> As someone who doesn't really drink and never has alcohol at home, is it just that people buy beer/wine and drink on a daily basis for fun?

Yes, anything from a couple of drinks a night with dinner / tv to getting blackout drunk multiple times a week, alone, with your significant other, or with friends / roommates.

In the case of people in my social circle (late 30s early 40s) it's primarily still for fun, as well as just a large amount of momentum from your teenage years, 20s, 30s, etc. For a lot of people I know, the association between drinking and good times / relaxation has been deeply engrained since high school.

I've recently taken an extended break for my health, as I'm fully aware that it takes a toll on me, but I still love grabbing some drinks whether I'm relaxing alone in the evening or going out with friends and family.

While it's certainly true that many people get into a dark place with drinking and let it spiral into a self-destructive, depressive pursuit, I don't think it's quite the rule it's made out to be.

I have a good amount of family who live idyllic, full, happy, social lives, drinking heavily multiple times a week with their friends and family into their 70s/80s until death.

Basically I think “a beer would be nice right now” and then I go to the store or local pub.

When drinking small quantities, it's more to relax/unwind at the end of the day than to 'have fun'. Sometimes it's self-medication for stress/depression.

But it can easily escalate into a rather unhealthy habit. And even fairly small amounts can disrupt sleep.

I don't know much about the drug, maybe you're talking about something else... but FWIW, I got sober from years as a practicing alcoholic the traditional way, I had lots of personality changes, some good some bad, but who I was when I was drinking all day every day and who I am today are quite different people.

I don't think it's a personality change, at least insofar as personality is separate from neurochemistry. Ghrelin and dopamine are strongly linked, and dopamine is our central reward-seeking driver; GLP-1s generally reduce ghrelin production, which I suspect helps remove you from a state of being constantly primed for reward-seeking. I noticed this firsthand when I went hard keto for the first time, and could suddently for the first time tell a significant difference between "I want food because I'm hungry" and "I'm not hungry but want food because it's pleasurable".

Worry about a positive side effect? No.

I worry about it. I do tend to wonder if it can change your relationship with addictive and maybe risky behaviors, does it also potentially make you into a more conservative (not politically) person? Does creativity and risk tolerance go down as well?

Yeah I am reading through this thread and it does feel that things can go wrong here. With alcohol/drugs it is very likely to be an extremely positive change (at least for the majority), but some people shared videogames, and while they can totally be addicting, I personally place them on the same level as books/shows/movies, and losing interest in all of that is definitely a big change.

It has definitely come up in books and podcasts I’ve listened to, but given general cultural values and biases I don’t think it gets much traction.

I had a lot of fear about this when I resisted getting treated for my very bad Anxiety. I feared that it might change me. I feared that I would be a different person.

Guess what? That's a good thing. The anxious person I was drove me to struggle to do basic life things, struggle to do things I wanted to do, and caused me to drive away someone I loved and harm them.

Fuck that guy, I don't want to be him. I did change. I became able to try new things. I became able to accept other people without needing to impose what I considered "right" onto them. I became able to manage my stupid jealousy to stop it from hurting my relationships.

Now I can ride rollercoasters without having a panic attack. Oh what a shame I lost that guy.

The things that medications treat also cause personality changes. Significant mental or psychological problems consume parts of you, and drive your life negatively.

There's no such thing as a "true" you. You are just biological machines doing chemistry. That chemistry dictates YOU. That chemistry is literally affected by the food you eat. Drawing a line because we require you to get a chemical from someone with a special piece of paper is not reality.

Wearing the proper glasses will cause a personality change if you grew up vision impaired.

Don't deify a broken brain.

Other lies people insist on to avoid medication include "There's no silver bullet/magic pill"

Guess what? Sometimes there is! A low dose of a boring medication fixed my anxiety, as in, turned me from being a dysfunctional anxious wreck to someone who has a normal anxiety response. Even the "side effects" I experience have been positive outcomes.

Now if you do something like take anabolic steroids and it gives you roid rage? Yeah, avoid that, not because "It changed you" but because it made you demonstrably worse in a way you probably do not want

Do you know what else causes irreversible personality changes and will change who you really are?

Aging.