I am one of the people who found the Pill an absolute godsend from a mental health point of view - until I went on it in my mid-20s I hadn't realised I was getting up to THREE WEEKS of PMT a month!!! Honestly, like coming out from under a cloud. So I stayed on the Pill, though I didn't actually need contraception most of the time, till I was in my late 40s. Then I started getting 'breakthrough depression', went and wept at my GP who passed me almost immediately to the GP in the practice who was the menopause expert, who said 'yes, almost certainly menopause' & put me on HRT patches, which I was taking till about 4 years ago, when they went into short supply (I assume Brexit). Then I had tablets and gel for about a year, which was OK-ish (except for not having sufficient places to apply the gel nor flexible-enough shoulders), but when lockdown started I considered the likelihood of DVTs etc due to inactivity AND being on HRT, and took myself off the HRT, that being something that was easier to control! I've managed OK without it since then, but it was as much of a godsend while I was on the patches as the Pill had been.

From a mental health point of view, I loved being on the Pill, and then on HRT - both much better *for me* than any ordinary 'antidepressant'. However, as I'm aware, hormones affect different people differently; it is entirely personal!