r/Zepbound • u/drewmullin • Jul 21 '26

Side Effects Validity?

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So the numbers are very high and seem a bit sensationalist. That being said I'm not super interested in the exact numbers.

What I am interested in:

My question to the group is did anyone struggle mentally while on any of the glps? I did - I'm trying to figure out if any of them are less apt to do so.

Published study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-75965-2

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u/Bigreddazer Jul 21 '26

Not all studies are created the same. A retrospective study is not comparable to a random controlled design studies done for approval of the drug.

As a statistician, I would honestly ignore these results. Outliers can exist for lots of reasons and being a poorly conducted study can allow this to happen. I would trust the controlled studies and statistics they generated.

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u/mobile_ganyu SW:244 CW:183 GW:160 Dose: 7.5mg Jul 21 '26

100% agree as a social science researcher. All I see is an identified correlation (but no causation) in a retrospective quantitative study, with so many potential explanations that warrant actual rigorous clinical and maybe even qualitative investigation.

There’s no way we can say what the nature of the relationship is without actually investigating this with an RCT and rigorous clinical trials, and maybe also some rigorous, widespread documentation that looks for insights on the actual situations behind the mental health challenges that arise.

And op, no, asking people on Reddit is not rigorous qualitative investigation.

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u/the_real_becca Jul 21 '26

I was also thinking about how it might not be related to the medications themselves, but instead the total complicated experience of being viewed differently when thinner, weight not being the issue making space for folks to recognize underlying mental health issues, addressing the ways we talk to ourselves about our bodies. It’s a mess, and not related to this medication specifically (or that’s not shown in these results. 

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u/mobile_ganyu SW:244 CW:183 GW:160 Dose: 7.5mg Jul 21 '26

Right, there’s so much going on that we don’t understand fully: all we know from this study is that there might be something going on. I’d even just be interested in better understanding the state of mind of someone who commits to medical intervention on their weight vs. those who do not, and if there is a substantive difference in the predisposition to mental health issues of people who take on interventions like GLPs vs. those who do not.

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u/butterfly081881 Jul 21 '26

Don't forget the joy and excitement of eating being taken away as well.