Past Programs
Diseases and Disorders - 2005
2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Epilepsy: The 'falling sickness'.
19/11/2005
Shakespeare wrote of Julius Caesar's 'falling sickness'. Epilepsy was a mystery then and remains an enigmatic condition. It affects around 400,000 Australians and is typified by seizures and commonly a temporary loss of consciousness during the seizure. For centuries it has been associated with prophets, mystics and witchcraft. Most famously the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky believed epilepsy deepened his religious beliefs and gave him intense feelings of joy or 'ecstatic auras'. More recently, studies have recorded that a small minority of epileptics do develop a powerful religious faith, seemingly as a result of their condition. Professor Michael Trimble, from the Institute of Neurology in London, and Professor Bryan Kies from Groote Schuur Hospital in South Africa discuss the continuing challenges and puzzles of epilepsy.
Theodore Millon - Grandfather of Personality Theory
29/10/2005
The 20th century gave us many things, including democracy and modernism. But from these developments there grew specific types of mental illness – and we now have an increasing number of people suffering from narcissism and borderline personality disorder, according to Dr Theodore Millon – known as the grandfather of personality theory.
Dr Millon is Professor Emeritus of Harvard Medical School and the University of Miami. Now almost 80 he remains a prolific writer and has just published his latest book: Masters of the Mind: Exploring the Story of Mental Illness from Ancient Times to the New Millennium. He talks here with Gretchen Miller.
Confabulation - Unscrambling an enigma
15/10/2005
Last night you went to a party. The music and food were excellent – it was a great night out. But there's a problem. People tell you you're in hospital and that there was no party. But you remember it, so how can your memory be wrong? Welcome to the world of confabulation – the unintentional retrieval of false memories and false perceptions. People who confabulate experience their false memories as true. It's a rare and enigmatic condition. Dr Martha Turner and Dr Katerina Fotopoulou disentangle some of the confabulation puzzle.
Do You See What I See? Delusions
24/09/2005
Cotard's syndrome is the belief that you have died, and for sufferers it is a terrifying state. Delusions can take many forms, from widespread paranoia to a specific and singular delusion - you might think an impostor has replaced your spouse. These misbeliefs are commonly associated with schizophrenia, but they can also occur in people with brain injuries, Huntington's and Parkinson's disease and dementia. The Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science is seeking to explain delusions by developing a model of how we all come to accept or reject beliefs. We see how this research is progressing.
Missing the Point! - The mysteries of Autism
17/09/2005
One of the common first indicators of autism is the inability of the 18-month-old child to point with their index finger. Autism shapes behaviour and severely limits a person's ability to form relationships and communicate. But the complex causes of this disorder are obscure. We look at some of the research seeking answers, and a mother with a 3-year-old autistic son portrays life with this mystery.
