On January 13, 2026, the FDA asked for the suicidal behavior and ideation warning to be removed from Wegovy, Zepbound, and Saxenda after a pooled analysis of 91 trials with 107,910 patients found no higher risk. Studies since then have looked for smaller effects.
In October 2026, an NIH study of Medicare enrollees with type 2 diabetes tied GLP-1 drugs to slightly more depression diagnoses (hazard ratio 1.11) but fewer substance use disorders, dementia diagnoses, and self-harm events. A Danish study of 189,392 semaglutide users found more anti-anxiety prescriptions a year after starting. A Western University analysis found that panic attack reports for semaglutide rose after mid-2023 in a pattern that fits publicity-driven reporting.
Other studies here cover people with serious mental illness, who are often left out of trials. These include a Danish registry study of 3,042 people with schizophrenia and a 218,043-person records study linking GLP-1 drugs to fewer heart attacks and deaths. Our guide to GLP-1 drugs and mood covers the evidence in more depth.
Western University researchers in Ontario reported in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety on October 27, 2026 an analysis of FDA Adverse Event Reporting System data from 2018 to 2024. Panic attacks appeared in 0.26% of 33,267 semaglutide reports versus 0.05% for dulaglutide and empagliflozin (adjusted reporting odds ratios 2.82 and 2.75), but the adjusted signal before July 1, 2023 was not significant, and panic reports per 10,000 semaglutide reports rose from 6.7 in 2018-2022 to 42.0 in 2023-2024. Across 12 trials and comparison studies, the team found no consistent rise in panic or anxiety, and says the pattern fits notoriety bias, where publicity drives reporting.
University of Southern Denmark researchers reported in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism on October 25, 2026 a nationwide interrupted time-series study of adults who started semaglutide for weight management between December 2022 and December 2024, comparing prescriptions in the 12 months after with trends from the 24 months before. At 12 months, use was lower than projected for asthma drugs (rate ratio 0.82), topical steroids (0.91), painkillers (0.93), antidepressants (0.93), and topical antifungals (0.92), and blood pressure drugs rose more slowly than expected (0.92). Anxiety medication use rose (1.16) and stayed elevated at two years; a similar drop in glucose-lowering drugs also appeared in a comparison group, so that change may not be due to semaglutide.
Researchers at the National Library of Medicine's intramural research division reported in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism on October 25, 2026 a propensity-matched Medicare claims study comparing GLP-1 drugs with other second-line diabetes medicines across eight neuropsychiatric outcomes. GLP-1 use was linked to a small rise in overall psychiatric disorders (hazard ratio 1.04, 1.7 extra events per 1,000 person-years) and in depression (1.11, 3.0 extra), and to fewer substance use disorders (0.84), dementia diagnoses (0.87), and suicidal or self-harm events (0.81). Risks were higher when a GLP-1 was used alone or as an escalation and lower or neutral when patients switched to or added one, which the authors say may reflect baseline differences between patients rather than the drug.
Aarhus University Hospital researchers reported in The British Journal of Psychiatry on October 23, 2026 an interrupted time-series analysis of Danish national registers from 1996 to 2023, identifying 3,042 people with schizophrenia who started a GLP-1 receptor agonist. When the drug was started for diabetes, HbA1c, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides fell by 11.4%, 6.2%, and 14.8%; when started for overweight, they fell by 3.4%, 4.9%, and 12.7%, all statistically significant. The authors used LDL and triglycerides as stand-ins for weight loss and say the results suggest benefits seen in randomized trials in schizophrenia extend to routine care; the design has no comparison group.
Researchers from St. John's Episcopal Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association on October 16, 2026 a TriNetX records study of 218,043 adults with serious mental illness, type 2 diabetes, and obesity who were taking antipsychotic or antidepressant drugs. Compared with matched nonusers, GLP-1 users had lower risks of heart attack, heart failure, and death at one and three years, with absolute risk differences at three years of 1.0, 1.8, and 6.5 percentage points; semaglutide and tirzepatide showed the same pattern. The authors cautioned that serious mental illness is varied and that diagnoses came from administrative records.