More than 100 million women worldwide use hormonal contraception, and not just to avoid pregnancy. Many have other reasons for using hormonal contraceptives, such as alleviating menstrual pain, heavy bleeding, premenstrual syndrome or acne.
But at what cost?
A 17-year Danish study published in 2017 revealed a startling association between hormonal contraception and the risk of suicide and suicide attempts in women from ages 15 to 33 (Skovlund, 2017). These previously mentally healthy women had no prior history of suicide attempts, psychiatric diagnoses, or antidepressant use. Yet, there were 6,999 first suicide attempts and 71 suicides among the 475,802 women who were followed in this study for 8.3 years, on average….