New Evidence Links The Pill To Depression

It has been heralded as one of the most defining inventions in sexual history—if not all of human history. There have been many different revolutions in the world, for a variety of causes. And while the sexual revolution may not rank up there with revolutions that liberated countries, the sexual revolution did, in fact, liberate millions and millions of people around the world, particularly women. And at the centre of that gain of sexual freedom was the widespread adoption of The Pill.

Never before had women been able to control their birth control options. By simply taking a pill every day, they could be the ones who determined their own procreation destiny. Now, this has never been a foolproof option, but it was a tremendous step forward for women around the world.

Dealing with side effects of the pill

Unfortunately, for as long as The Pill has been in use, women have been dealing with side effects, both physical and psychological. The side effects have included intermenstrual spotting, nausea, breast tenderness, headaches, weight gain, mood changes, missed periods, decreased libido and others. While definitely not diminishing any of these symptoms, a recent study has revealed a potential link to another potential problem with taking The Pill that could dramatically reduce people’s desire to use it as a primary contraceptive. A significantly higher risk of depression could make people change their minds about using The Pill.

The Pill is a hormonal contraceptive (there are numerous kinds, formulations and administration techniques) and it has long been known that hormones play a big role in affecting women’s mental health. So, a research team from Denmark tracked women through 14 years of their lives to determine if their use of The Pill or other hormonal contraceptives contributed to the likelihood of them later needing to be prescribed an anti-depressant medication. In order to ensure a baseline, the team conducted a test to see where each participant’s depression level was before starting the research.

Potential away from the pill

The results are very intriguing. In short, a correlation was, indeed, found between long-term use of hormonal contraception and potential depression diagnoses later on. There is still a question of causation of that depression, as we know that can be brought on by many other factors. However, that taking The Pill could be a potential cause of depression is now on the table, it is definitely something to be explored and researched further. Hopefully much more rigorously than it was when the medication was first introduced to the public (that is a sordid bit of sexual history for you to look up sometime).

So, what does this mean moving forward? Hopefully two things. First off, let’s hope a better contraceptive comes along that keeps women safe and healthy and allows them to continue to retain their own sexual autonomy. Everybody deserves that right. Secondly, and this might be best addressed to people in relationships, it is the right time to get a better male contraceptive out and in regular use so women aren’t always the person in the relationship who is taking a chance with a medication.