Debunking the birth control/memory myth

You may have caught recent headlines to the effect that hormonal birth control was found to affect women’s memory. The study making the news tested women’s ability to remember details about disturbing pictures a week after they viewed them, and claimed to have found a difference between women who were on the pill and those who weren’t. But our experts, who will be writing more about this for a Provider Perspective post in October, say this study was mostly hot air—it’s full of research mistakes and the conclusions are not supported by the data. In other words, not everything you read in the news is worth remembering!

Editor’s Note: Check out our Provider Perspective, “The pill messes with memory? Forget about it!” for more detail about birth control and memory.