Next week, in our Cultural Chemistry series...Our caffeinated culture, with YOUR stories!

2010-11-06 Why everyone (else) is a hypocrite: your...

Why do we so often deceive ourselves, believe one thing and yet do another, and fail to exercise self control when we know better? Acclaimed evolutionary psychologist Robert Kurzban argues we need to be more forgiving of ourselves. Our strange ways are explained by our 'modular minds', one of the most hotly debated ideas about how your mind works.

2010-10-23 Nido ('Nest') therapy: Top psychiatrist...

Professor Peter Tyrer, editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, argues his profession practises 'mental colonialism' on people with long-term, chronic mental illness that's resistant to treatment. His approach is called Nidotherapy -- Nido meaning 'nest' -- focused on changing a person's environment not their personality. And, Jenny relates her poignant identity struggles and triumphs of being a long term "service user".

2010-10-09 We have ways of making you think - Parasites...

Half the living things on the planet are parasites, and they've developed uncanny ways of making us do what they want. A spooky encounter with suicidal crickets, mad rats and Zombie ants - the parasites are here to take over our brain. One ecologist argues they could even be changing our personality at the civilisational scale.

2010-09-25 On the Couch: Perminder Sachdev and Norman...

Two world renowned psychiatrists, Perminder Sachdev and Norman Doidge, join Natasha Mitchell on the All in the Mind couch, prepared to be asked anything. Are you normal? What is alien hand syndrome? The ticks of Tourette syndrome -- what causes them? Do stories of broken brains generate little more than a cabinet of neurological curiosities?

2010-09-11 It's on the tip of my finger! - Sign...

L.A comedian C.J Jones is a master storyteller in sign language. San Diego scientist Stephen McCullough studies the neurobiology of sign language. Both are deaf. Sign language is revealing surprising insights into the evolution of all human languages in the brain. From finding the word on the 'tip of the finger' to the bilingual brains of speakers and signers - join two performers and two scientists with unique stories from the frontiers of deaf culture.

2010-08-28 Crazy Like Us - The Globalisation of the...

"Would you like fries with that?" Americas big brands and fast food outlets have become the dominant signatures of globalisation. But is mental illness becoming another? Is West best when it comes to the diagnosis, definition and treatment of mental illness? Ethan Watters unearths a disturbing trend, which could inform how we respond to disasters like the devastating Pakistan floods.

2010-08-14 Challenging Stereotypes: culture, psychology...

We can't escape our cultural heritage, and yet it's more malleable than you might think. Its there in everything we do and say -- from the boardroom tables of big business to conversations with your GP. How are scientists getting inside our cultural mindsets to study them? Brain scans have entered the fray.

2010-07-17 Special Series (Part 1 of 3) Up the Line to...

As old as the state of Queensland itself, Goodna Mental Hospital became Australias largest and oldest asylum, housing 50,000 people over its lifetime. In this series, All in the Mind shares stories from people who lived and worked there. From a nurse who worked there from the 1940s - to a woman incarcerated as a young ward of the state, now fighting for justice. Warts and all recollections of madness, care and abuse. (Rebroadcast)

2010-07-03 Would I Lie to You? Part 1 of 2 (broadcast...

Science journalist Roland Pease investigates the eternal quest for an objective approach to spotting deception. For almost 100 years, law enforcement agencies have used the polygraph to find out whether suspects are lying or not. But is it a legitimate tool? For copyright reasons, this week's podcast and online edition is an alternative from our archives, When Good People Turn Bad: Philip Zimbardo in conversation

2010-06-19 The Master & his Emissary - the divided brain...

Eminent psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist offers an ambitious, provocative thesis about how the brain's two hemispheres came to be, and construct the world. Today there's a power struggle being played out between the left and right brain that he argues is reshaping Western civilisation in disturbing ways.

2010-06-05 Making sense of noise: Part 1 of 2 - Back to...

The soundtrack to our lives seems to have got louder. Surviving the cacophony of city existence is hard enough, but what does all that racket do to the developing brain as it learns? Enter the Virtual Classroom to discover some unexpected lessons for contemporary schools. And next week, were in pursuit of silence.

2010-05-22 Whistleblowing and the psyche: an...

Bluebird is the ABCs new alternate reality (AR) game where you unfold the plot online. At its heart is a young scientist turned whistleblower, determined to stop a maverick entrepreneur's plan to geoengineer the global climate. But whistleblowing comes with huge psychological risks. An anthropologist and a sociologist offer a powerful perspective on how the self and psyche can be shredded in science.

2010-05-08 Is Ignorance bliss? - the getting of wisdom

Four wise souls consider the making of a wise mind. Does knowing more necessarily make you happier? Can ignorance be bliss? 'Lateral thinker' Edward de Bono, Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar, Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman, and author and counsellor Petrea King join Natasha Mitchell at the Happiness & Its Causes conference.

2010-04-24 The Brain on Trial

The brain is on trial, and you be the judge. In a hypothetical murder case featuring a real judge, real neuroscientists and real lawyers - a brain scan image is presented as evidence. What unfolds could be coming to a courtroom near you. Stanford law professor Hank Greely is concerned neuroscience is being exploited by the law before its fully baked.

2010-04-10 You, the Scientist! Personal Construct...

What makes you 'You'? Personal Construct Psychology argues everyone constructs and tests their own internal models of reality, and that therapists shouldn�t cast themselves as the all-knowing `expert�. We are all scientists of the self. This week, confrontations with a shocking serial killer, the philosophical heritage of psychology and the moral limits of acceptance.

2010-03-27 A matter of mind-sets? Religion and science -...

Do science and religion represent fundamentally different mind-sets? Physicist Richard Feynman said, 'Science is what we do to keep us from lying to ourselves'. From the Global Atheist Convention held in Australia this month, philosopher Peter Singer, biologist and popular science blogger PZ Myers, and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins weigh in on matters of minds and faith. Next week, renowned philosopher A.C Grayling.

2010-03-13 Archival Curiosities: Elizabeth Kubler-Ross...

Psychiatrist Dr Elizabeth Kubler-Ross�s book On Death and Dying in many ways transformed the way we publicly and privately talk about death and grief, and inspired the modern palliative care movement. From the depths of the ABC's rich archives comes this 1978 interview with Kubler-Ross. She died in 2004, and her ideas and legacy continue to provoke, and to court controversy,

2010-02-27 Community Treatment Orders

How do we balance human rights, social inclusion and risk when a mind goes off the rails? Is there value in enforced treatment and can it be justified?

2010-02-13 Kay Redfield Jamison

Top clinical psychologist and psychiatry professor Kay Redfield Jamison took the world by storm with her book An Unquiet Mind. In it she revealed her own torrid experience of bipolar disorder, and a passionate life marred by mania and depression. She joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation to discuss her new memoir, Nothing Was the Same. Recounting two decades with her partner, leading schizophrenia researcher Richard Wyatt, who died in 2002, it's a story of deep love and deep loss. To her,...

2010-01-30 David Eagleman: The afterlife, synesthesia...

Neuroscientist by day, novelist by night - David Eagleman has just written an extraordinary little novel about the afterlife. He�s also a leading researcher in synesthesia, studying people who taste sounds, hear colours, and live in a remarkable world of sensory cross-talk. He joins Natasha Mitchell in conversation about life, death and the in-between.

2010-01-16 Child soldiers: the Art and arts of healing

Born into the bloody horror of war, Sudanese rap artist Emmanuel Jal was 9 when he was recruited into the Sudanese Peoples� Liberation Army as a child soldier. Incredibly he survived, and his music reaches a generation of Lost Boys.

2010-01-02 Dreams: the body alive! (Part 1 of 2)

Jungian psychoanalyst and psychotherapist Robert Bosnak is a dream worker. To him dreams are an ecosystem of imaginings—powerful bodily experiences populated by characters with their own intelligences. When you encounter the images of your dreaming mind do you find one Self, or many? And, next week, a leading neuroscientist probing the possible link between memory and dreaming.

2009-12-19 Dialogue with the Dalai Lama - Part 3 of 3

His Holiness the Dalai Lama joins All in the Mind's Natasha Mitchell and leading scholars in a dialogue about science and the self. This week, founder of the field of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace consider with him what it takes to flourish...really flourish...individually and collectively.

2009-12-05 Dialogue with the Dalai Lama: Part 1

From the stage of the 2009 Mind and Its Potential conference, His Holiness the Dalai Lama joins All in the Mind's Natasha Mitchell in an extended conversation about the mind, science and much else. And, joining the dialogue over coming weeks is the founder of the field of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, leading Harvard evolutionary biologist Marc Hauser, and Buddhist scholar Alan Wallace

2009-11-21 Climate change and the psyche

In his new book, Why We Disagree About Climate Change, top British climate scientist Mike Hulme wants to understand climate change as a psychological and cultural force. Anthropologist Jonathan Marshall has just edited a provocative collection of Jungian perspectives on climate change. They join Natasha Mitchell to discuss mythology, mental ecology and a changing climate.

2009-11-07 The secret life of bacteria - small, smart...

We can�t survive without them -- and we�ve long underestimated their prowess. Controversially, bacteria could even have cognitive talents that rival our own. Predatory behaviour, cooperation, memory -- Jules Verne eat your heart out -- Natasha Mitchell takes you on a strange adventure into the secret world of microbial mentality.