New study connects adolescent birth control use to depression…again

A recent study conducted by researchers at University of British Columbia and published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry links adolescent use of oral contraceptive (OC) to increased likelihood of long-term Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).

The authors stated that their findings “suggest that adolescence may be a sensitive period during which OC use could increase women’s risk for depression, years after first exposure,” theorizing that the hormonal manipulation caused by the drugs during this tender time could be causing such irreversible damage.

For CCL, this is far from news. What we’ve suspected anecdotally for decades is being confirmed time and time again by medical research: the Pill hurts young women.

While we at CCL disagree with the University of British Columbia’s assertion that securing birth control for “women of all ages” is a “major global health priority,” we do share their hope that the results of this study “will promote more research on this topic, as well as more informed dialogue and decision-making about the prescription of hormonal birth control to adolescents.”

— Forest (Hempen) Barnette
Marketing and Communications Associate