By: Rosemarie O’Shea
For many users, the birth control pill’s side effects pose problems beyond spotting and migraines. The pill’s effects on the mental health of women are now being more widely discussed than ever. More women are opening up about their birth control experiences and how it has taken a toll on their mental wellbeing.
A quick YouTube search results in various videos titled along the lines of “Why I quit the pill”, where one video is even titled and thoroughly capitalized “THE PILL IS MAKING ME CRAZY. I QUIT”. Despite all this discussion in the social sphere, the medical research in comparison appears to be lacking.
Upon being made available to Canadians since 1960, the pill quickly became the country’s most popular form of reversible contraception. Now, more than 100 million women worldwide use the oral contraceptive pill to prevent pregnancy or control their menstruation.
Birth control pills contain varying levels of the hormones estrogen and progestin, the synthetic version of progesterone, a natural sex hormone. They prevent the release of the egg to stop ovulation from occurring, whilst also thickening the cervical mucus so that sperm cells are unable to enter the fallopian tubes. Both tactics minimize the chances of the egg meets sperm fertilization fairy tale. Provided it is taken correctly, the pill’s efficiency rate is stated to be 99 per cent effective.
Of course, almost every medication comes with its own set of side effects. The most commonly reported repercussions of the pill include intermenstrual spotting, nausea, breast tenderness and migraines. Slotted amongst these physical reactions, the ever-ominous sounding ‘mood changes’ is also listed.
These ‘mood changes’ are reflected in the most common reason for women to stop taking or change the pill they are using – its ramifications on their mental health.
In the 1970s, women protested for more information to be made available about the side effects of the pill as there were increasing reports of women suffering from heart conditions in connection to it. Eventually, the Food and Drug Administration required manufacturers to include inserts, within its packaging, listing the pill’s side effects and risks.
The FDA also required that the pill’s formula contain a significantly less amount of estrogen which has resulted in a lower risk of cardiovascular events and emergence of cancers. However, the connection between usage and increased risk of experiencing mental health issues weren’t legitimately addressed.
Recent studies have determined a link between the changes in hormone levels and the extent of anxiety and depression prevalent such as in premenstrual syndrome. Furthermore, the progesterone hormone has been shown to induce depression while its synthetic version, progestin, has been discovered to result in the decreased production of serotonin which is the hormone responsible for feelings of wellbeing.
Finding an ethical method of proving the cause and effect relationship between the pill and deteriorating mental health has stunted research in the field as the distribution of placebo pills to study subjects would result in unwanted pregnancies. Though, a study involving celibate subjects would face no ethical deliberation.
The issue remains that the advancement of medical technology concerning all categories that the pill’s side effect falls into: mental health, contraceptive technology and women’s health. Funding for such research is simply inefficient in times where it is most needed and expected by many.
Moreover, there is a consistency in the medical community’s reluctance to connect the pill with mental health issues, despite the large quantity of claims that have supported the correlation. Such reluctance possibly stems from the pill’s profit and value as a commodity.
It also seems to be the most accessible form of contraception to many and, so, slandering its brand so to speak may appear as a brash move.
With so many women experiencing heightened mental health issues in connection to their usage of the pill, this is an issue that needs addressing within the medical community. While the government are pushing more funding into mental health awareness, this problem continues to grow without being adequately addressed by research.
It’s time to shift the focus from dealing with the issues at hand after they conspire to looking at preventative measures that will protect users. The pill and its implications need to be more well researched and users must be informed. It’s time for the medical community to listen to women’s experiences, as neglecting their health and wellbeing is not an option.
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Amanda Watkins
The Silhouette
Dreams are spontaneous actions of the brain that pull from different memories, thoughts and ideas that are left meandering through our minds as we fall asleep. Knowing that our minds are working even when we are not consciously in control has made dreaming a fascinating and curious topic.
I remember being in elementary school, when my friends and I would purchase every teenybopper magazine that had information about dreams and dream analysis. Following our curiosity, we read our magazines, signed out books from the library, consulted the archives of the Internet, and often found very little information of substantial use. But we continued to look into the intriguing process of dreaming because it seemed to say so much about ourselves.
From my extensive childhood research, along with theories I’ve looked into today, I have realized that the symbolism of dreams, objects in our dreams and people in our dreams, has little to do with the folklore presented in literature aimed at children aged 14 and under, and more to do with what we are feeling at that particular moment. Many symbols have been decoded to have particular meanings – i.e., dreaming of water means a desire for enrichment in one’s life. Usually, though, these symbols are completely subjective, depending on the person and their history.
For instance, I will often have dreams that involve birds. Consulting Dr. Google, birds are symbolic of “spiritual freedom and psychological liberation.” This could possibly be the reason for my feather-filled dreams, or it might just have to do with my irrational fear of pigeons.
If you ever have a dream that you are interested in analyzing, it does help to consult an outside source to bring some insight into the topic (and for that, try dreammoods.com – they literally have every topic covered from “Abandonment” to “Zoomorphism”). But before that, try thinking about what these symbols mean in your own life and to you personally. Consider factors that may be influencing you throughout the day. Negative factors like stress, a heavy workload or health concerns, along with positive factors like a happy relationship, success at school or the end of a busy work week, will affect your dreams and your thoughts when your mind is both consciously and unconsciously working. Even going to sleep thinking about one specific person or place will influence your thoughts towards them and will stream your mind through a series of memories and artefacts relating to that specific idea on your mind.
Although our dreams are expressions of our subconscious wants, needs, histories and goals, there are ways of influencing your dreams. If you really got a kick out of the movie Inception (And let’s be honest, who didn’t?), you’ll have heard tips that have been effectively used to help control dreams and their content.
If you’re aiming to solve a problem through a dream, the first step is to think about the problem before you go to sleep and make sure it’s the last think on your mind before you doze off. Try keeping something on your bedside table that reminds you of the problem, like a photograph.
Or, try something more symbolic, like a notepad if you’re a writer suffering from writer’s block.
Along with this, the trick is to remember your dream after it’s happened. When you wake up, don’t just jump right out of bed; stay in place for a while and try thinking about what you were dreaming of.
Another way to control your dreams is through lucid dreaming, or being aware of your dream as you’re in it. Much like the concept proposed in Inception, lucid dreaming allows the dreamer to control what happens next, because they remain conscious of the fact that they are dreaming.
To try this, before going to sleep, tell yourself that you are going to know that you are dreaming when you are dreaming. This rare technique takes great levels of control and requires the person to remember they are dreaming throughout. To ensure that you know what is real and what isn’t, find something in your dreams that is different from the real world. For instance, many people say that reading text in a dream is near impossible because it usually is fuzzy, makes no sense or is unstable and constantly changing. In your dreams, try finding something to read and see what it looks like. Lucid dreaming takes a lot of practice, but once mastered, you would essentially be able to make yourself dream of whatever you like.
Whether you’re dreaming of birds, Leonardo DiCaprio or a dream within another dream, try to think of the details and how they relate to your life. Dreams can provide insight into your deepest thoughts and desires, and while they are going on, they may help solve problems and overcome life’s hurdles. And, if you are interested in incepting your own mind with thoughts, always make sure you have a clear distinction between reality and your dreams.
Because dreams feel real while we’re in them – it’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.
