Birth Control and Depression

I am 20 yrs old and have been on the Pill for 10 months now. During the first 2-3 months of being on the Pill I experienced mood swings and mild depression. It went away for some time and now for the past 1-2 months I have been depressed for one week at a time during the same time on my pill cycle (when the dose of progesterone is the second highest). Could this be due to my birth control or is it just me?

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

There is probably a strong connection between the estrogen portion of your cycle on this pill, and the moodiness you experience. You should talk to your doctor about the possibility of changing the dosage level, or switching to another birth control regime.  You might wait another cycle or two before you make that decision.

Its also possible that the moodiness would be acceptable on a usual basis, but possibly you have issues to deal with that are exaggerated during these periods by the hormone shift and if you deal with those issues, the mood shift might be less.

You can try the Mastering Stress course online to see if that is true.