dis·tor·tia ef·fect (d-stôr’-sha' i-fket')

n.

Rare psychological disorder affecting those of unusually high intelligence. The first stage involves the self-alienation of the victim based on the realization of their supreme intelligence in relation to their peers in which they drive themselves severely antisocial and borderline insane. The second stage consists of slipping into severe insanity. Victims’ perception of the world and analysis of outside stimuli is severely altered and they become unable to function normally in the world and begin to retreat into their highly evolved, but distorted minds. Some victims will kill themselves during or after the second stage instead of entering the third stage. In the third and final stage they completely retreat into their minds and force themselves into a self-induced coma. No recorded victims have ever regained consciousness.

Source: Merriam Webster’s Medical Dictionary, © 2068 Merriam Webster Inc.