Can You Get Hooked on a GLP-1?

About one in eight American adults say they’ve used a GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment like Ozempic or Wegovy in some unspecified time in the future, making this a highly regarded drug class. Whereas these medication can be utilized to deal with kind 2 diabetes, they’ve actually taken off for his or her weight reduction potential—this most likely isn’t information to you.

However there appears to be a wave of people that battle to cease utilizing these drugs as soon as they begin. Mannequin and actuality star Brooks Nader has spoken brazenly about what she calls her “dependancy” to utilizing GLP-1s. In a September 2025 episode of her present, Love Thy Nader, the 28-year-old’s sisters stage an intervention over her use of GLP-1 treatment and consuming habits after they discovered her practically unconscious within the bathtub. (Her sisters shared on the time that Nader was principally consuming bone broth.)

“The factor that I used to be so shocked about with the present was that I had so many individuals attain out to me saying, ‘I’m additionally hooked on GLP-1. I’m ashamed to speak about it as a result of there’s such a stigma round it. It’s a crutch for me,’” Nader later informed Bustle. However she additionally informed the journal that she’s nonetheless taking the treatment, including, “it’s a crutch for me too. It’s not wholesome. I ought to get off it; I’ll be sincere about that.”

Nader just lately informed Us Weekly that she’s heard from many individuals who’ve had the same experiences. “I’ve had mothers come as much as me, I’ve had ladies in school come as much as me and have related struggles,” she mentioned. “And I’m hoping that via utilizing my voice, we will all band collectively and discover a resolution.”

Weight reduction is a sophisticated matter that usually has deep emotional undercurrents, making it comprehensible that some individuals could really feel depending on these drugs after reaching their objective weight, Thea Gallagher, PsyD, scientific affiliate professor at NYU Langone Well being and cohost of the Thoughts in View podcast, tells SELF. Right here’s why medical professionals say individuals could really feel hooked on these medication, plus what a doctor who prescribes these drugs recommends doing when you hit your objective weight.

Individuals don’t get addicted to those drugs, however they will change into emotionally reliant on them.

It is a barely sophisticated factor to elucidate, so bear with us for a second right here. An dependancy will be physiological, which implies it alters your physique in a approach that making an attempt to cease or reduce down could cause a bodily withdrawal, Gail Saltz, MD, affiliate professor of psychiatry on the NY Presbyterian Hospital Weill-Cornell Faculty of Drugs, tells SELF. “These are medication with dependancy potential comparable to heroin, cocaine, opioids, alcohol, even nicotine,” she says.” The sudden elimination of the drug causes bodily withdrawal.”