---
title: Do the hormones in birth control pills affect thinking and mood?
description: Yes. The type of hormone affects spatial thinking. Second generation pills improve this performance, while Yasmin reduces it. Effects on mood were not clearly
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/oral-contraceptives-and-androgenicity-influences-on-visuospatial-task-2008/
---

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- Do the hormones in birth control pills affect thinking and mood?

Non-randomised trial, 2008

# Do the hormones in birth control pills affect thinking and mood?

Yes. The type of hormone affects spatial thinking. Second generation pills improve this performance, while Yasmin reduces it. Effects on mood were not clearly reported.

 Early or limited evidence

155 younger individuals using different types of oral contraceptives or none

## What they did

155 people using different types of birth control pills or no pills completed thinking tests (mental rotation and memory tasks) and questionnaires about mood, premenstrual syndrome, depression, blood pressure, and body fat.

## What they found

The androgenic activity (male hormone-like activity) of the pills influenced performance on mental rotation tasks (spatial thinking). Second generation oral contraceptives, which are the most androgenic, led to the best performance. Third generation pills, Yasmin (which blocks androgens), and no pills led to worse performance. Yasmin users performed significantly worse than nonusers.

## What it means for you

The type of hormone in birth control pills may affect how well people think about spatial tasks. The abstract doesn't clearly report effects on mood or PMS despite measuring them. It's unclear if these performance differences matter in daily life.

155

Individuals studied

2nd gen

Most androgenic pills with best spatial task performance

Yasmin

Antiandrogenic pill with worst spatial task performance

## About the study

Original title Oral contraceptives and androgenicity: influences on visuospatial task performance in younger individuals Authors Wharton W, Hirshman E, Merritt P et al. Journal Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology Year 2008 Study design Non-randomised trial Participants 155 What was tested Comparison of oral contraceptive types varying in androgen levels Read the paper [doi.org/10.1037/1064-1297.16.2.156](https://doi.org/10.1037/1064-1297.16.2.156)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Menstrual cycle and mood](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-cycle-mood/)[Cognition, concentration and memory](https://niyora.com/research/topics/symptom-cognition/)[Oral contraceptives and drospirenone](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-hormonal-contraceptives/)

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