Women who use oral contraceptives are at higher risk of depression, with teenage users having a 130 percent higher chance of showing symptoms of depression, according to the latest research.
The study proposed that using oral contraceptives in the first two years “increases the risk of depression.” In addition, the use of oral contraceptives during adolescence “might increase the risk of depression later in life,” it concluded.
Researchers found that women who started using oral contraceptives before the age of 20 had a 130 percent higher incidence of symptoms of depression compared to women who had never taken contraception. Among adult users, this was at 92 percent.
Even after teenage users stopped using the pill, an increased incidence of depression was observed. This was not seen among adults who used the contraceptive pills.
“The powerful influence of contraceptive pills on teenagers can be ascribed to the hormonal changes caused by puberty,” said Therese Johansson of the Department of Immunology, Genetics, and Pathology at Uppsala University, one of the researchers leading the study, according to a June 12 press release.
“As women in that age group have already experienced substantial hormonal changes, they can be more receptive not only to hormonal changes but also to other life experiences.”
Researchers collected various personal information from the participants, including their use of contraceptive pills, when they were diagnosed with depression, and when they first experienced depression, among others.
Effects of Pill Components
In the June 12 study, researchers looked at “combined contraceptive pills” that contain progestogen and estrogen.While progestogen thickens the cervical mucus to block sperms from entering the uterus and prevent ovulation, estrogen thins out the uterine lining to hinder the implantation of a fertilized egg. Progestogen is a compound resembling the hormone progesterone.
Estrogen and progesterone greatly influence neurochemistry and brain functions, which can be linked to behavior changes, depression, and disturbances in cognition, the post said.
Shrinking Brain, Altering Partner Perception
In addition to depression, contraceptive pill use can also shrink brains. In a study of 50 healthy women, researchers examined how extrinsic sex hormones like birth control pills would affect the brain’s gray matter. Out of the 50 women, 21 were taking contraceptive pills.The team found a “dramatic difference” in the size of the hypothalamic brain structures between the women taking the pills and those who did not.
The pill can also alter how women feel about the men they have sexual contact with. In a May 2016 study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, researchers concluded that hormonal contraceptive pills suppressed the oxytocin-induced “brain reward responses” of women toward the face of their romantic partner.
Earlier research from the same team had shown that among men, the release of oxytocin made them perceive their female partners as more attractive and triggered higher activity in the neural reward regions.
The exact opposite was found to be happening in the brains of women who took hormonal birth control pills, per the study.