Ataraxia: The State Of Serenity

The concept of ataraxia dates back to ancient Greece and the Stoics. It means that you must not be influenced by anything and that you must remain calm in the face of adversity. A state of mind free of fear, anxiety, anger and frustration seems idyllic. After all, who wouldn’t want to live with this peace of mind?

The truth is that this reality has little to do with health or even logic. The story of the Brothers Grimm, for example, tells of the youth who went out to learn what fear was. The main character spent much of his life trying to get to know that emotion that so defines people.

In fact, excluding an emotion, whatever it is, from the emotional register can lead to serious consequences. This is why ataraxia, far from an inspiring concept, can in fact be a condition. In addition, it may even be neurological. Anxiety, uneasiness and restlessness are annoying and even disturbing, but fulfill an undeniable purpose in terms of survival.

The definition and symptoms

Greek philosophy defined ataraxia as imperturbability. Figures such as Democritus or Heraclitus considered this tendency to diminish passion and regarded serene and impenetrable demeanor as synonymous with enlightenment and noble spirit.

This perspective of behavior and attitude originated with the Epicureans, the Stoics and the Skeptics. In this regard, research by Dr. James Warren of Cambridge University suggested that Epicureans saw ataraxia as a synonym for mental well-being. This is because it can “uproot” fears from the mind.

Seen in this light, more than one would take it as encouraging and accurate. Who wouldn’t want to live in a permanent state of nonchalance, in a psychological atmosphere where nothing would touch you?

However, the truth is that you would not be human if you reacted to life’s adversities in this way. You would be a zombie. The inability to respond to environmental events or the absence of fear would define a neurological disorder in many cases.

What does someone with ataraxia look like?

This condition is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) . However, it can be a symptom of a neurological problem, as we mentioned above. Several brain changes correlate with this reality and its symptoms:

• Passive behavior and the inability to respond to environmental stimuli.
• Someone with medical ataraxia shows no changes in their mood. So they are always in a state of affective flattening in which they show no ups or downs, joy, fear or disappointment.
• They show no frustration. In other words, they experience events such as making mistakes or failing to achieve a goal calmly and almost indifferently.
• They do not feel guilty and do not feel responsible for their actions.
• It is also common that they do not respect boundaries and are not aware of risky behavior.

The Origin of Ataraxia

Clinical or medical ataraxia is the extreme form of philosophical ataraxia. In other words, one can maintain a calm and cool disposition in the face of life’s events. However, it is expected and recommended to experience joy, guilt, fear, anxiety, the exuberance of love and, from time to time, even the uneasiness of sadness.

These emotions allow you to adapt to unexpected life events as they are valuable learning tools. However, someone with clinical ataraxia shows a marked maladaptive passivity. This condition defines people who are unable to respond to their environment socially, occupationally and emotionally. What is the origin of this problem?

The neurological origin of ataraxia

Multiple triggers can explain ataraxia. The most common are traumatic shocks to the frontal region of the brain and cerebrovascular accidents. It is also important to talk about another origin. For example, we know that Urbach-Wiethe disease has the total absence of fear as its main manifestation.

This condition arises as a result of a lesion or atrophy of the amygdala. As you know, this region regulates some of your emotions, with fear and the feeling of alertness being the most common. In the event of danger, the amygdala immediately sends information to the cerebral cortex.

This area applies a cognitive filter to objectively assess the real risk. However, someone with ataraxia cannot perform any of these processes. So it’s likely that the main character from the Brothers Grimm story actually suffered an amygdala change.