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This text first appeared in January 2020.
SPIEGEL
: How many different types of happiness are there?
Roth:
Actually only one: the strong, individual well-being that we feel when our own reward substances are released.
SPIEGEL:
What makes us happy?
Roth:
It's as different as life itself. Sex, alcohol or drugs work by stimulating the release of happiness hormones.
But a raise in salary or professional success can also trigger this.
Or being in love, nice music, a good conversation.
Only these states of happiness last for different lengths of time.
And ensure that afterwards we may plunge even more deeply into feeling unhappy.
I therefore find it more important to know that satisfaction in life and the feeling of happiness that we experience are two completely different things.
SPIEGEL:
To what extent?
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