what about side effects, such as problems with skin, mood etc.

The short version: skin reactions are real and documented, mood effects are the thinnest part of the evidence, and neither is well quantified.

On skin, the records cut both ways. A 2025 review of 155 studies found GLP-1 drugs can both calm inflammatory skin disease and trigger rashes and other reactions [1]. One case report describes severe guttate psoriasis in a woman three months after a tirzepatide dose increase, and the rash kept spreading after she stopped the drug [3]. That is one patient, no rechallenge, so causation is unproven [3]. A small randomized trial found liraglutide actually improved psoriasis scores in people with type 2 diabetes [2]. So the honest read: these drugs can flare skin disease in some people and settle it in others, and nobody can tell you which you are.

Mood is where the evidence is weakest. The 2025 side-effect review lists psychiatric signals among the safety concerns it covers [4], but the records here give no numbers, no trial, no comparison group for depression or anxiety. That is a gap in what I can see, not proof of harm or safety.

My call: skin effects are plausible and worth watching, especially a new or worsening rash after a dose increase; on mood, the evidence is too thin to say either way, so treat a change in mood on these drugs as a real signal to raise with your doctor, not something to dismiss. Confidence: low.