A new study from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) suggests a potential link between anxiety and the utilize of birth control pills, even after women have stopped taking them. While the research doesn’t establish a cause-and-effect relationship, it highlights a correlation that warrants further investigation, particularly given the prevalence of anxiety disorders and the widespread use of hormonal contraception.
The study, led by doctoral student Lisa-Marie Davignon, explored whether hormonal fluctuations associated with oral contraceptives could influence the brain’s response to fear – a key component of anxiety disorders. Women are twice as likely as men to experience anxiety, and research indicates that sex hormones may play a role.
In the experiment, participants were exposed to images of a neutral office and library setting. Participants received a mild electric shock repeatedly in one of the two environments, leading them to anticipate the shock in that specific context. “After a certain amount of time, the women learned to fear that context because they anticipated they were going to receive an electric shock. In parallel, there was a second context that was never paired with a shock, which was therefore a safe context,” Davignon explained.
The following day, participants returned and were re-exposed to both settings. While everyone showed fear in the context associated with the shock, reactions differed in the safe context depending on contraceptive use. Women currently taking the pill, and even those who had discontinued use long ago, exhibited heightened fear responses in the safe environment compared to women who had never used oral contraceptives.
“And even women who had stopped taking the pill for a long time, they likewise had increased fear reactions in these safe situations in our laboratory protocol,” Davignon noted.
Limited Research Decades After the Pill’s Introduction
To measure fear responses, researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity during the experiment. Results showed interesting activity in the hippocampus, a brain region crucial for memory and known to be sensitive to hormone fluctuations. “We noticed that this region was more activated in women who had never taken the pill in their lives,” Davignon said. “As a potential explanation, but it remains to be explored, perhaps this increased activation in girls who haven’t taken the pill may have been favorable.”
Participants also wore sensors in their palms to measure sweat levels, an indicator of nervous system activation. In the safe context, women who had stopped taking the pill long ago showed fear responses as strong as those currently using oral contraceptives.
The study included 147 participants divided into four groups: women currently taking the pill; women who had stopped using it more than a year ago; women who had never used the pill; and men. This sample size is standard for this type of research, given the need for participants in excellent physical and psychological health and the cost of data collection protocols.
Davignon emphasizes the need for continued research to better understand the effects of hormonal contraception on mental health. “We know that women have historically been largely understudied compared to men. It’s still aberrant, in my opinion, that it’s 65 years since the commercialization of the first pills and we are just beginning to realize that there may be potential correlations with mental health,” she said. The next step would be to conduct randomized controlled trials.
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