Is there a mental health disorder related to a harmful lack of anxiety and stress? Ataraxia is the freedom from distress or worry in ancient Greek philosophy.  However, emotions play a vital role in motivation and decision making.  Many disorders relate to having excessive emotional reactions or inappropriate triggers for them.  There are also a few concerning a lack of or dulled emotional responses.  While high levels of stress and anxiety are seen as harmful, the same concern is rarely shown for the opposite end of the spectrum.  

I have been unable to find any information about disorders related to dulled or absent anxiety or stress reactions.  I assume this is due to the lower perceived harm, or conflation with depression disorders, but I find it hard to believe no one has done any work in this area. Clinical apathy is not what I'm looking for, since that seems to be typified by acute lack of response or interest in immediate stimulus or short time spans.
Sociopaths (people with Antisocial Personality Disorder) report lower levels of anxiety and stress than the general population. Psychopathic traits tend to foster resiliency and are protective against anxiety.

I'm a board-certified psychiatrist. There is ample evidence in the literature (and basic psych textbooks) that sociopathy have low levels of harm avoidance, decreased physiological responses to stress, and lower overall reported anxiety and fear. There is evidence supporting this.

In fairness, this association has come into question and there are some newer studies that are reevaluating the association between anxiety and sociopathy. Anecdotally, I have never encountered an ASPD patient with comorbid anxiety. I’m sure they exist: I’ve just never seen it, and suspect that it’s rare.


Hofmann, S. G., Korte, K. J., &amp; Suvak, M. K. (2009). The upside of being socially anxious: Psychopathic attributes and social anxiety are negatively associated. Journal of social and clinical psychology, 28(6), 714-727.
Dinn, W. M., &amp; Harris, C. L. (2000). Neurocognitive function in antisocial personality disorder. Psychiatry research, 97(2-3), 173-190.
Dolan, M. C., &amp; Rennie, C. E. (2007). Is juvenile psychopathy associated with low anxiety and fear in conduct-disordered male offenders? Journal of anxiety disorders, 21(8), 1028-1038.