Wegovy and The First Temptation of Christ

What Wegovy and The Devil Have in Comon.

There is a story in the Gospel of Matthew that can shed some light on the question of whether Wegovy—the weight loss drug—can cure addiction. It is the first temptation of Jesus. The story goes like this. After 40 days in the desert without food, Jesus was hungry. The Devil came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”

This temptation has long been interpreted as the Devil asking Jesus to use his miraculous power for selfish reasons. But, I think there is another slant to his temptation, as well. The Devil is tempting Jesus with materialism—the belief that our material well-being is all there is to life.

After 40 days without food, the Devil’s advice probably was very tempting to Jesus. But Jesus realized it was a trap. Sure, bread would satiate his hunger—and put a stop to his craving for food—but it wouldn’t satisfy him. That’s when Jesus told the Devil something DuPont (Better living through chemistry) and the head of the National Institutes of Drug Abuse don’t know: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Jesus’ statement was a repetition of Old Testament scripture and it shut down the Devil immediately.

In effect, Jesus was saying that humans are not biochemical robots. They’ll never be satisfied with merely material solutions to their pain. They are spiritual. They hunger for the divine, the mystical, the transcendent—for, “every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

It is the hunger for transcendence that drives a lot of substance use. We desire altered states—to leave behind the mundane and painful aspects of life and experience bliss, connection, and fascinating changes in our perceptions.

Wegovy obtains results by turning off physical cravings. But it can’t address the other factors that lead to substance use. Those factors—needs for belonging, sense-making, bliss, adventure, and relief from difficulties—are not impacted by Wegovy.

Working in the field of addiction, I see that none of the current craving-removing drugs are silver bullets. It is not uncommon for people to relapse while taking them—or in the case of methadone, to abuse the drug intended to provide relief from the addiction.

I have no doubt that Wegovy will perform similarly to the current crop of medication. It will be more effective than no treatment, but it won’t end addiction any more than a pill will end divorce, make peace in the Middle East, or propel management and workers to new levels of productivity and mutual understanding.

Some human problems are here to stay. Addiction is one of them.

What happens when you have enough bread?

It should be obvious that having enough bread isn’t the answer to life’s problems. For the last 50 years, Americans have had access to more calories than anyone could need. Yet rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm are higher than ever. Deaths of despair, like suicide, overdoses, and alcohol-related illnesses are higher than ever, too. And the U.S. Surgeon General has just declared loneliness to be a national epidemic, whose health consequences rival smoking and obesity.

Our hunger for calories has been satisfied and yet we are not fixed. That’s powerful evidence that having our material needs met--including our biochemical balance—won’t fix what ails us.

Man does not live on bread alone.