Let me start by saying this whole post may be complete crap. I already made a similar one a few years ago, but hope to delve a little deeper on this matter.
Antisocial Personality Disorder is a phenomenon which still plagues the world we live in. Countless victims of this problem are accumulating every year. But the biggest concern is that this is one disorder (if I may call it that) that scientists still have no idea to treat.
From the literature I have read, it seems this is rooted in a chronic underarousal of the stress system, paired with a high functioning of chemicals involved in dominance (including Dopamine and Testosterone).
Funnily enough, patients with Major Depression show the complete opposite.
The important thing about stress is that it is the direct root of being able to experience guilt or sadness. It also is productive, because it makes people think twice before doing something, and allows people to effectively plot a route towards achieving a long term goal.
The consequences of extreme stress are quite obvious. But when the stress response is insufficient, that is equally as detrimental to the individual.
What makes it a real problem for society though, is when the individual is also high in another area, such as testosterone or in neurotransmitters involved in motivation & reward. A classic example is the school bully.
Some grow out of it in adulthood, but some stay bad (perhaps getting even worse with age).
The most extreme people, ie. the psychopaths, actually are able to remain largely inconspicuous. Take for example the reason case in the UK of the student who stabbed a teacher to death for seemingly no reason.
His friends say they thought of him as a quiet, shy, ordinary guy. Yet the investigators said he has shown no remorse whatsoever in his crime, quite the opposite actually.
Or less extreme cases of people who remain delinquent through their 20's, 30's. Consistently getting into trouble with the law, frequent drug abuse, endless turmoil with family members, counts of abuse towards partners.
They will never change because they don't see anything wrong with this behaviour.
So if cases of extreme stress (depression, anxiety) can be treated, how do you treat the opposite?
The closest I have come is looking at a certain category of plants called adaptogens. The 2 that have the widest array of data are Panax Ginseng, and Glycyrrhiza Glabra.
Panax has been shown to acutely stimulate the HPA axis (involved in cortisol), and Glycyrrhiza has been shown to prolong the action of stress.
I already mentioned this to Professor James Fallon, who referred it on to some of his colleagues. Funnily enough, they drew a blank, although they said ''it would make sense''.
