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Oral Contraceptives and Psychiatric Disturbance: Evidence from Research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Myrna M. Weissman  and
Andrew E. Slaby
Myrna M. Weissman*
Affiliation:
Yale University School of Medicine, 100 Park Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, U.S.A; Connecticut Mental Health Center
Andrew E. Slaby
Affiliation:
Yale University Department of Psychiatry; Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland 20852, U.S.A.
*
Address requests for reprints to Mrs. Weissman at Yale University School of Medicine
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Extract

There is a commonly held conviction among physicians and the lay public that oral contraceptive agents are associated with a high incidence of adverse psychological effects, particularly depressive symptoms. This belief is enhanced by a body of literature which includes case reports, studies of small samples, and overall side effect incidence rates (1–22). Careful, adequately controlled, objective studies of emotional reactions are, however, lacking, and this can be ascribed to the serious problems inherent in the design of such studies. For example, adequate control groups are difficult to establish, and contraceptives cannot easily be randomly assigned. Studies using a placebo must also introduce other contraceptives; nonrandom processes operate in the selection of women for study. Suggestibility secondary to use of medication requires placebo double-blind studies in order to differentiate the psychological from the pharmacological effects.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 123 , Issue 576 , November 1973 , pp. 513 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1973 

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Footnotes

∗

This research was funded in part by Grant #MH 13738 from the National Institutes of Health, Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Washington, D.C.

A synopsis of this paper was published in the March 1973 Journal.

∗

Andrew K. Slaby, M.S., M.D., was at Yale University, Department of Psychiatry when this study was completed. He was supported by an epidemiology research training grant, #TO-1-6M-0005, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He currently is a Clinical Associate in the Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, U.S.A.

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