The Guardian website carries an article - passionately written and argued - of great interest, dealing with new medical research from Denmark that shows that the pill is linked to depression in women.
There are several thoughts that occur to me. First of all, we do not seem to be a very happy society. Depression seems to be on the increase, and not just in women, but in all sections of society. We constantly hear of a mental health crisis, particularly affecting young people. You don’t have to be a genius to work out that these problems are caused by a change in our circumstances. Life has got substantially more difficult and challenging for all of us. The way we are living, and that includes what we are taking and what we are using, takes its toll on our mental health. Contemporary Britain is no Arcadia. Progress – hormonal contraception, mobile phones, computer screens, cars, a rich diet – has come at a price. Given this, we need to be wary in embracing every new invention, and we should not swallow the progress myth in its entirety.
