- New research suggests the effects of GLP-1s outside physical health are limited.
- People using GLP-1s didn’t experience any significant improvements in their mental health, relationships, or work life.
- Despite the study’s findings, experts say the reality is complicated.
Social media is filled with testimonials from people touting how much their entire lives changed after going on a GLP-1. So it’s fair to assume that medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide can improve other areas of life beyond weight loss and physical health…right?
The link might actually not be as clear-cut as it seems: A new data analysis suggests that GLP-1s won’t necessarily cause meaningful improvements in other parts of your life.
In the study, researchers from the University of Chicago analyzed more than 10 years of data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which is a nationally representative set of surveys that tracks how Americans use healthcare. The researchers specifically focused on adults with diabetes from 2012 to 2023.
Meet the experts: Thea Gallagher, Psy.D., clinical associate professor of psychology at NYU Langone Health; Mir Ali, M.D., medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA
They tracked people who used GLP-1 medications over time, looking at symptoms of depression and psychological distress, along with perceived health, employment, and marital status. The researchers looked at outcomes in the participants after both one year of using a GLP-1 and over two years. Surprisingly, they didn’t find much evidence of meaningful changes in the areas they studied—whether people became employed or unemployed, married or divorced, or whether they had any changes in mental health.
“Results indicate that GLP-1 use is not meaningfully associated with mental health, self-rated health, employment, and marriage,” the researchers wrote in the paper.
The findings challenge common notions around the potential life impacts of GLP-1 use. But healthcare providers say their experience with patients on GLP-1s has been slightly different.
There has been mixed data on how GLP-1s affect mental health, relationships, and careers
Previous research on the topic suggests that people can see an improvement in their mental health and relationships after starting a GLP-1.
A study published in April in The Lancet Psychiatry analyzed data from nearly 100,000 people in Sweden with diabetes who were also diagnosed with depression or an anxiety disorder. After following them up for an average of five years, the researchers discovered that the participants who used certain GLP-1 medications had up to a 42% lower risk of their mental illness getting worse compared to those who didn’t take the medications. When looking specifically at semaglutide (Wegovy, Ozempic), the participants had a 44% lower risk of their depression worsening, and a 38% lower risk of anxiety worsening.
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And preliminary research published in the National Bureau of Economic Research in June found a link between GLP-1 use and improvements in a range of life elements in women. Specifically, the researchers discovered that single women had a 29% increase in odds of marrying or moving in with a partner after 1.5 years on a GLP-1 medication, while those who were unemployed saw their odds of getting a job increase by 27%. Women who were already married or who were employed before starting the medication didn’t report any significant changes in these areas.
Doctors say they tend to see a positive life impact when people use these medications—within reason.
“The findings are a little surprising to me—this has not been my experience with patients,” says Mir Ali, M.D., medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA. “We do tend to see improvements in other aspects of their life.”
While Dr. Ali says that patients are the most likely to see weight loss and improvements in physical health from going on a GLP-1 medication, he points out that those changes typically influence other elements in their lives, too. “Overall, I see an improvement in quality of life,” he says. “When patients do well on these medications, they lose weight and improve their health, and they tend to feel better.”
But Dr. Ali says it’s important for people to keep things in perspective. “If someone has underlying marriage, relationship, or other health issues outside of excess weight, going on a GLP-1 won’t necessarily change all of that,” he says.
Thea Gallagher, Psy.D., clinical associate professor of psychology at NYU Langone Health, echoes that. “GLP-1 medications can be genuinely life-changing, but they are not life-restructuring,” she says. “They may change someone’s appetite, weight, health, energy, or confidence, but they cannot automatically improve a difficult relationship, create a more fulfilling career, build a social life, or give someone a stronger sense of purpose.”
How to manage expectations on a GLP-1 medication
Gallagher says that people often attach a “fantasy” to weight loss, thinking that it will directly lead to more happiness, confidence, success, and love. “When life remains complicated afterward, it can feel confusing or even disappointing,” she says. “That does not mean the medication failed. It means body weight was only one part of a much larger life.”
Instead, Gallagher suggests looking at a GLP-1 medication as a tool to create more physical or emotional capacity for change. “A person still has to decide what to do with that capacity,” she says. “If someone wants deeper relationships, a different job, or better mental health, they may still need therapy, honest conversations, behavioral changes, community, or practical changes in their circumstances.”
Still, doctors caution against interpreting the findings as evidence that GLP-1 medications have no psychological or relationship effects for people. “An analysis showing no average change across a group can still contain people whose lives improved, people whose lives became harder, and many whose circumstances stayed essentially the same,” Gallagher says.
Dr. Ali agrees. “I don’t think you can say improving your health will improve other areas of your life, but it can’t hurt,” he says.
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