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Professor of happiness

French psychiatrist Christophe Andre a self-confessed pessimist, unlocks the mystery of what makes us happy.

"What I'm saying isn't politically correct—society will have to debate the matter, like with fluoride in drinking water—but I don't think it's impossible that there'll be some kind of happiness pill. I see so many people being eaten up, destroyed, by suffering. Alcohol, drug and domestic-violence statistics are much too high in our society. There are so many problems, so much unhappiness. If pills can change that, I won't reject it out of hand."

How can optimism play a role here?
"Optimism is an ingredient for happiness. It's not the same thing as happiness. There are pessimists who are happy and unhappy people who are optimists. Optimism is the human capacity to anticipate, and it's stored somewhere in the brain. Spontaneously, I'm a pessimist. If you ask me what the future holds for Africa, I'll start talking about famine, violence and misery. But if I concentrate, I think, What were things like in Europe 100 years ago? War, unemployment, illness, poverty. Things have changed here now, so why not there?

"Optimism gives you the power to try for happiness, and then when you get a little, you understand that trying to be optimistic was worth the trouble. In the end, it's about making an investment in yourself. The Italian writer Primo Levi survived a concentration camp in spite of his despair, because he believed in life, saw something positive in it, and he held onto that."

What is the purpose of happiness?
"It has no purpose—only that you're happy. It gives you a more interesting life. We don't live for happiness, but life is possible, beautiful and rich because it exists. When we're happy, we don't think about tomorrow; we enjoy it here and now. And we're only able to do that because we know that there could be more suffering tomorrow. Happiness is only possible against the background of death; only we human beings know that we're going to die, and that in itself is a good reason to strive for happiness.

"You could also say, 'What is the purpose of life?' Everyone gets to decide that for themselves. But, again, meaning and happiness are not the same thing. A big hero of the Nazi resistance has given a lot of meaning to his life, but that doesn't mean he's a happy person. To paraphrase Diderot: Happiness is a state of well being you wish would last forever."

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