All In The Mind
by ABC Australia
Why do people lie? Why do relationships fall apart? Can trauma change your brain?Every week on All in the Mind, award-winning journalist Sana Qadar explores the psychology behind the biggest questions in our lives — how we think, feel and behave.Featuring leading experts like Esther Perel, Billy Garvey and Ethan Kross, you'll hear personal stories and practical insights that will leave you thinking long after the podcast ends.Whether it's debunking pop psychology trends or translating the latest neuroscience research, more than 100,000 listeners join Sana each month to learn the best strategies for surviving life with your mental health intact.All in the Mind is created for ABC's Radio National by specialist journalists and reporters at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and was awarded Best Health and Wellness podcast at the 2026 Australian Audio Awards
Episodes
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Daddy brain: how parenthood changes men
Can a shrinking brain and drop in testosterone levels ever be a good thing? Turns out, yes. We find out why fatherhood forces these neurobiological changes in men, and how they help our species survive. Plus… can the size of new fathers' testicles tell us something about their involvement in...
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Friction-maxxing: does more effort = more value?
Mental map or GPS? Delivery or cooking at home? Scrolling or reading? In a world of convenience, there are plenty of tools that make our lives easier. But is there a benefit to doing things the hard way? Enter: friction-maxxing, the act of deliberately choosing slower, analogue options, in order…
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Mental health and the manosphere
This week, we unpack the appeal of masculinity influencers and the psychological needs they fulfil, like the need for certainty and a sense of purpose. Because interestingly, boys and men who consume manosphere content are more optimistic about their futures — but they're also more likely to...
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'Task paralysis' and overcoming procrastination
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...
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What self-help advice is actually useful?
Today, we're making sense of the tips, tricks and treatments that the self-help landscape has to offer. So whether you're keen to try exposure therapy, tackle your need for validation or restructure your thinking, we'll unpack the psychology so you can improve your life. Guests: Dr Jeremy...
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Is AI the end of creativity and cognition?
As the headlines get scarier, a neuroscientist and an English professor weigh in on some of our big questions about AI. From cognitive offloading to memory and creativity, we'll examine what AI can offer and what should be kept for human minds. Sophie Gee and Reuben Rideaux appear in Where's the…
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Trying to read more? Your brain will thank you
Reading is good for you, but fiction has added benefits. So how does reading work in the brain? Why are stories so impactful? And why, in this era of book clubs and booktok, are literacy rates not thriving? Get your votes in for Radio National's Top 100 Books Countdown before October 1st. Guests:...
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Hypochondria and cyberchondria: the many ways to worry about health
How do you know if you have health anxiety? For mental health nurse Sarah, she had real health concerns, but they were coupled with panic, spiralling worries and late nights googling her symptoms. So how can you tell if your concerns are causing more harm than good?Today, we're demystifying…
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Burnout: the warning signs and how to stop it
Sally Gould was a couple of years into her dream job as a paramedic when it all started to fall apart.It wasn’t the trauma and injury she was exposed to on shifts that was getting to her. It was everything else - the hours, the nonsense callouts, the bullying.The experience would leave her…
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When meditation goes wrong: part two
Meditation sickness, meditation-related adverse effects or meditators in distress – you probably haven't heard these terms, even if you do meditate. Yet research finds adverse effects occur in half of all meditators. For one in 10, it impairs their functioning or lasts more than a month. Experts...
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When meditation goes wrong: part one
Meditation has a lot of benefits, but could it also have risks? Over the past decade, meditation and mindfulness have been promoted to reduce stress and increase relaxation. But there is another story of meditation that rarely gets told... one that involves anxiety, insomnia — even psychosis....
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Why do we crave closure?
Closure can feel like the ultimate solution to help us heal. But is it all it's cracked up to be? Today, we learn about ambiguous loss — the type of grief that comes without closure. We know navigating uncertainty is tricky, so what practical steps can we take to process this kind of loss? A…
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Why should I spend time in nature?
Nature is good for our wellbeing. But how much green space does a community need, before you can see a wellbeing boost? And how do we encourage people to spend more time outdoors? This episode first aired in September 2023. In celebration of National Science Week, make sure to vote in ABC Radio...
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Dark tourism, selfies and moral outrage
Since the days of gladiator battles and public hangings, dark tourism — our attraction to places linked to death and despair — has been a part of human behaviour. But there's something in the 21st century that's causing debate… Selfies. Digital media isn't all bad though. It's also creating...
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From gaming addiction to healthy gamer: Dr K's story
Why is gaming addictive? How do you know if it's a problem? And what should parents do if they're worried about their kids' gaming habits? This week, psychiatrist and author Dr Alok Kanojia (Dr K) unpacks gaming addiction. Long before Dr K was the co-founder of Healthy Gamer, he had his own story...
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How can I become more securely attached?
Whether you're anxious or avoidant, there are steps you can take to make your relationships more secure. And the benefits extend beyond dating — finding secure people can help you build a community and maybe even live longer. Today, neuroscientist, psychiatrist and author Dr Amir Levine joins…
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Oppositional defiant disorder and bad behaviour in schools
Aggression, not listening, interruptions ... bad behaviour is on the rise in schools. What's causing this trend? Is it parenting styles or the pandemic? Nurse Erin has had plenty of challenges with her son, leaving her family at the end of their tether. But one therapy just clicked. Today, a...
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We're all stressed. What should we do about it?
How stressed have you been lately? Are you heading towards burn out? 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,...
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‘Should have been my birthright’ - the journey to reclaim a lost language
Languages are so much more than words and sounds — they encode culture and shape our identity. So how do you connect to your culture, if language is lost? While many Indigenous languages have already been lost, and more are at risk of extinction, in Australia, people are increasingly trying to...
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From death to divorce: getting through the worst losses of your life
At some point in our lives, we all face the question, "how will I ever get through this?". You know the moments — a sudden loss, a messy break up, an unexpected diagnosis or a career halted… These questions are close to Lucy Hone's heart, not just because of her work as a resilience researcher…
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Fame, isolation and terror: inside the mind of a lone mass killer
What is it that drives a person to mass murder? It's a question forensic psychiatrist Professor Paul Mullen has made a life's study of. While these devastating events can at times appear random — he says that taken together, from Port Arthur to Dunblane to Texas — patterns emerge that tell us…
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Emotionally immature parents and grandparents: what to do if you have them (or are one)
Should you consider estrangement from an emotionally immature parent? How do you process the grief of realising your more stable parent … might have been a passive enabler? And what should you do if you realise you are an emotionally immature parent? This week, clinical psychologist and author...
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Handling emotionally immature parents, raising emotionally mature kids
If you've never had good parenting modelled to you, how do you raise emotionally mature kids? Clinical psychologist Dr Lindsay Gibson has thoughts. You might remember Lindsay from our extremely popular 2021 episode titled 'The damage done by emotionally immature parents (and how to heal)'. This...
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How to catch a liar (it's harder than you think)
Rebecca figured out a brilliant way to catch her partner in a lie. It led to a career in forensic psychology… These days, Rebecca studies lie detection, and it turns out, people generally overestimate their ability to tell fact from fiction. All the classic clues — body language, eye contact,...
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Ambiguous crimes and inattentional blindness: the science of eyewitness memory
If you saw a crime, how clearly would you remember it? What about if you were questioned years… even decades later? Eyewitness testimony is an important part of the justice system, so how much do we know about our ability to recall details? In part three of our four-part series, Forensic, we take…
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Confessing to a crime you didn't commit
Imagine police are interrogating you over a crime you didn't commit. If you're innocent, you're safe, right? Wrong. Sometimes, being innocent can make you more likely to confess. How is that possible? In part two of our four-part series, Forensic, we learn about the police interviewing techniques...
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Can criminal profiling identify a killer?
Criminal profiling promises a lot — being able to piece together a picture of a suspect through clues, intuition and psychology sounds great. But how reliable is it? In our first episode of Forensic, a four-part series unpacking the psychological tools used to solve crimes, we examine the history...
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INTRODUCING — Forensic
Forget everything you’ve learned from crime dramas. Forensic is a new podcast series from All in the Mind on ABC Radio National that takes you behind the psychological tools used to solve crimes. Across four episodes, we investigate criminal profiling, false confessions, eyewitness memory and lie...
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Our millennia-long obsession with immortality
Would you want to live forever? The rich and powerful certainly do. There are numerous examples throughout history of people going to extreme lengths in search of immortality. These days, it's Silicon Valley tech bros, testing out everything from blood transfusions to merging our brains with the...
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Pretty privilege, surgery stigma and the cosmetic procedure paradox
Cosmetic procedures aren't reserved for celebrities anymore - they're becoming more and more accessible for every day people. So if we're able to alter our looks or avoid the appearance of aging altogether, what impact does this have on our psychology? Today, we examine how changing our faces…
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The psychology behind our moral outrage
Politics, war, abortion, gun control — why do some topics make us so outraged? One theory is that our preoccupation with preventing harm is to blame. So today, we examine how humans developed morality, why we differ in what we consider right and wrong, and how that drives us to moral outrage. And...
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Staying sane in space
In the last couple of weeks, a lot of people have been getting excited about space exploration thanks to Artemis II. So this week, we revisit an episode from our archives all about life as an astronaut and the psychological impacts of long distance space travel. And if you enjoy this episode…
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Mind Hacks with Dr Billy Garvey: "being a bit kinder to myself"
Welcome back to All in the Mind's little sister: Mind Hacks. In this episode, we're joined by developmental paediatrician and co-host of Pop Culture Parenting, Dr Billy Garvey. From self compassion to channelling anger into advocacy, Billy shares his own strategies for managing bad days. On Mind...
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Tantrums, sleep training and anxiety: Dr Billy Garvey answers your parenting questions
How can I help my child with anxiety? What's the deal with sleep training? Are we supposed to ignore tantrums? This week, we've invited developmental paediatrician Dr Billy Garvey back on All in the Mind for a mailbag episode. We'll unpack your parenting dilemmas which cover questions about kids…
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The psychology of masturbation
This week we're talking about something intimate… and sometimes taboo: masturbation. From self-love, to disordered behaviour and back again, we explore how our perceptions of masturbation have changed over the course of history and why it's still linked to shame and confusion for some. Also, why…
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Mind Hacks: Casey Beros
Welcome back to All in the Mind's little sister: Mind Hacks. In this episode, health journalist and author Casey Beros on managing your inner critic, balancing competing appetites for more and less in life, and filtering out the external voices to chart your own course in life. Each week on Mind...
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Tough conversations and anticipatory grief: being a carer
When Casey Beros' dad was diagnosed with mesothelioma, she knew her entire world would change. More than three million Australians are carers — a role people are often thrust into without any kind of map. So based on her own experience, Casey wrote one. On All in the Mind this week, what it takes...
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Family estrangement and infidelity: Esther Perel answers your questions
How do you grieve a dying parent you're estranged from? Do cheaters ever change? People say love should feel 'easy', is that true? Psychotherapist Esther Perel is back on All in the Mind, answering your questions about heartbreak, loss, and love in this extra special mailbag episode. We've got...
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Mind Hacks: Joel Pearson
Welcome back to All in the Mind's little sister: Mind Hacks. In this episode, cognitive neuroscientist Joel Pearson tells us how he manages his own stress (clue: it involves saunas!) Each week on Mind Hacks, we're bringing you bonus content with special guests, featuring rapid fire questions…
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Is AI making our brains lazier?
Social media gave us brain rot; will AI give us cognitive atrophy? How can we possibly learn to cope with the sheer amount of uncertainty and change heading our way? Cognitive neuroscientist Joel Pearson is back on the show, two years after his mega popular appearance in our episode titled…
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Mind Hacks: Esther Perel
Introducing All in the Mind's little sister: Mind Hacks. Each week, we'll bring you bonus content with special guests, featuring rapid fire questions about their mental health tips and pet peeves. It's like a psychology version of eff, marry kill!Kicking off our first episode is none other than...
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Couples therapy with an AI partner? Esther Perel's just done it
Psychotherapist and relationship expert Esther Perel has had a lot of 'firsts' over her four decade-long career — counselling her first polyamorous relationship, or her first gay couple navigating surrogacy. Now, she's just done her first session with a man and his AI 'girlfriend'… Did she…
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We want your parenting questions
Developmental paediatrician Dr Billy Garvey is returning to All in the Mind and we'd love to ask him your questions! Billy is an expert on kids' mental health — last time he was on the show we discussed what's really going on with kids who are labelled "bad"; including insecure attachment,...
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Why do we choke under pressure?
The siren has sounded. The scores are even. A footy player has one final chance to kick an easy goal to get his team into the finals. He's right in front of the goals. He lines up. Kicks. Misses. The pressure of such a moment was phenomenal, and the player choked under it. So what happens in the...
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Can 'normalisation of deviance' help to explain a catastrophe?
40 years ago, NASA experienced one of its most devastating disasters. The Challenger space shuttle disintegrated just 73 seconds after launch, killing all seven crew members. How had this happened? And did the culture of NASA have anything to do with it? In this episode, we dig into a concept...
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Got a question for Esther Perel?
Renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel is coming to All in the Mind! And we'd love to ask her some of your questions. Esther Perel is an internationally recognised couples therapist. You might know her as the author of Mating in Captivity and The State of Affairs. Family, sex, intimacy…
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The paradox of petty problems: Why small annoyances can snowball
Slow walkers. Unmelted cheese in a toastie. Bad formatting in documents. If these small annoyances make you weirdly mad, you're not alone (in fact, you're human). But when little pet peeves add up, they can contribute much bigger problems like chronic stress. So what can you do about it? Today…
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Grief and guilt: losing a loved one to suicide
When Blake's dad died by suicide, it came as a complete shock. Overwhelming grief, combined with confusion and guilt — it uprooted his life. The loss made him rethink his own mental health, and eventually, channel that into the community — fundraising and taking on three world records. Today…
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Driving me mad: why we get road rage
Simon considers himself a calm, conscientious, conflict-avoidant type of person. But in the car, his personality flips — and it scares him. It can be hard to admit, but many of us do experience road rage. So what is it about being in the driver's seat that makes us so quick to anger? And does the...
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The cognitive distortions of a high achiever
Over years of practice, clinical 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...
About this show
Why do people lie? Why do relationships fall apart? Can trauma change your brain?Every week on All in the Mind, award-winning journalist Sana Qadar explores the psychology behind the biggest questions in our lives — how we think, feel and behave.Featuring leading experts like Esther Perel, Billy Garvey and Ethan Kross, you'll hear personal stories and practical insights that will leave you thinking long after the podcast ends.Whether it's debunking pop psychology trends or translating the latest neuroscience research, more than 100,000 listeners join Sana each month to learn the best strategies for surviving life with your mental health intact.All in the Mind is created for ABC's Radio National by specialist journalists and reporters at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and was awarded Best Health and Wellness podcast at the 2026 Australian Audio Awards
Hosted by
ABC Australia