Women Who Use Contraceptives are More Likely to Suffer Depression, Study Shows

The mechanism of the contraceptive pill is meant to halt ovulation. France's national drug agency ANSM started consultations with prescribers of third-generation contraception pills on January 2 to try to limit the use of such pills which are subject to complaints, after a French woman attributed her stroke to her contraception pill in mid-December 2012. The mini-Pill and IUDs are also used for the same goal.

It's already well-acknowledged that depression can be affected or even caused by estrogen and progesterone imbalances.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen had followed participants for 13 years to learn whether women who used hormonal contraceptives were more likely to face depression than women who did not use birth control. In other words, birth control is yet another area in which women's health is inadequately studied, in spite of the fact that it's a product made for women.

A Danish study of women using oral contraception has found a significant association between female oral contraception and depression, a conclusion which had so far been speculated upon but had lacked scientific backing.

Women from the age of 20 to 34 who took the combined pill, which contains artificial variants of oestrogen and progesterone, were 23 percent more likely to be prescribed with antidepressents, according to the study. Fifteen-to-19-year-olds were 80 percent more likely to be on antidepressants than their peers who weren't on the pill.

The link with depression was also found in women using implants, patches and intrauterine devices like the coil. "Doctors should include these aspects together with other risks and benefits with use of hormonal contraceptives, when they advise women to which type of contraception is the most suitable for that specific woman".

Grigg-Spall is a long-time critic of hormonal birth control and author of the book "Sweetening the Pill", which is now being turned into a documentary (co-produced by none other than Ricki Lake).

Adolescents were the most likely candidates for depression.

The authors name a major limitation in cross-sectional studies examining the effect of hormonal contraception on depressed mood: "Because mood symptoms are a known reason for cessation of hormonal contraceptive use, cross-sectional studies are vulnerable to healthy-user bias causing underestimation of a possible influence on depression". Women's health often becomes secondary, as evidenced by the lack of studies in this field.

"We are told not to be afraid, not to worry and to continue to take our hormonal pills". Figures suggest that 62 percent of women of childbearing age now use one or more types of contraceptives.