Past Programs
Health - 2007
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002
Deep listening: working with Indigenous mental distress
22/12/2007
'How do I get them to talk?' Hinted-at events, listening to the silence, roundabout stories. Mental health and other professionals inexperienced at working with Indigenous clients struggle with the limits of their cultural awareness, with language barriers and with the historical legacies of mistrust and misunderstanding. Cultural competency is more than sharing a joke. So what is it? And how can psychologists, doctors and others acquire it?
Human Rights and psychiatry (Part 2 of 2): Who speaks for the chained and incarcerated?
15/12/2007
Chained in a concrete cell, involuntarily medicated, and isolated. Leading psychiatrist Vikram Patel has amassed a series of shocking photos from asylum settings around the globe -- some taken by 'inmates'. He's challenging his own profession to take action. And, the new Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Will it make a difference? In a historic process, self-identified 'psychiatric survivors' have been closely involved in its development.
Brain surgery on the wireless! One year on [Part 2 of 2]
01/12/2007
Last year All in the Mind first took you on an audiophonic adventure into the operating theatre and into the brain of Kia, as the tendrils of an arteriovenous malformation (AVM) were extracted from her frontal lobes. Eleven months after the surgery, meet Kia again for an update on life post-op. Surviving major brain surgery has been the easy bit. Navigating the welfare system as she recovers has been a mind-field, literally.
Brain surgery on the Wireless! (Part 1 of 2)
24/11/2007
Don your gown and mask, and prepare yourself. Natasha Mitchell takes you into the operating theatre of leading neurosurgeon Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld at the Alfred Hospital, and inside the head of Kia, his patient, as she has an arteriovenous malformation extracted from her frontal lobes. A repeat chance to catch this rare audiophonic insight into a craft of impressive dexterity, patience and courage. And, on next week's show, 11 months after the surgery, we meet Kia again for an update on life post-op. Surviving major brain surgery has been the easy bit.
Mind meets matter: stress, schizophrenia, immunity and heart disease
03/11/2007
Are we really more vulnerable to colds when we're stressed? Does depression increase your risk of heart disease? Could a bad bout of the flu during pregnancy cause schizophrenia in your child? Science has long struggled with the question of whether states of mind influence the body, and vice versa. But the historic mind-body divide is being challenged as cardiologists, immunologists and neuroscientists meet across the lab bench.
Art in the Asylum: orphans of the art world? Part 2 of 2 (The Prinzhorn Collection)
20/10/2007
Germany's extraordinary Prinzhorn collection of art was drawn from 19th and 20th century asylums. Psychiatrist Hans Prinzhorn was on a quest to find a 'more authentic' art, made by minds liberated from the constraints of rationality. Avant-garde artists turned to the works for inspiration, but the collection went on to be exploited by the Nazis in their horrifying campaign against 'degenerate' art, and those with mental illness. Prinzhorn curator Thomas Roeske joins Natasha Mitchell to discuss the difficult history of art, ethics and asylum.
Art in the Asylum: orphans of the art world? Part 1 of 2 (The Cunningham Dax Collection)
13/10/2007
Germany and Australia are home to two of the largest collections of art by psychiatric patients gathered from old asylums - the Prinzhorn and Cunningham Dax collections. The Nazis exploited the European works in their horrifying campaign against 'degenerate' art. But what are the ethics of displaying the art now? Are they clinical records, or orphaned creations? Some see them as diagnostic tools, others as deeply private expressions of tormented, incarcerated minds.
Radio National often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.
Therapy Goes Digital: Is the Internet good for your head?
29/09/2007
The Internet is celebrated and castigated in equal measure -- but is it good for your mental health? Are you compelled to check your email morning, night and day? Some believe Internet Addiction Disorder is a very real and growing concern. Others aren't at all convinced it exists. Also, the rise of psychological therapies online -- from depression to social phobia or bulimia -- can a computer really replace your therapist?
Radio National often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.
Carer Couples: when a partner has a mental illness
15/09/2007
Lover or carer? Partner or dependant? This week, when a partner is afflicted with a severe mental illness, how is the relationship redefined? Do they feel like the body and soul you first fell in love with? Two couples -- Lana and Paul, Gerard and Brendon -- share the trials and triumphs of confronting illness and prejudice together.
Radio National often provides links to external websites to complement program information. While producers have taken care with all selections, we can neither endorse nor take final responsibility for the content of those sites.
The Nature of Fear debate: 2007 Australian Science Festival
01/09/2007
From terrorist threats to bushfire anxiety, the rise of panic disorders to political game play - are we living in an era of fear? A world leader in psychopath research; a personality psychologist, top political scientists; and author of The Chemical Weapons Taboo join Natasha Mitchell to take on a hot topic of the times. The good, the bad and the ugly of that visceral human emotion - Fear.
Audio extra: listen to Q + A with Australian Science Festival audience.
Download mp3 [16 min.52sec - 7.9MB]
Mind games: coma calamities and delusional deliberations
25/08/2007
Where does the Self go when it is battered and bruised beyond recognition? Traumatized after head injury; altered through autism; deconstructed by delusion? TV columnist Ruth Ritchie and neuropsychologist Dr Paul Broks join Natasha Mitchell to navigate the wilderness from very different perspectives, and opposite sides of the doctor's table.
Addiction: Dis-ease over diseased brains
18/08/2007
Your brain hijacked -- possessed by a chronic, relapsing brain disease. Scientists now view addiction as a disease, not a behavioural problem. Brain circuits involved in reward and pleasure, planning and control are dramatically changed. The priority is medical treatment, not shame and blame. But others challenge what they dub the 'disease rhetoric', arguing it's fatalistic and reductionist. Do we treat the brain, or the person? And, should we surrender control to the addicted brain?
81 Words: the inside story of psychiatry and homosexuality (Part 2 of 2)
11/08/2007
Being gay was considered a mental disorder by psychiatry - until 1973 - when the battle lines were drawn. In this final episode, reporter Alix Spiegel continues the gripping story that spurred a radical rethink. It's the story of a closeted cartel of powerful, gay psychiatrists; of confrontations with angry activists; a shrink dressed in a Nixon mask, and a pivotal encounter in a Hawaiian bar. From Chicago Public Radio's This American Life.
81 Words: the inside story of psychiatry and homosexuality [Part 1 of 2]
04/08/2007
Homosexuality was once labelled a mental disease by psychiatry. But in 1973 the challenge came from within. The American Psychiatric Association had a change of heart. And with the tweak of the 81-word definition of sexual deviance in its own diagnostic manual, lives were reclaimed, and values confronted. Reporter and narrator Alix Spiegel tells the gripping story from the inside, revealing the activities of a closeted group of gay psychiatrists who sowed the seeds of change, amongst them her own grandfather, president-elect of the APA at the time. From Chicago Public Radio's This American Life.
When Good People Turn Bad - Philip Zimbardo in conversation
28/07/2007
In 1971, 23 American college students' lives were changed by the now notorious Stanford Prison Experiment. For the eminent psychologist responsible, Philip Zimbardo, the parallels to the atrocities at Abu Ghraib are palpable. In an exclusive Australian interview, he joins Natasha Mitchell, to reflect on the capacity in all of us to commit evil. It's a case of good apples put in bad barrels.
Behind the scenes: animal experimentation ethics committees
21/07/2007
A rare glimpse from the inside. An Australian neuroscientist and an animal welfarist share their experiences of working together on animal experimental and ethics committees. Personal philosophies are challenged, compromises are made, and change happens through dialogue. Good animal welfare equals good science, they argue. But does good science always underpin animal welfare? And, a vet turned animal welfare researcher, now driving the effort to improve methods of pain reduction for lab animals.
Nature? Nurture? What makes us human?
14/07/2007
That old chestnut - what defines human nature? Genes or experience? Are we free agents or genetically determined souls? These questions have fuelled a fierce fight - polarizing a battleground of social scientists, biologists, parents and politicians. World renowned science writer Matt Ridley is calling a truce, and arguing the case for Nature via Nurture. Genes aren't Gods, he argues, they're cogs. As agents of nurture, genes get switched on and off by our experiences. Join Natasha Mitchell with Matt and special guests to debate the implications. Part of the 2007 Alfred Deakin Innovation Lecture series.
The 2007 Alfred Deakin Innovation Lecture: Nature? Nurture? What makes us human? by Matt Ridley
Download a recording of the full lecture in mp3 audio
Download mp3 [31min.19sec - 14.6MB]
Download a transcription of the lecture in pdf.
Download pdf
All in the Mind featured excerpts of Matt's lecture and the panel discussion afterwards - the podcast and streaming audio of the show are at the top of this page as usual, and the transcript is below.
Deep listening: working with Indigenous mental distress
07/07/2007
'How do I get them to talk?' Hinted-at events, listening to the silence, roundabout stories. Mental health and other professionals inexperienced at working with Indigenous clients struggle with the limits of their cultural awareness, with language barriers and with the historical legacies of mistrust and misunderstanding. Cultural competency is more than sharing a joke. So what is it? And how can psychologists, doctors and others acquire it?
Teaching your brain to be happy
16/06/2007
Happiness is paradoxical. What we think will give it to us - invariably doesn't. When we think we've got it - we invariably haven't. We're not even good at predicting what will make us happy people. From languishing to flourishing - can even the most troubled mind be primed for happiness? A panel of international trailblazers in the study of emotion, positive psychology and Buddhism get earnest about pleasure.
Chronic fatigue syndrome
09/06/2007
An exhaustion like none other, disturbed and unrefreshing sleep, aching limbs, cognitive blur - often for many years. The physical impact is immense. Despite this, Chronic fatigue syndrome remains difficult to biologically and medically define, and to treat - even for those most specialized in the condition. World-leading researchers discuss the ongoing challenges and debates, the quest for a diagnostic test, and recent genetic and immunological research.
Writing the Brain: Part 2 - Neuroscience and creativity with Sue Woolfe
02/06/2007
Acclaimed novelist Sue Woolfe, author of Leaning Towards Infinity, found herself mystified by her own mind as she wrestled with narrative of her book, The Secret Cure: a tale of love, science and autism. She set out to answer a question troubling her, 'What are people who sit in rooms making up stories doing with their minds?' She lays her writer's psyche bare to discuss shame, subversion, control and the creative process. A rare glimpse inside the mind's eye of a storyteller.
Writing the Brain: Part 1 - Into the Silent Land with Paul Broks
26/05/2007
Our brains tell our stories and narrate our lives for us. But stories about brains are now in vogue more than ever too. Neuropsychologist, playwright and author Dr Paul Broks climbs inside the fractured minds of his patients and their fragile selves, to tell a bigger story about the mysterious nature of consciousness. From egghood to personhood, he asks, why and how did our conscious selves come to be?
The Neurobiology of Suicide
19/05/2007
Psychiatrist and neuroscientist, John Mann, has a grisly job. He wants to understand why some deeply depressed souls take their own lives, yet others resist. His team's post-mortem studies suggest a distinct neurobiology of suicide. And, for those left behind, might there be a definite 'biology of sadness' too? Also, a bereft father writes to his dead son, and asks 'why?'
Bioterrorism and your brain
12/05/2007
Knowledge can be dangerous. As neuroscience delves more deeply into our organ of thought and its complex soup of neurotransmitters - could it also be exploited for malign purposes? Is the brain the next target of terrorism? Pharmaceutically enhanced soldiers, chemical torture, incapacitants, neurological weaponry... The possibilities are frightening and progress rapid. Two leading researchers into biological weapons present their concerns, and argue scientists need to take action now. But are we at risk of paranoia?
Is music the universal language?
05/05/2007
One person's spoken language might sound like gobbledy gook to another - but when it comes to music do we beat to a common evolutionary drum? Could music be the universal language - linking minds across cultures and ancestral time? And, which came first - music or language? Don your headphones and climb aboard for an acoustic adventure. Does music lie at the heart...and brain...of what it means to be human?
Jerome Kagan - The Father of Temperament (repeat)
21/04/2007
Why can two children born into the same household be like two different peas in a pod? Harvard's Jerome Kagan trailblazed the controversial science of temperament to investigate why. In a career that spans more than half a century, now he's going into battle for our minds, with a compelling retrospective, An Argument for Mind. To some an iconoclast - one of the biggest names in psychology of our time joins Natasha Mitchell, in this re-airing of a popular interview.
Julie's Story: Diary of a brain tumour
14/04/2007
Like many young Australians in their early 20s, writer Julie Deakin headed to Europe for her first 'Big Adventure'. But holidaying in Hungary with her sister she found herself diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and scheduled for immediate surgery, in a land whose language she didn't speak. It was the start of an eight-year saga before her death in 1998, confronting a tumour that wouldn't go away, and the finality of a passionate young life. This week, Julie's story.
The Blind Brain: Part 2 of 2 - The bionic eye
31/03/2007
It conjures up images of the Six Million Dollar Man or Star Trek. A bionic eye for the profoundly blind. What are the prospects for a prosthesis or retinal chip to restore vision? Can engineers really replicate the deeply subjective experience that is seeing? And, would near enough be good enough? Could a few spots of light compromise the other well honed senses of touch, sound and smell that colonise the visual centres of blind brains? Graeme Innis, Australia's Federal Human Rights and Disability Discrimination Commissioner, himself born blind, reckon he'd give one a try.
The Blind Brain: Part 1 of 2
24/03/2007
A completely blind artist paints perfect replicas of the world he's never seen. An Indian child born with cataracts miraculously gains full visual capacity at age 12. People born blind experience their 'seeing' mind in different ways, and are helping scientists challenge the dogma of a brain rigidly hard-wired for vision. And, Zoltan Torey, blinded 56 years ago in an industrial accident, shares his own wildly vivid experience of an 'inner eye'.
Prospects for a transhuman mind?
10/03/2007
Transhumanists are hell-bent on extending their lives beyond the current limits of the flesh, by exploiting cutting-edge genomics, stem-cell research, robotics and nanotechnology. Engineering evolution is their goal. But can they re-engineer our Darwinian mind? Leda Cosmides, renowned pioneer of the controversial field evolutionary psychology, asks, 'Are We Already Transhuman?' Don't miss this Templeton Research Lecture recorded for All in the Mind at Arizona State University.
The Zyprexa story
03/03/2007
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly (makers of Prozac) have agreed to pay upwards of 1.2 billion US dollars to nearly 30,000 patients who claim their bestseller antipsychotic medication, Zyprexa (Olanzapine) has resulted in diabetes, weight gain and other complications and that these risks were downplayed. Secret documents are leaked, the newspaper headlines start screaming, and citizen journalists spread the word - but where is the real advocacy for better drugs with fewer side effects?
Drug and alcohol abuse: The refugee experience
24/02/2007
They survive civil war, refugee camps, dispossession, enforced resettlement. Yet nothing can quite prepare a refugee for the challenge of adapting to life in a new and foreign home. This week, are the world's refugees at increased risk of drug and alcohol use and abuse? What's the international evidence, and what interventions work? Members of Australia's Sudanese community share their own concerns.
Our neurotoxic world (part two): Industrial chemicals - a silent pandemic?
17/02/2007
Lead in paint. Methylmercury in fish. Arsenic in groundwater. Just some of the toxic insults on our vulnerable brains. But are they the thin end of the industrial chemical wedge? Could the world's children be experiencing a silent pandemic in neurodevelopmental disorders? Harvard's Professor Phillipe Grandjean thinks so, and joins Deborah Cory-Slechta at Rutgers University to unpick the latest compelling science. Don't miss two of the world's trailblazers in neurotoxicology.
Our neurotoxic world (part one): Chemotherapy and the brain
10/02/2007
Your brain is a resilient organ, but vulnerable to nasty environmental insults too. This week, in the first of two shows navigating our neurotoxic world: it's been dubbed 'Chemofog' and 'Chemobrain' by cancer survivors: short-term memory loss, foggy thoughts, fatigue - lingering sometimes years after chemotherapy. Could chemo be doing more than killing off cancer cells? New research suggests it may be more toxic to your nerve cells than cancer itself. Natasha Mitchell investigates.
