Key points

Hope isn’t an outcome, it’s an expectation that shapes well-being.

Repeated disappointments can biologically dampen dopamine and optimism.

Dopamine measures anticipation, recalibrating with each success or setback.

Restoring hope means reengaging action and enriching one’s environment.

Optimism lives in a curious in-between space. It isn’t an outcome so much as an expectation about one. Yet optimism and pessimism each have immediate consequences for mental health. When we expect good things, daily life feels safer and more enjoyable. Persistent pessimism, on the other hand, breeds emptiness and depression . As a psychiatrist, I often meet people who undermine their own positive feelings. When I ask why, they’ll say something like, “It keeps me from being disappointed.

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