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[DalmoTheDwarf]

So I am starting to have some issues with unhappiness. I checked the wiki and saw the advice there, and I have tried to rectify it somehow. But its gotten to the point where I now have 3 Dwarves extremely unhappy constantly throwing tantrums. And about 10 more unhappy, showing 10-25k on dwarf therapist.

Since I didn't do the preventative help for them, is there anyway to pull them out of this spiral?

I do have a fort of 200 dwarves and its the middle of the third year, so I would like to save this fort if possible (Or at least fight one battle with my military since I have never gotten to do so). If I expel them I am afraid their family members will leave, and a lot of them have key family members (Wood furnace, Nobles, Armourer). What should I do? Can I cause an unfortunate accident to occur for them and continue on, or should I start a new game if I want to have a chance to get into mid game (Exploring caverns, Fighting fights, Forgotten beasts)

[PatrikLundell]

- Relocating/expelling them is probably the easiest "remedy".
- Unfortunate accidents is probably the fallback option.
- The "love" option is to examine each of them in detail and do whatever you can to rescue them. That's hard, and probably impossible in some cases, but I assume the sense of achievement if you pull it off is worth a fair while as well.

So why are they unhappy, and what can you do to counter that? The easiest ones it to make sure they've got access to clothes, grab their trinkets (which may have you study their detailed preferences to make trinkets specifically for them if they're picky, and then have them haul those trinkets).
Lack of friends is harder, but it ought to be possible to subject them to intense treatment using the latest research with hand picked future friends.
Family can be treated with nuptial encouragement suites, assuming they're the marrying kind (and orientation is important for procreational purposes, but for key dorf stabilization, you're looking for a match, with dorflets as a potential bonus (or scourge, depending on your view).
If they freak out at the sight of corpses, take them off of burial hauling as a minimum, and refuse hauling as well as a maximum. Always keep your corpse stockpile out of view for everyone except those who have business hauling corpses.
Those who pine after crafting: give them private workshops set to only accept themselves (can be rotated between dorfs or shared depending on your settings) and the appropriate job (and ban them from the "production" workshops, e.g. by imposing a lowest skill level for usage).
Etc, etc. for all the other needs. For food preferences you'd need DFHack script help, as DF lies to you about preferences.

[feelotraveller]

...but there's more

Everyone loves a waterfall.
Maximum job happiness is almost invariably digging... (still need a crafting task occasionally)
Some activities (e.g. helping someone) can cause happiness or unhappiness depending on the dwarf (depending on Altruism in this case).
Nobody likes being pestered by vermin, so make sure as much food as possible is containerised.

Personally I'd look at it as an opportunity to get to know your dwarfs a bit better, or at least the troublesome ones.  Understanding how they 'tick' is generally useful. 

Have a look through the causes on this page: http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Stress and see if it is possilbe to add - or subtract - those to your troubles.  Some like 'learning a skill' can be quickly accessed by tranferring dwarfs to other jobs for a little while (i.e. go from level 0 to level 1, that is dabbling to novice).  Others can be avoided with a little thought - like caught in the rain - at least for particular dwarfs.  No need for completionism, doing 'enough' is all that is required. 

[Loci]

Check *why* they're unhappy. If it's just a series of negative thoughts, you can recover them by flooding them with positive thoughts (a well-stocked library is surprisingly helpful). If they have experienced personality changes that make them stressed, susceptible to stress, or incapable of dealing with their stress then they are effectively terminal. It's nearly impossible to keep a personality-damaged dwarf alive long enough to have any chance of another personality change, let alone the specific change necessary to counteract the first.

[mikekchar]

Just to add to the list: if they like a food/booze that you are able to stock in your fortress (either by acquiring it or making it), you can cook a dish with that food/booze.  As long as the dwarf is a reasonable distance from the food when they are hungry, they will seek it out.  If you can make it high quality, it will also cause happy thoughts when the dwarf remembers eating the food.  It takes some creativity to  figure out how to make dishes with specific ingredients, but it can be done.

[scourge728]

My suggestion is setting them up to make stone rings/similar wearable trinkets is a great way to meet multiple needs and give a use for some stone and some low value but low weight trading goods