I started Mounjaro to lose weight.
Let’s not dress it up. I was overwhelmed, trapped in a body that didn’t feel like mine, and desperate for something — anything — that didn’t involve obsessing over food every second of the day. I didn’t expect it to help my mental health. Nobody mentioned that part.
But 12 months later, it’s honestly the biggest difference I noticed.
It crept in slowly. At first, I just felt less frantic. Less like I was constantly two steps behind. Then I realised I wasn’t crying as often. I wasn’t snapping at people as much. I could sit with a feeling without it boiling over into panic or rage. My executive functioning was still a mess — but I wasn’t as reactive. There was just more space in my brain.
And I know now that wasn’t just me being dramatic or imagining it.
So why might it affect mood or behaviour at all?
This part gets interesting, and honestly, we’re still learning. But here’s what we do know — or strongly suspect.
Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist. It mimics hormones your body naturally produces when you eat, which help regulate appetite and blood sugar. But it also affects the brain. GLP-1 receptors are found in areas that help regulate:
stress and emotion (like the hypothalamus and amygdala)
memory and learning (hippocampus)
reward and motivation (linked to Dopamine, which is central to ADHD
So when you activate those receptors, a few things can happen.
- It may reduce neuroinflammation
Chronic inflammation, including in the brain, is linked to depression, anxiety, and brain fog. GLP-1 medications have been shown to reduce inflammation in animal models, and early human data suggests they may help calm the system down. Less inflammation can mean fewer overreactions to stress, better emotional resilience, and steadier moods. - It helps stabilise blood sugar
Even without diabetes, blood sugar spikes and crashes can make people feel jittery, irritable, panicky, or exhausted. By smoothing those out, GLP-1 meds might reduce emotional volatility and improve overall regulation, especially for people who are extra sensitive to low blood sugar. - It may support dopamine regulation
GLP-1s influence reward circuits in the brain, which run on dopamine. This is relevant if you’ve got ADHD or binge-related behaviours, because dopamine dysregulation can lead to impulsivity, mood swings, and emotional crashes. While it doesn’t replace ADHD meds, it might reduce some of the urgency and crash cycles that come with reward-seeking behaviour. - It may blunt your cortisol response
This one’s newer, but important. Some animal studies suggest GLP-1 receptor activation can reduce stress-induced cortisol spikes. In humans, small studies have shown that GLP-1 meds might lower baseline cortisol or reduce the intensity of the morning cortisol surge. Since cortisol is your main stress hormone, this could help explain why some people feel less anxious or emotionally reactive on these meds. Less fight-or-flight means more capacity to cope. - It affects the gut-brain axis
GLP-1 is a gut hormone, but it also sends signals to the brain. There’s a whole field of research exploring how gut hormones and the vagus nerve influence mental health. So this isn’t just about digestion. It’s about how your body communicates safety or threat. For some of us, Mounjaro might be helping send more “you’re okay” signals — and fewer “something’s wrong” ones.
A 2024 Nature Reviews article described GLP-1 receptor agonists as having “broad neuromodulatory effects,” including reduced anxiety-like behaviour and changes to inflammation and reward processing.
That doesn’t mean Mounjaro is a mental health drug. It’s not. But there’s a real biological basis for the emotional shift some of us experience. The science is catching up to what many of us have already noticed in our day-to-day lives.
I didn’t realise how much it helped… until I stopped
When I came off Mounjaro last month to start ADHD meds (I’m only a few days into Elvanse), I thought I’d just go back to being a bit hungrier. I had no idea how much it had been holding me together.
The drop-off was brutal. The anxiety came roaring back. I felt irritated all the time. My moods swung hard and fast. I was tearful, restless, overwhelmed. My ADHD felt like it was on steroids — I couldn’t focus, I was anxious and I couldn’t regulate my emotions. Everything felt urgent and awful and loud again.
I kept thinking, my god, this is how I used to feel all the time.
And I hated it.
I’ve always had big feelings. Emotional dysregulation and anxiety is one of the worst parts of being AuDHD, for me. I go from fine to flooded in seconds. But Mounjaro… dampened the fuse. It didn’t stop the reaction — but it slowed it down just enough for me to stop it snowballing.
Coming off it made me realise just how thin that margin had become.
It didn’t fix my executive dysfunction, but it helped me cope with it
Let’s be clear: Mounjaro didn’t magically give me time blindness superpowers or help me organise my inbox. I was still the same forgetful, avoidant mess I’ve always been. But I wasn’t as paralysed by it. It was easier to prevent overwhelm. I had more tolerance for discomfort, more patience with myself, a little more quiet in my busy brain.
That’s huge.
Now I’m on Elvanse, and… we’ll see
I’m still very new to it. Only a few days in. But so far, the sheer calm I feel is promising. It’s a different kind of quiet — more focused, less tense. The food noise is still gone (Elvanse also reduces appetite), but I miss the full-body sense of emotional steadiness I had on Mounjaro.
I’m seriously considering restarting it once I am stabilised on ADHD meds — not just for weight loss (though I won’t pretend that doesn’t matter to me), but for the mental health impact. If it’s medically safe for me to combine with ADHD meds, I’d take Mounjaro again even if it didn’t change the number on the scale at all.
Because for me, the mental health benefits were more than enough.
You’re not imagining it
If you’ve noticed your anxiety improving on Mounjaro, or your emotional reactions feeling less explosive, or your stress tolerance going up — you’re not imagining it.
You’re not broken. You’re not lazy. You’re not weak for needing help regulating your system.
You’re human. And for some of us, this medication has helped us feel more human again.