Astrid Landon

Covering the mental health system | Audio enthusiast, I write as well | 2022 @IWMF grantee | 2020 @pulitzercenter fellow | @columbiajourn @sciencespoEDJ

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

🧵In 2022, I attended a peculiar seminar in France. For 4 days, I learned all about becoming a sexual assistant, someone who's paid to have sex with disabled clients. They are also called sexual surrogates/partner surrogates though the latter is a slightly different job.

[Prospect @prospect_uk]

Sex surrogates are paid to have intimate relations with people who have difficulty establishing a sex life. Could this experimental form of therapy be the key to sexual autonomy for people with disabilities?
https://t.co/NAPoOJ9DoJ

[Digital Health Awards @DHealthAwards]

GOLD | Astrid Landon, MindSite News @mindsitenews | TikTok Posts on the Rare Illness Known as Dissociative Identity Disorder Have Exploded Among Teens. What's Behind the Fixation? (Digital Health Media / Publications: Article) #DHAS2025

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

@paperdispatch @prospect_uk @IWMF Story's available to read/listen to & answers the following questions (brought up by family & friends over the past 2 years):

Is that even legal?
What makes it different than sex work?
Who created this?
Does it happen in [insert country]?
What do disabled people think about it?

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

🧵In 2022, I attended a peculiar seminar in France. For 4 days, I learned all about becoming a sexual assistant, someone who's paid to have sex with disabled clients. They are also called sexual surrogates/partner surrogates though the latter is a slightly different job.

[Prospect @prospect_uk]

Sex surrogates are paid to have intimate relations with people who have difficulty establishing a sex life. Could this experimental form of therapy be the key to sexual autonomy for people with disabilities?
https://t.co/NAPoOJ9DoJ

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

Special thanks to @paperdispatch Alona Ferber from @prospect_uk who brilliantly edited the story. This reporting was supported by the @IWMF Kim Wall Memorial Fund.

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

@BusinessInsider @edithhonan @AbigailCarter Sara and Stephen from https://t.co/dzeAxv4sGr

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

For @BusinessInsider I wrote about Americans buying up French chateaus.

Thanks to @edithhonan for her great edits!

If you’re interested in falling down the same #chateaulife YouTube rabbit hole, here are some of the creators I spoke to 🔽

[Edith Honan @edithhonan]

"It's true, you can buy a château in France for nothing. There's a reason for that: because nobody wants them!"

That is, the French don't want them. Americans very much do. By @LandonAstrid
https://t.co/sui5EH7Bcs

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

@BusinessInsider @edithhonan @AbigailCarter Amanda and Lincoln from https://t.co/oJN2LkCKrB

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

It takes 7 to 10 years, on average, to diagnose bipolar disorders, with many patients initially misdiagnosed with depression.

But a startup developed a test that (they say) can differentiate between bipolar disorder and unipolar depression.

I wrote about it for @Nature

[nature @Nature]

A first-of-its-kind blood test that uses biomarkers to distinguish bipolar disorder from depression could slash the time it takes to get an accurate diagnosis from years to weeks https://t.co/20ncWcIG1r

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

@mindsitenews @legacyreporter @robwaters001 For more on how media rep. shaped DID's history, here’s some weekend reading!

“From a disturbed Dominican nun during the Renaissance to the controversial book Sybil and beyond, the existence of alternative personalities has been explored for centuries.”

https://t.co/1KzyraORaG

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

I spent two years reporting on the explosion of #DissociativeIdentityDisorder (#DID) content on #TikTok. Patients with DID finds their identity split into two or more personality states, which alternatively take control of their behaviors, thoughts and feelings.
@mindsitenews

[Astrid Landon @LandonAstrid]

@mindsitenews @legacyreporter @robwaters001 ▶️“The first time Fennic remembers leaving their body, they were 11 years old. Lying on their bed, they were feeling suicidal, sobbing, and contemplating self-harm when suddenly they heard a female voice whisper inside their head: “Hey, it’s okay. I’m gonna take over now.””

[SABEW @SABEW]

Congrats to the 16 journalists that were selected for @SABEW’s 2024 Health Care Symposium in Washington, D.C., October 20-22. Fellows will take a deep dive into some of the big issues facing U.S. health care. Special thanks to @commonwealthfnd!

https://t.co/CGdmRPxnqY

[ANGIE ACOSTA @angieacostam_]

Cómo persona que creció en Francia y se graduó bajo el modelo educativo de este país, les comparto un hilo de todas esas referencias culturales que destacan la magia de esta cultura. (Abro hilo 🧵) #Paris2024 #ParisOlympics2024 #JJOOParis2024