All In The Mind

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

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20 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes20

Newest first

Friday · 29 min
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 of addiction — playing for 20 hours a day and failing out of uni. How did he turn his own struggles into a global online community supporting gamers? And what practical advice does he have for gamers
July 24 · 31 min
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 Sana to discuss all things secure attachment. From tiny meaningful moments with strangers, to prioritising the right people in your life, Amir shares his top advice for anyone wanting to change their attac
July 17 · 28 min
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 family's story of oppositional defiant disorder and giving Parent-Child Interaction Therapy a go. Can coaching parents through one-way mirrors and ear pieces help build stronger relationships? And why is P
July 10 · 29 min
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, when his father's punishing work schedule forced him to medically retire in his 50s. It’s an experience that led Rangan to rethink his own work and approach to medicine. Today, Dr Chatterjee, a GP an
July 4 · 30 min
‘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 revitalise certain Indigenous languages. ABC Radio National presenter and Gamilaraay woman Rudi Bremer is on her own journey of reconnecting with her mother tongue, and it's bringing up a mixed bag of fe
June 27 · 31 min
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, but also because of her own experiences of life-altering grief. So today, Dr Lucy Hone shares her tips for navigating the world when it feels like everything is falling apart. Guest: Dr Lucy Hone Resi
June 20 · 30 min
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 about the motivations of lone mass killers. It's often to do with isolation, vengeance and fame. Which is why a growing number of people, including Paul, are pushing never to name the perpetrators of mas
June 13 · 34 min
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 Lindsay Gibson is answering your questions about emotionally immature parents. Each family is different, but she shares some key tips and lessons that can help you navigate difficult relationships. If yo
June 6 · 33 min
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 week, she's back on All in the Mind, talking about the next generation. From the difference between consequences and punishment, to the questionable/cruel videos some parents post on social media, Linds
May 29 · 35 min
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, acting nervous … they don't really hold up when put to the test. In our fourth and final part of our special series, Forensic, we're discovering the truth about lie detection. Are there any giveaways that
May 22 · 29 min
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 a deeper look at eyewitness memory. Because it's not just about what we can or can't recall, there's also the risk that we may not even recognise a crime as it's happening. It turns out we're sometime
May 15 · 31 min
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 that make false confessions more likely, and the bizarre cases in which people come to believe they really, truly did commit a crime – despite being innocent. Guests: Saul Kassin Distinguished Pro
May 8 · 31 min
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 of criminal profiling. How it got popular in the 1950s after bombings in New York City, its shortcomings when scrutinised by researchers, and the techniques it is built on that police deploy today (but
May 6 · 1 min
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 detection, revealing what actually works, what doesn’t, and the surprising ways things can go wrong. Forensic gives an evidence-led look at the cracks and complexities inside modern forensic psycholo
May 2 · 32 min
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 cloud. Why are they/we so obsessed with dodging death? What is it about extreme wealth that makes people dream of defying biology? Today, tech journalist and social psychologist Aleks Krotoski takes
April 25 · 29 min
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 might change how we see each other. Please note, this episode includes some discussion of body image and mental health issues such as body dysmorphic disorder. Take care while listening. Guests: Profe
April 18 · 29 min
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 after all of that, we'll find out how to have better conversations with people you disagree with (even if you're feeling outraged). If you want to hear more about that, check out The skills supercom
April 11 · 29 min
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, check out Artemis Explained, a podcast from the Science Friction team, following the Artemis II mission. This episode was first broadcast in March 2024. You can catch up on more episodes of the All in
April 8 · 7 min
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 Hacks, we're bringing 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! If you ha
April 4 · 29 min
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 of all ages, from the littlest of newborns right through to teenagers. So whether you're a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, friend or someone just curious about how to support young people in your li

All In The Mind

From gaming addiction to healthy gamer: Dr K's story

How can I become more securely attached?

Oppositional defiant disorder and bad behaviour in schools

We're all stressed. What should we do about it?

‘Should have been my birthright’ - the journey to reclaim a lost language

From death to divorce: getting through the worst losses of your life

Fame, isolation and terror: inside the mind of a lone mass killer

Emotionally immature parents and grandparents: what to do if you have them (or are one)

Handling emotionally immature parents, raising emotionally mature kids

How to catch a liar (it's harder than you think)

Ambiguous crimes and inattentional blindness: the science of eyewitness memory

Confessing to a crime you didn't commit

Can criminal profiling identify a killer?

INTRODUCING — Forensic

Our millennia-long obsession with immortality

Pretty privilege, surgery stigma and the cosmetic procedure paradox

The psychology behind our moral outrage

Staying sane in space

Mind Hacks with Dr Billy Garvey: "being a bit kinder to myself"

Tantrums, sleep training and anxiety: Dr Billy Garvey answers your parenting questions