Magusitis

With great power comes a great chance of turning into an asshole.

Magusitis is a catch-all term for mages who grow out of touch with normal life and think their magic makes them greater than the rest of humanity. It is the kind of delusion that comes with power, slowly at first and then with haste as a witch grows into their mystical skin, so to speak. They come to believe that reality is at their beck and call, that everything revolves around some magical meaning - one that invariably traces back to themselves, of course... That they stand above all through their insight and arcane might. From there, it's usually only downhill.

Power Corrupts

Insidious and subtle, Magusitis is something that can take hold of anyone, no matter intent or morality. Once a mage begins to feel separate from other people, from 'normies', that's when the madness can take hold. In some, it manifests as casual cruelty and disregard, but in others as a patronizing, condescending attitude towards the less.

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No matter how much a mage might think they're being kind and looking out for their lesser fellow man, they still view themselves as a breed apart, as someone superior. It isn't for nothing the condition is sometimes referred to as white mage's burden.

They become the kind of mage who looks at the rest of humanity and think, "I can fix this".

In the end, it always takes for form of some form of superiority complex, with a healthy does of 'their opinion doesn't matter, they don't know what I do' sort of thinking. Mages like this know in their heart that they have all the answers, and almost nothing can convince them otherwise.

Often, mages in the throes of Magusitis are prone to casual displays of spellcraft; illuminating a room with magic instead of just flicking the damn light-switch.

Needless to say, people in the throes of Magusitis can be difficult to deal with. Even when they treat other wizards as equal (and before too long, they'll start putting other mages in different rankings, too), most mages remain fundamentally human. They have friends, jobs, families and facebook accounts - all things a warlock suffering from prolonged Magusitis will eventually discard. Some abandon the Prime entirely and make their home instead in the Shadow.

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Wizard Rehab

"Curing" Wizard Madness isn't easy, if only because those who suffer from it never see it as a problem until something breaks. It is only then, when a mage sees what he has become, the damage he has done, or the simple, human connections he has lost finally comes into focus that the process can begin.
Depending on how long a mage has been out of it, reconnecting with humanity can be a hard, long journey of self-reflection and growth.
Others never bother and become even worse - turning into the sort of pseudo-fascist mage-supremacists that nobody likes.

In the most extreme cases, some begin to care for nothing but magic, searching for a form of 'mystical enlightenment' that'll elevate them further above all. They neglect everything else as of lesser worth; from friendships and conversational skills, to basic hygine. Every problem that can be solved with magic is, and if it can't, it's either not worth bothering with or they'll hammer that square peg into the round hole until the whole frame breaks.
Funny enough, none of them ever seem to have found it. If it exists, this path doesn't seem to lead there.