Background Happiness is a lasting state and is associated with the absence of negative emotions, the presence of positive emotions, life satisfaction, social engagement and objectives in life. Researchers have demonstrated the benefits of happiness in many aspects of life, but few studies have been conducted within psychiatry.Objectives To develop a critical literature review of studies on happiness and health in order to bring some further and useful information to psychiatry updating the article “Happiness: a review” published in 2007 in Revista de Psiquiatria Clínica.Methods Computational searching was undertaken of digital data basis (PubMed and SciELO) using the keywords “happiness” and “health”. One hundred twenty-seven papers published between 2004 and 2014 were found, but only 76 had the keywords in the title or abstract and with this were selected.Results Personality traits, such as self-direction; being married; being involved in physical and leisure activities; higher educational backgrounds and intelligence quotient; religiosity, volunteering and altruism; good physical and mental health; were positively related to happiness.Discussion Analysis of the concept of happiness and its associated emotions may be more complex than describing the symptoms of psychiatric disorders. Despite this, the study of happiness brings several positive implications for psychiatry.

Resumo Objetivo: avaliar a qualidade de vida relacionada à saúde (QVRS) em portadores de artrite reumatoide (AR), antes e após o tratamento com terapia biológica. Métodos: estudo longitudinal, realizado no período de novembro de 2010 a setembro de 2011, com aplicação dos instrumentos HAQ II (Health Assessment Questionnaire) e SF-36 (Medical Outcomes Short-From Health Survey). Foram realizados testes de Barlett, Anova, Friedman e teste- t pareado para múltiplos extratos. Resultados: foram avaliados 30 pacientes, com idade média de 47,6 (DP: 12,25) anos e prevalência do gênero feminino (90%). A média do escore do HAQ II antes do tratamento foi de 1,97, com diminuição significativa de até 1,23 após seis meses de uso de terapia biológica (p<0,01). A maioria dos domínios do SF-36 apresentou significativa melhora após seis meses de tratamento (p< 0,01), destacando os aspectos sociais, dor, capacidade funcional, aspectos emocionais, vitalidade e aspectos físicos. Conclusão: o uso de terapia biológica em pacientes com AR, refratários aos tratamentos tradicionais, demonstrou ser uma importante estratégia farmacológica para a melhoria da QVRS.

Summary Objective: assessing health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), before and after treatment with biological therapy. Methods: a longitudinal study, conducted from November 2010 to September 2011, with implementation of the instruments HAQ II (health assessment questionnaire) and SF-36 (medical outcomes short-from health survey). Barlett test, Anova, Friedman and paired t-test were performed for multiple extracts. Results: 30 patients were evaluated, mean age of 47.6 (SD: 12.25) years and prevalence of females (90%). The mean score of HAQ II before treatment was 1.97, with significant reduction of up to 1.23 after six months of biological therapy (p<0.01). Most of the SF-36 domains showed significant improvement after six months of treatment (p<0.01), highlighting the social aspects, pain, physical functioning, emotional issues, vitality and physical aspects. Conclusion: the use of biologic therapy in patients with RA refractory to standard therapies proved to be an important pharmacological strategy for improving HRQL.