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Contraceptives and Mood

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Female and Male Contraception

Part of the book series: Trends in Andrology and Sexual Medicine ((TASM))

Abstract

The interest in how, and if, hormonal contraceptives influence mood has increased over the past years. Mood symptoms, such as depressive symptoms, irritability, anxiety, and mood swings, are becoming a clinical problem for many hormonal contraceptive users and are often a reason for discontinuation. While the great majority of hormonal contraceptive users, including those using combined methods as well as progesterone-only methods, should not expect to experience negative mood, a smaller percentage of women are hormone sensitive and at risk of experiencing a worsening of their mood. High-quality evidence suggests that use of combined hormonal contraceptives is associated with minor mood changes, like increased irritability, increased anxiety and mood swings, and lowered general well-being, whereas depressive symptoms seem less affected. For some women, these modest changes in mood may be clinically relevant and the final push to a mental health problem in need of psychotropic treatment. Overall, modern contraceptive counselling should include a discussion about the potential risk of minor mood disturbances while on treatment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Inger Sundström-Poromaa

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  1. Inger Sundström-Poromaa
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Correspondence to Inger Sundström-Poromaa .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical and Surgical Science, University of Bologna, Clinic of Gynecology and Physiopathology of Reproduction, IRCCS Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Maria Cristina Meriggiola

  2. Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    Kristina Gemzell-Danielsson

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Sundström-Poromaa, I. (2021). Contraceptives and Mood. In: Meriggiola, M.C., Gemzell-Danielsson, K. (eds) Female and Male Contraception. Trends in Andrology and Sexual Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70932-7_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-70932-7_5

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