January 2025 Shell Exchange
Short, Sweet, and Full of Links
Welcome to the January 2025 Shell Exchange!
Midway through each month, I drop a list of recommended reads. I try to feature winning hermit crab essays (🦀) when possible. But those charming crabbies aren’t always easy to find. So I also make it a point to share pieces on invisible illness.
If you come across an essay or article I haven’t mentioned that you feel warrants attention, drop the link in the comments, and I’ll add it to the rotation next month.
1. “With no approved treatments and little support, people with Long COVID turn to online drug markets” by Hannah Buttle from The Sick Times
“For many people with Long COVID, however, anything that offers a chance of improvement may seem worthwhile. Survey data suggest that the quality of life of someone with Long COVID can be worse than that of someone with stage four cancer. People with Long COVID may also be at a higher risk for suicidal ideation.”
2. “Envy, Obsession, and Instagram: On My Mental Breakdown at an Esteemed Writing Conference” by Brittany Ackerman from LitHub
“I leave the gathering early and sit in my room until dinner. This is when the mania begins. I need to go on Instagram and message writers that I know who have literary fame. I need to tell them that I’d love to chat soon, that we should connect, that I loved their thing in that lit mag and they’re so great and I admire them. I send out a dozen or so messages. I wait for replies.”
3. “Maternity Ward. Psych Ward. Repeat.” by Michael Venutolo-Mantovani from Open Secrets Magazine
“Every day, he was required to walk two miles before lunch, recreating his daily routine from Emily’s childhood. Every other night, he would come upstairs to our part of the house, where we would eat dinner together. Every weekend, he would fill us in on what he’d discussed in his various sessions with his team of therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and doctors.”
4. “Too many doctors don’t know how to address eating disorders” by Deborah R. Glasofer and Evelyn Attia from STAT: First Opinion
“Across disciplines, health care education uses case material. Weaving in eating disorder examples can show that the most common eating problems do not involve being underweight; that males and people of color are affected; sexual and gender minorities are at increased risk; and those who are not wealthy are not spared. Through clinical simulations, learners can muddle through discomfort and find language that feels most natural to identify and assist those in need.”
5. “Climate Change Threatens the Mental Well-Being of Youths. Here’s How to Help Them Cope.” by Bernard J. Wolfson from KFF Health News
“Assaf says anxiety about climate change intersects with the broader mental health crisis among youth, which has been marked by a rise in depression, loneliness, and suicide over the past decade, though there are recent signs it may be improving slightly.”
6. “Here’s Why Bad Sleep and Toxic Thoughts Go Hand-in-Hand” by Rachel Nuwer from Scientific American
“This finding showed that sleep deprivation does not cause a general decline in brain activity, Cairney says, but rather seems to specifically affect certain parts of the brain that are involved in executive function.”