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GLP-1 access carries psychological impact in a culture that equates thinness with worth.

Using GLP-1s to pursue thinness can reinforce body surveillance and shame.

Appetite suppression may mask or reactivate eating disorders.

Weight regain after stopping GLP-1s can intensify body dissatisfaction.

GLP-1 medications are being discussed everywhere right now: In medical offices. On social media. In celebrity interviews. But what I’m paying attention to in my therapy office is not just the medication itself but what happens when a powerful appetite-suppressing drug becomes widely accessible in a culture that already equates thinness with worth. That cultural context matters.

When a Prescription Starts to Look Like a Diet

GLP-1 medications were developed for specific medical indications. But as access expands, more people are seeking them out primarily for weight loss—not to treat a diagnosed condition, but to move closer to a culturally sanctioned body ideal. I’m also hearing more about “microdosing,” a term people use to describe taking small amounts mainly to blunt appetite rather than to follow a prescribed treatment plan. Others cycle on and off the medication depending on events, body dissatisfaction, or fear of weight regain. At that point, it begins to resemble technologically assisted dieting. And dieting carries risk. It is inherently cyclical. When the body experiences deprivation, it responds in predictable, protective ways by increasing hunger and slowing metabolism. What is often labeled “failure” is simply biology doing its job.

The Cycle Beneath the Promise

GLP-1 use often leads to loss of lean muscle mass along with fat. When the medication is discontinued, weight regain is common, and it tends to favor fat mass over muscle. This creates a destabilizing pattern: lose weight, regain weight, feel shame, try again. Weight cycling has been associated with both physical and psychological strain. When someone takes a medication without a clear medical indication, they assume not only the drug’s side effects but also the likelihood of rebound weight gain. For individuals whose self-worth is tied to body size, that regain can intensify shame and drive renewed attempts at control. It is also important to state clearly that weight loss is not synonymous with health. Health is multidimensional. Reducing it to a smaller body oversimplifies complex biological and social realities.

What This Means for Eating Disorder Recovery

What concerns me most is what this means for individuals with active or past eating disorders. Patients are not routinely screened for eating disorders before being prescribed GLP-1 medications. That is a significant gap. Appetite suppression can delay the recognition of an eating disorder by masking restrictive symptoms. Someone may appear “successful” while the underlying illness progresses. For individuals in eating disorder recovery, a medication that blunts hunger cues can interfere with the work of rebuilding trust in the body and restoring consistent nourishment. I have seen clients who were making steady progress in eating disorder recovery return to rigid, weight-focused thinking once medication entered the picture. Others experience relapse after weight regain when they discontinue the drug. In eating disorder recovery, we work to reduce the overvaluation of weight and shape. A medication primarily used to pursue a thinner ideal can reinforce exactly what treatment is trying to undo.

The Cultural Layer We Cannot Ignore

GLP-1 medications are entering a multibillion-dollar weight-loss industry that has long profited from body dissatisfaction. Direct-to-consumer marketing amplifies urgency. Social media reinforces comparison. The message many people absorb is not “this is for specific medical conditions" but “this is how you finally fix your body.” GLP-1 medications may have appropriate medical uses. But when thinness becomes the goal, rather than treatment of a specific medical condition, we reinforce patterns of body surveillance, control, and shame, whether or not an eating disorder is present.

That shift does not just affect weight. It affects how people relate to hunger, their bodies, and their sense of worth.

What Are Eating Disorders?

Take our Disordered Eating Test

Find a therapist to heal from an eating disorder

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