Conversations: Psychology & Relationships

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 manhood

Maggie 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 how to communicate with them.

It helped that she was also the mother of four sons.

In her conversations with parents she often found they were bewildered by their teenage sons.

They said it was as though an alien had landed in their family and their sweet boy had been replaced by an unpredictable and sometimes monosyllabic human.

But Maggie says we often don't realise how vulnerable teenage boys are as they grow into adulthood.

She believes if parents learn about some of the ways the brain changes during adolescence, it can make for much better ways to communicate.

Further information

From Boys to Men is published by Pan MacMillan

Listen to Maggie's podcast Parental as Anything

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

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

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 Wambach

Alongside 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 feelings rather than numbing them.

Glennon then used her platform to create an all-women-led non profit organization.

Together Rising has raised $27 million for women, families, and children in crisis.

A few years ago Glennon's husband Craig confessed he'd been unfaithful to her for years.

She decided to stay in the marriage and fight for it.

In 2017 Glennon was at a conference launching her book Love Warrior about recommitting to her marriage.

When she saw US women’s soccer star, Abby Wambach, Glennon immediately fell madly in love.

She upended her life to be with her, and had to rethink many of her ideas about marriage and motherhood in the process.

Further information

Untamed: Stop Pleasing and Start Living is published by Vermillion

Learn more about Together Rising

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Kate Leaver became fascinated by the curative qualities of dogs after her Shih Tzu Bertie helped her through her darkest days

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 life

Mark is a consultant psychiatrist with thirty years' experience, a senior university lecturer, and specialist in the mental health of young people.

He came to public attention in Australia through the landmark ABC TV series, Changing Minds.

The series went inside Campbelltown Hospital’s mental health facility where Mark was senior psychiatrist at the time, and in charge of the youth ward. 

Away from work, Mark's suffered from anxiety his whole life, as did his mother and grandmother.

Anxiety is extremely common in Australia, with up to one in four people suffering at some time in their lives.

Even so, Mark says for medical professionals, disclosing a mental health condition remains especially difficult.

But it does give him direct insight into navigating life and work with this pernicious condition.

Further information

Anxiety is published by ABC Books

Mental health services

Bushfire Recovery Phone 13 43 57

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Esther is a therapist who spent years studying intimacy, monogamy and sexuality. She became the world's most well-known expert on modern love

When 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 around the world after the release of her podcast "Where Should We Begin?" in which she counsels real-life couples who are on the brink of marital breakdown.

In her sessions she's often exploring the tension between the need for security in a relationship, and the need for some distance and a sense of adventure, to keep the spark alive.

Esther says when you choose a partner you choose a story, and by doing so, you're often recruited for a part you never expected to play.

Further information

The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity is published by Yellow Kite Books

Listen to the podcast Where Should We Begin?

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Demystifying the art of talk therapy and the complex relationship between therapist and patient

Psychotherapy, 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 as a psychotherapist, in Australia and in her birthplace, South Africa.

Her work counselling victims of brutality and trauma during the apartheid regime was fundamental to her ongoing practice.

At the heart of every successful therapeutic session, says Gill, is a willingness to be present, open, and to learn from each other.

She encourages people to include the health of their minds as well as their bodies, when looking to improve their wellbeing.

Further information

The Talking Cure by Professor Gillian Straker and Dr Jacqui Winship is published by Macmillan

Gill is a clinical professor in the School of Psychology at Sydney University

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Paul Gilbert on how our brains are wired for inner conflict and possible cruelty, and what to do about it

Helen Elliot was working as a psychologist when she became so ill she was held in a locked psychiatric ward

Understanding and managing the psychopaths in our midst at work and at home

David 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 be charming in the initial phases of a relationship, then become parasitic and domineering.

In the workplace, their presence is often disruptive, and dangerous to the health of the people around them.

David has immersed himself into contemporary research into psychopathic behaviour, and developed some advice on dealing with a psychopath who worms their way into your life.

Further information  

Taming Toxic People is published by Macmillan

To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations 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-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.