A more diverse group might yield different results. The researchers also note that their study only looked at girls and women in the Netherlands – a relatively homogenous population. “Because of the study design, we can’t say that the pills cause mood changes, but we do have evidence suggesting that sometimes the mood changes preceded the use of the pill and sometimes the pill was started before the mood changes occurred,” de Wit said. The pills might contribute to depressive symptoms, but it’s also possible that girls begin taking birth control pills to treat symptoms they’re already experiencing. The authors wrote that they can’t definitively say that birth control pills cause depressive symptoms. Researchers don’t caution against the pill Researchers found that 16-year-old girls on birth control pills reported more crying, more sleeping and more eating problems than girls who weren’t on the pill, although the symptoms diminish once they enter adulthood. “One of the most common concerns women have when starting the pill, and teens and their parents have when an adolescent is considering taking the pill, is about immediate depressive risks,” said lead author Anouk de Wit, a psychiatry trainee at University Medical Center Groningen. They assessed birth control pill usage at ages 16, 19, 22 and 25. “Ours is the first study of this scale to dive deep into the more subtle mood symptoms that occur much more commonly than a depression episode but impact quality of life and are worrying to girls, women and their families.”įor this study, researchers looked at 1,010 girls and women over a period of nine years using data from an ongoing survey in the Netherlands called TRAILS, Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey. “Depressive symptoms are more prevalent than clinical depression and can have a profound impact on quality of life,” co-author Hadine Joffe, vice chair for psychiatry research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a news release. No link between birth control and depression, study says Shutterstock ID 641060875 areeya_ann/Shutterstock

Oral contraceptive pills with alarm clock background in time reminder for taking pills.

Birth control symptoms