Birth control side effects, misconceptions focus of UT science lecture
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- An upcoming lecture at the University of Texas is exploring the less talked about impacts of birth control on a woman's body.
The Hot Science Cool Talks lecture, taking place Nov. 15 at Welch Hall, will feature Dr. Sarah Hill, a psychologist focused on women's health.
"The thing that I was always really interested in was the psychological effects of the birth control pill because a lot of times the experiences that women have when they're on the pill are things that are psychological in nature," Dr. Hill said.
Dr. Hill said that her personal experience with hormonal birth control drove her research. After a decade on the drug, she got off of it and experienced a series of changes.
"I just felt like I came to life. It was like I suddenly was feeling things more deeply. My emotional responses to things had a deeper amplitude. I my sexual desire was increasing. My energy levels were increasing. It was just I felt like I was experiencing life in three dimensions again."
In her book, "This is Your Brain on Birth Control", Dr. Hill highlights her own journey. She said that she'll share some of that story during the lecture. "I'm going to be giving listeners sort of an inside look into the science behind hormonal birth control and then its effects on women."
Not talking about birth control
Dr. Hill said that one of the major issues around birth control is how ubiquitous it is.
"Women are prescribed it for everything, ranging from contraception to acne and because it is so ubiquitous, nobody thinks to question it. It's because we're so comfortable with it. And I think that 50 years or 100 years from now, we're all going to look back and think, how could people have been so cavalier with women's sex hormones?"
Dr. Hill doesn't think that this information is a secret, just that it is not talked about. "The reason for this is because of the siloed nature of science. And unfortunately, you know, psychological science and neuroscience lives over here, and medicine and clinical medicine lives over here."
Dr. Hill said that the doctors mainly focus on the side effects of medication, not direct impacts.
"A lot of times the experiences that women have when they're on the pill are things that are psychological in nature, where they don't like quite feel like themselves, or they have lower libido, or they get mood-related changes. And a lot of these types of effects are oftentimes sort of swept under the rug when they're talking with their physicians."
The event begins with activities at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15. The lecture starts at 7 p.m.