I would point out that there's a middle way between those stances: GLP-1 receptor agonism has anti-auto-immune effects.
(I don't know yet if anyone has determined whether this is a direct effect of GLP-1R agonism; or whether e.g. metabolic disorder has auto-immune aspects, and GLP-1R agonism effectively treats metabolic disorder; or whether it's just that e.g. sugar and other simple carbs are directly pro-auto-immune, and GLP-1R agonism breaks the addictive salience of sugars/simple carbs in such a way that even if you're eating the same amount, you're putting less of those in your body. Regardless of the mechanism, there does seem to be a consensus on the overall anti-auto-immune effect itself.)
The anti-auto-immune effects of GLP-1RAs show up visibly, e.g. on the face, entirely separately from the effects of weight loss (because this effect still occurs even when the dose of GLP-1RAs is too low to provoke weight loss), in the form of decreased puffiness, oiliness, acne, chapped lips, etc. It causes a bunch of small changes that make someone look like they're "taking better care of themselves" (even though they may have been taking assiduous care of themselves before, but didn't look it, for autoimmune reasons.) People definitely judge others on how "healthy" they look, so this could definitely help someone to get a job.
But the anti-auto-immune effects of GLP-1RAs also show up in entirely unconscious behavioral changes — not in anything cognitive, like "confidence", but rather due to GLP-1RAs being at least partly effective in treating chronic, sometimes-subclinical, usually-not-well-managed autoimmune pain disorders (think fibromyalgia) and autoimmune energy disorders (think ME-CFS.) Being less achey and having more energy makes people behave differently — whether that be on the macro level in subconscious decision-making (think of how people make different choices when overtired without being aware of it — people with chronic energy disorders are "overtired" 100% of the time!), or on the micro level, in terms of how e.g. speech is performed (people have reported becoming less "croaky", and their usable vocal range expanding), how nonverbal communication is performed (it's easier and "cheaper" to move your face and head and body, so you do), etc.
And note how, for these behavioral changes, some of these might be obvious to the person going through the changes (like your voice changing); but others are things you may not be aware has changed.
For facial expressions in particular, people learn to use their face in certain expressive ways when they're young, and then often don't notice when their face stops "responding" fully/correctly/in the way they'd anticipate to their brain's commands to execute these expressions. As far as you're concerned, you're doing what you always did; it's just that, at some point, you developed an autoimmune condition that attacked (or plugged up with waste) some nerves or muscles or tissues or whatever, that made those higher-level signals from your motor cortex stop translating perfectly to actually initiating the actions you expected. Most people don't periodically test their facial expressions in a mirror, so you only get info about the breakdown of these capabilities reflected in other people's reactions toward you changing. And, likewise, if these capabilities were to be suddenly restored, you'd only find out through others' reactions to you as well!
Thank you. That is insightful and well written. And corresponds with academic literature as far as I have read.
I find it extremely interesting that GLP-1 agonists and GLP-1 receptors are highly pulmonary.
(There seems to be a persistent correlation between detailed pulmonary mechanisms, biology, responses… and neuroinflammation. Which does make sense when we consider the metabolic demands of the brain, which can be highly localized and sensitive to fine variances in supporting system capacity.)
My from-the hip take – from the hip!, no judging pls; It's a hunch, working to falsify it – is that… everything that makes humans aggressive to someone. Every feature someone can present that increases the odds of aggression… is a heuristic for neuroinflammation.
It's a lot of things, but neuroinflammation is a pretty consistent good match as core heuristic.
As in: GLP-1 agonists do reduce neuroinflammation. And then the hunch: This generally and ubiquitously reduces the aggression-induced features thereof.
(This take is somewhere between riffing on concepts and a surprisingly earnest and mechanistic theoretical perspective. Started as jokey banter but it's kinda hard to unsee it. not sure where else to place it, haha.)