Episode notes
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: Professor Genevieve McArthur Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy, ACU Director of Research Translation, Dyslexia SPELD Foundation Dr Lili Yu Senior Lecturer, School of Psychological Sciences Macquarie University Centre for Reading Dr Raymond Mar Professor of Psychology York University…
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All In The Mind
ABC Australia · Health · English
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,…
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2 Oct 2026 · 30 min
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18 Sep 2026 · 30 min
Hypochondria and cyberchondria: the many ways to worry about health
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11 Sep 2026 · 30 min
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 isolated and thinking of suicide. But she found a way back. Today, an episode for those of you who fear you’re burning out - or have burnt out. We hear about the personality traits that put you at higher risk of burnout, how to protect yourself and getting back on the path back to good health. Guests:…
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4 Sep 2026 · 30 min
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 say many people can benefit from meditation, but it can also come with harms. Today, the second episode of a two-part special on the research into those harms and the personal stories of those who've experienced them. You can hear part one of the series here. Guests: Willoughby Britton Associate…
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28 Aug 2026 · 30 min
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. Today, how one person went from being an evangelical mindfulness meditator, to a leading researcher on the adverse effects of meditation. Guests: Willoughby Britton Associate professor, Brown University Medical School and director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab Pawan Sharma Assistant…
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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 heads up, this episode touches on some heavy topics around loss and trauma. Guests: Carly Dober Psychologist Dr Pauline Boss Professor emeritus, University of Minnesota Author, Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic Author, Change and Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief…
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