In fairness, it may be that it is only having to be around stupid people that makes us that way:
The stereotype of a tortured genius may have a basis in reality after a new study found that people with higher IQs are more at risk of developing mental illness.
A team of US researchers surveyed 3,715 members of American Mensa with an IQ higher than 130. An “average IQ score” or “normal IQ score” can be defined as a score between 85 and 115.
The team asked the Mensa members to report whether they had been diagnoses with mental illnesses, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
They were also asked to report mood and anxiety disorders, or whether the suspected they suffered from any mental illnesses that had yet to be diagnosed, as well as physiological diseases, like food allergies and asthma. After comparing this with the statistical national average for each illness they found that those in the Mensa community had considerably higher rates of varying disorders.
In my experience, the more highly intelligent people are, the more unstable they tend to be, particularly if they are women. The problem, I suspect, is that smart people are more able to rationalize their aberrant behaviors and justify their departures from observable reality, thereby leading to a vicious circle where their disorders are reinforced.
I find narcissists of the non-malignant variety to be some of the most stable smart people I know, presumably because their lack of interest in other people tends to render their social interactions less confusing and angst-inducing. The more sensitive and insecure an intelligent person is, the more likely that he is going to find himself regularly buffeted by social pressures that he simply cannot understand.