“Tread carefully; OB-GYNs are gonna get defensive” — Women say birth control pills alter their moods. Why have all the miserable side effects eluded scientists?

In August 2021, Emilie Skoog lay on the couch in her parents’ living room, thinking that not a single thing in the world sparked joy. For weeks, the 25-year-old MIT graduate student had been unable to muster enough appetite to eat properly. Instead, she’d spend full days lying in bed, drifting in and out of sleep between sips of Gatorade…