On some level, sure. That's why cognitive behavioural therapy works for certain people. It can't replace actual happiness, though; that has to come from you.
this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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To a certain degree, yes. Acting happy can cause you to do activities (connection) that can actually make you more happy.
In general though, a lot of unhappiness is founded in either an emotional response to an unhappy situation or in some type of chronic illness. Feigned happiness does not ever address underlying causes that should be addressed therapeutically.
Completely agree with the situational stuff. Imagine you're sitting in a park, trying to kick off a "just chilling and having fun" for yourself, but actually being nervous or anxious. But just sitting on your ass in a nice place can do wonders (remember it doesn't count if you doomscroll) - from personal experience, my brain frantically tries to find some job for itself for a while: entertainment! thrill! flying space cats! - but when nothing happens, it switches to "okay, wake me up is something happens" mode, and I suddenly don't need to run somewhere and do stuff.
It depends on your perspective of what feigned happiness is.
There's a fine line between faking a mood and trying your best to see something in a positive light.
To me, happiness describes a subjective feeling, whereas faking or pretending it refers to something you try to display outwardly despite not actually feeling that way. Kind of like bravery. You can't fake it because faking it is bravery.
I also suspect that usually when people say "happiness," they're actually referring to the feeling of being content.
What do you mean by "feigned happiness"? Cheerfulness?
Because I know unpleasant people that are happy that way, and depressed people who are very cheerful. Happiness is something you have, cheerfulness is something you do.
Though in my experience, being cheerful tends to help other people feel better and helping others makes me happy.
No. To feign happiness one must be aware they they are not happy.
Happiness can mean either of two things: joy and contentment.
While it might be possible to convincingly feign elation, contentment, I’d argue, is harder to convey externally and near impossible to fool yourself about.
I think you need to define happiness first.