Conversations: Psychology & Relationships
This podcast features in-depth conversations with leading figures in psychology, relationships, and emotional health, including Esther Perel, Glennon Doyle, and Dr. Gabor Maté. Hosted by Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski, the episodes explore topics such as narcissism, trauma, healing, and love. The collection draws from the rich archive of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's 'Conversations' podcast, offering curated interviews that delve into personal and professional insights.
Episodes
Spotting the psychopaths, sadists and narcissists in our lives and how to get rid of them
Toxic people are around us in our workplaces, our families and our dating lives. Research psychologist Leanne ten Brinke is here to tell you how to spot them, and get rid of them from your orbit.Leanne ten Brinke is a research psychologist whose special area of expertise is what she calls 'dark personality types'.These are particularly cruel, malicious, manipulative people who la
Moana Hope on a life spent caring for others and re-learning how to love
Former AFLW star Moana Hope has spent her life caring for others, including her dying father and her beloved sister Vinny, who has an intellectual disability. It wasn't until Mo was in her 30s that she realised she needed to learn how to love herself.Content Warning: this episode of Conversations contains discussion of childhood abuse, domestic violence and suicidal ideation.Moan
Lessons in living, grief and love from the Lebanese Civil War
Antoun Issa grew up quietly aware of a profound grief in his mother's eyes. As an adult, after living and working in the Middle East, he finally knew how to ask her about surviving the Lebanese Civil War.Antoun is a journalist who grew up in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, after his parents had escaped the civil war in Lebanon in the 1970s.Growing up in Craigieburn as the baby of
Transforming trauma with Dr Gabor Maté
The renowned physician discusses the role of trauma in our lives, showing up as addiction, chronic disease and mental illness — and how recognising his own led to true healing.To binge even more great episodes of the Conversation podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the be
Finding the erotic in everyday life with Esther Perel
Esther is a therapist who spent years studying intimacy, monogamy and sexuality. She became the world's most well-known expert on modern loveWhen Esther was a teenager she was voraciously curious about human behaviour.She thought she'd become a journalist or a translator, but instead she grew up to become the world's most famous contemporary psychotherapist.Esther became known ar
Algorithms, accountability and the 'manosphere'—empowering men to be the solution
Clinical psychologist and men's mental health researcher Zac Seidler on how boys are being fed increasingly inflammatory content online, and what men can do IRL to offer a version of masculinity that is healthy and vulnerable, instead of hard and dangerous.Many young men are taking a journey on the internet right now which starts with inoffensive self-improvement videos on platfo
Meet Ash Barty's mindset coach — Ben Crowe
How does Ben Crowe get elite athletes to the top of their game? What he asks footballers, surfers and tennis players to do seems counter intuitive, and a lot of the work happens off the field. (R)Ben Crowe is a mindset coach who has worked with elite athletes like surfer Steph Gilmore, tennis superstar Ash Barty, and the Richmond Football Club.But Ben's method of coaching seems c
Reframing identity through motherhood and marriage with Glennon Doyle
Glennon made a big name for herself in the US as a ‘Christian mommy blogger’ with her candid and often hilarious writing when she fell wildly in love with U.S Women's Soccer star Abby WambachAlongside her blackly funny posts about the challenges of parenting, Glennon wrote about her recovery from alcoholism and bulimia.She encouraged her growing tribe of followers to feel their f
The Indigenous psychologist doing things differently - From the Pilbara to Perth and beyond
Dr Tracy Westerman grew up in the Pilbara, where suicide and mental health issues have deeply scarred Indigenous communities. So this Nyamal woman decided to do something about it.Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman grew up in some of the most remote parts of Western Australia, moving from a station to a town called Useless Loop, eventually landing in the mining town of Tom Price.Tracy,
The ladder out of depression with psychiatrist Ian Hickie
Professor Ian Hickie has spent decades trying to understand clinical depression. Where does it come from? What role do genes play? And most importantly – what works to release its chokehold?Ian Hickie has spent his career trying to help people at their darkest times. He's a psychiatrist who is particularly passionate about taming the black dog of depression.Depression is not a si
Situationships, risks and growing pains — Jemma Sbeg on surviving your 20s
From relationships and loneliness, to indecision and burnout, Jemma Sbeg is your guide to navigating your 20s, and looking back on that decade with a new perspective.When Jemma Sbeg started recording a podcast in the back of her Subaru about her quarter life crisis, she had no idea just how many people she would reach.But other people her age were desperate for guidance through t
The healing power of dogs
Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days
The secret psychosis of a first-time mother
When psychologist Ariane Beeston started having delusions after the birth of her son, and hallucinating that he was a dragon, she had to learn how to become the patient.Ariane Beeston thought that when her son was born, she would feel that immediate rush of love that everyone told her to expect, and that motherhood would come naturally to her.But that's not what happened.Instead,
From Yugoslavia to Australia — Jelena Dokic on tennis and the truth
Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned the world. (CW: discussion of domestic violence and coercive control).Jelena Dokic overcame adversity, poverty and violence to rise to the top of the tennis world. Years later, her revelations about her father's abuse stunned
Philippa Perry says yes to feelings
Philippa's parents wanted her to move in the 'right' circles, so they sent her to a Swiss finishing school. Instead she became a debt collector, went to Hamburger University then became a psychotherapist
Trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling) and me
As a teenager Adele Dumont started pulling out her hair from the root.Eventually she created a bald spot the size of a 20-cent piece at the crown of her head.Adele would sometimes enter a trancelike state, covertly sitting on her bathroom floor, picking at her scalp for hours on end.The urge to pull at her hair was uncontrollable, and secret.When Adele finally put a name to her b
Lessons from the world's longest study on happiness: Dr Robert Waldinger
Dr Robert Waldinger on what it takes to live a happy life. Robert Waldinger has spent most of his working life trying to understand the secret to human happiness. He’s Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development. The project has been tracking what makes for a joyful life for more than eight decades and points to mea
Elizabeth Gilbert's keys to a big, creative life
Liz is probably best known for her international best-seller Eat, Pray, Love.
Nourishing the heart
Psychiatrist Dr Warren Ward treats patients who are severely ill with eating disorders. Understanding the mystery of human nature has driven him since he was a young doctor, and has led him down a strange path into examining the love lives of philosophers
Penny Moodie's compulsive and compelling life
Penny grew up consumed by catastrophic thoughts and developed habits to try to ward off impending doom. It turned out she had been living with obsessive compulsive disorder for 30 yearsPenny Moodie grew up consumed by catastrophic thoughts and ideas - that her parents would die in a car crash, that her mother was not really her mother, or that she had somehow contracted HIV aids.
A rebel on the legal bench
David Heilpern with stories of drama, crime and heartache from his 21 years as a country magistrate (CW: references to drug use and sexual assault)For 21 years David Heilpern was a country magistrate in towns including Dubbo, Brewarrina and Lismore.This meant he was the Coroner, the Children's Court Judge, and the person handling all the domestic violence, assault, robbery, drug
Sian Prior: reckoning with childlessness
Sian Prior with the story of the years of longing and loss which marked her quest to become a mother, and what happened when she found herself childless at the age of 50For many years Sian Prior desperately wanted to have a baby.Her longing to be a mother played havoc with her relationships and her body.It never happened, and Sian had to decide what to do with the freedom that wa
Jessica Grisham: helping hoarders let go
Jessica Grisham is a clinical and research psychologist at the University of New South Wales.
Craig Hamilton's three lives
Coalminer turned broadcaster Craig Hamilton was in his 30s when he had a psychotic episode on Broadmeadows train station. In the aftermath, his life was completely changed (CW: mentions suicide)Craig Hamilton began his working life as a coal miner in Newcastle north of Sydney. He worked deep underground, knocking down walls and digging through tunnels through the inky blackness.
Loneliness — it's not only you
Loneliness is a universal experience, for each of us at some point in our lives. Journalist Ros Thomas travelled the world to investigate, and find the antidote. To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversation podcast' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-p
When a sea change collides with messy midlife
For journalist Kate Halfpenny, moving to a beachside town during Melbourne's lockdowns seemed like the perfect way to unwind and escape her huge mortgage. Then she had to contend with the triple whammy of perimenopause, her husband's alcoholism and distance from family and friends.For the first time in her life, Kate had an empty house, no job commitments and no city life to dist
Ross Fitzgerald on the dangers of drinking, and woodblock artist Cressida Campbell
Ross Fitzgerald hasn't touched alcohol for many years now. But it has been on his mind a lot recently, having co-written a fascinating account of alcohol in Australia. It's a relationship that's both lively and volatile.His new book is titled Under the Influence: a history of alcohol in Australia. Authors - Ross Fitzgerald and Trevor L. Jordan.Cressida Campbell is famous for her
The male midwife working in remote Arnhem Land
Midwife Christian Wright with tales of emergency evacuations and surfing with crocodiles while working in remote Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, helping Yolŋu women birth their babiesChristian lives in the tiny town of Nhulunbuy right on the tip of the Northern Territory.His job there is an unusual one.Christian doesn't work in the mines like most of the whitefellas in tow
Journalist Jill Stark addresses problem drinking in the most personal way
Broadcast date: Thursday 21 February 2013
This anxious life: Dr Mark Cross
Mark is an experienced consultant psychiatrist who also suffers from Australia's most common mental health condition, anxiety. His direct insight helps him understand how people with anxiety can thrive at work and in lifeMark is a consultant psychiatrist with thirty years' experience, a senior university lecturer, and specialist in the mental health of young people.He came to pub
Changing prisoners' minds with Vedic meditation at Rikers Island
Joh Jarvis was a high-flying boss when grief from a terrible loss began to overwhelm her. She tried therapy, exercise and healthy eating. Then she found Vedic meditation, and the experience was 'psychedelic'.Joh Jarvis is a Vedic meditation teacher.Every week, she travels into Rikers Island Prison — a notorious jail in New York City — to teach meditation to hardened criminals.Joh
Dr Koppe's new life and understanding of PTSD
Hilton Koppe on how his life as a soccer-obsessed country GP changed forever when he became a patient himselfHilton Koppe grew up knowing his parents wanted him to become a doctor. When he got the marks to make it into medicine, they were overjoyed.By the time he was 30, he'd started working as a country GP. Hilton then became a beloved local doctor in Northern NSW, and he worke
Jodi and the people with possibilities
'Love on the Spectrum' star Jodi Rodgers on her life as a sexologist and relationship counsellor for people with Autism, and her unexpected chapter in reality TV
Tony Attwood and the truth of Asperger's Syndrome
Tony has done more than anyone to take us to the truth of what Asperger's really is
Maggie Dent — raising strong girls
Guiding daughters to become confident young woman in an age of smartphones and early sexualisation is tough. The parenting expert says in this complex arena, we can't leave these lessons to chanceMaggie Dent can clearly recall her indignation at being made to wear a dress as a little girl.She was a tomboy and noticed when she was treated differently from little boys, who were all
Maggie Dent - helping teenage boys grow into good men
Maggie grew up around boys, then raised four sons of her own. Now she helps parents understand the changes teenage boys are going through as they cross the bridge from boyhood to manhoodMaggie Dent grew up in the country and she always felt she 'spoke bloke'.As a high school teacher and a family counsellor, she discovered she had a real affinity for teenage boys, and understood h
The green suitcase and the secret family
Betty O'Neill's father disappeared when she was a baby. Decades later, inside a tiny apartment in the Polish city of Lublin she opened a green suitcase to find a huge clue to his secret lifeBetty O'Neill grew up in country New South Wales with her mum Nora.Nora worked in hotels in Kyogle and Coffs Harbour, and because she wasn't able to live at the hotels with her mum, Betty was
How memory works
Over her many decades as a practising psychiatrist, Veronica O'Keane developed a fascination for our memory, how it functions in the brain, and the role it has in shaping our identity
Is there a cheating gene?
Once journalist and author Kate Legge recovered from the news her husband of 30 years was cheating on her, she uncovered four generations of infidelity through his family
Suicide survivor Oceane Campbell
Oceane was 18 when she attempted to take her own life. After a painstaking climb back into life, 20 years later she is a midwife, a writer and a mother of three (CW: mentions suicide and sexual assault)
How to spot a psychopath and toxic people
Understanding and managing the psychopaths in our midst at work and at homeDavid Gillespie is a former corporate lawyer and investor and the author of the best-selling book, Sweet Poison.Some years ago, David found himself working alongside a toxic human being, whom he now considers to have been a psychopath.Psychopaths are typically people incapable of human empathy.They tend to
The psychedelic revolution — how MDMA mended Rebecca's mind
While struggling with PTSD, social researcher Rebecca Huntley chose an unconventional and underground path to healing — MDMA therapy.Rebecca Huntley is well known to many Australians for her formidable intellect and career as a broadcaster, an author and a social researcher.But despite her impressive public-facing life, in private, Rebecca's trauma from a difficult upbringing ref
Mandy Nolan: embracing the 'weird freaky girl'
Mandy Nolan didn't fit in as a child, in the country town where she grew up. But later in life, her differences became her superpower (CW: discusses domestic violence and addiction)
A wild mother and her loving son
Ianto Ware with the story of growing up in the suburbs of Adelaide with his radical feminist lesbian mother Dimity
The life of Dr Norman Swan
How a boy from Glasgow named Norman Swirsky grew up to become Australia's most famous doctor
The dark Lithgow childhood of Rampaging Roy Slaven
Comedian and writer John Doyle was raised in a mining town in a music-loving Catholic family. Behind closed doors, his family life was often turbulent, as his sister Jen had been born profoundly autistic at a time when the condition had no name
Enron, schizophrenia, the Bowls Club and me - the life of Glenn Jarvis
Glenn was working at Enron in London when his mental health began to unravel. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and lost nearly everything. Then a Bowls Club in Queanbeyan helped him begin again
Gus Worland on the men who made him and Australia's male suicide epidemic
Two of the most important men to Gus Worland departed his life in shocking and unexpected ways. Gus' grief led him to dig deeper into what it means to be a strong man and re-frame vulnerability as something powerful.TV and radio host Gus Worland grew up with some deeply rooted ideas about what it meant to be a man and a good bloke.When Gus was just 10 years old, his father left t
Steve Biddulph and the lightbulb moment
Parenting educator and retired psychologist Steve Biddulph was in his 50s when a chance conversation over lunch shifted almost everything about how he saw himself
An extreme treatment for depression
Helen Elliot was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward
Taming the Black Dog, and burnout
Gordon Parker is the founder of the Black Dog Institute, which works to remove the stigma around depression, mental illness and bipolar disorder. For the past few years he's been looking closely at the phenomenon of burnout at home and at work
More than kindness: compassion and its uses
Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it
Psychotherapy on the couch
Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patientPsychotherapy, also known as 'the talking cure', is based on a profound and usually ongoing connection between a person and their therapist.This type of work, often dealing with long buried events or feelings, can be transformative for patients.Gill Straker has a lifetime of experience
Jason Om shines a light on his family secrets
When journalist Jason Om turned his skills towards his own family story he began to understand the real story of his perfectionist Buddhist Cambodian father and his Catholic Eurasian mother, who was stricken with an inexplicable sadnessJason is a journalist with ABC TV.A few years ago he turned his journalistic skills to his own family story.Jason wanted to find out what had happ
