Victoza® and mood changes

What the Victoza® labels say

The US prescribing information for Victoza®, last revised in October 2025, has no warning about suicidal behaviour, depression or other psychiatric effects, and none appears in its adverse reaction tables or postmarketing list. ^[1] The European summary of product characteristics lists no psychiatric reactions for Victoza®. ^[2] The Canadian monograph has no psychiatric warning either; its trial tables, which count every event above 1% regardless of cause, include a few anxiety and depression rows. ^[3]

In January 2026 the FDA asked makers to remove suicidal behaviour and ideation warnings from GLP-1 labels that carried them, and named the affected products: Saxenda®, Wegovy® and Zepbound®. ^[4] All three are weight-management medicines; the FDA notes that similar wording appears in other weight-loss labels and traces it to reports with older weight-loss drugs. ^[4] Victoza® was never in that group.

What the FDA review and the studies found

The FDA’s 2026 review pooled 91 placebo-controlled trials of GLP-1 medicines with 107,910 participants and found no increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviour, nor of anxiety, depression, irritability or psychosis. ^[4] It also ran a study in its Sentinel system of more than 2.2 million people with type 2 diabetes starting either a GLP-1 medicine or an SGLT-2 inhibitor, and found no higher risk of intentional self-harm with GLP-1 medicines. ^[4] That second study is especially relevant here, because Victoza® is a type 2 diabetes medicine. ^[1]

Safety-report studies give a mixed picture for liraglutide. A 2025 analysis of US reports found depression and suicide or self-injury signals only for semaglutide, not liraglutide or tirzepatide. ^[7] A 2025 analysis across US, Canadian and Australian databases linked liraglutide to depression in the Canadian database (reporting odds ratio 1.68). ^[6] These studies compare how often events are reported, not how often they happen, and cannot show cause. ^[6][7] A 2024 case report described one man with type 2 diabetes who developed depression after starting liraglutide and improved after it was stopped and an antidepressant started; a single case cannot separate the medicine from other factors, as the authors acknowledge. ^[8]

Low blood sugar can look like a mood change

The Victoza® Medication Guide lists anxiety, irritability or mood changes among signs of low blood sugar, next to shakiness, sweating, hunger and confusion. ^[1] The label says that risk is higher when Victoza® is used with a sulfonylurea or insulin, and in patients aged 10 and older regardless of what else they take. ^[1] MedlinePlus adds feeling cranky or acting aggressively and feeling nervous to the list, and notes that some people do not feel the early warning signs. ^[11]

So a sudden flash of irritability before a meal, or anxiety with a racing heart, may be a blood sugar problem rather than a mood problem. A glucose check at the time helps tell the difference.

Living with diabetes and mood

NIMH explains that people with a chronic disease such as diabetes are at higher risk of depression, triggered by the stress of managing the illness, by medicines or by a personal or family history, and that depression also raises the risk of diabetes and heart disease. ^[9] People with both tend to have more severe symptoms of each. ^[9] MedlinePlus notes that chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease can occur with depression and make each other worse, and that teenagers may act out or sleep excessively rather than appear sad. ^[10]

MedlinePlus’s liraglutide page, last revised in December 2025 and covering both Victoza® and Saxenda®, still lists new or worsening depression or thoughts of self-harm among symptoms that should prompt a call to the doctor. ^[5] It predates the FDA’s January 2026 action, but its underlying advice, to tell someone, matches what the FDA asks of all patients. ^[4][5]

What helps, according to the sources

MedlinePlus says depression often needs longer-term treatment, usually medicines, talk therapy or both, and that getting help at the earliest sign makes symptoms easier to manage. ^[10] NIMH describes collaborative care, where primary care and mental health professionals work together, as an approach that can improve overall health in people with depression and chronic disease, and suggests asking whether it is available. ^[9] FDA advises patients to keep taking their medicine as prescribed and discuss concerns with their health care professional rather than stopping on their own. ^[4]

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, help is available right now: call or text 988 in the United States, call or text 9-8-8 in Canada, or call your local emergency number. ^[12][13]

Victoza®, Saxenda® and Wegovy® are registered trademarks of Novo Nordisk A/S. Zepbound® is a registered trademark of Eli Lilly and Company. PepLabo is not affiliated with or endorsed by Novo Nordisk A/S or Eli Lilly and Company.

When to get help