History Main / WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity

* ''Literature/PayMeBug'': {{Telepath|y}}s are in danger of going insane if they aren't trained to handle their power early enough.
* ''Literature/TheQuestportChronicles'': The Master of Darkness, one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world, is also utterly insane. It's implied that part of this is due to returning from death.

** And then there's Bloatware, where a mind tries to access vast amounts of data and tooling and secondary systems without actually boosting its intelligence to the point where it can comprehend all the data it suddenly has pouring into its mind. Some just go catatonic, but others can easily turn into Blights or Perversities.

* Parodied by the Website/BabylonBee: "[[https://babylonbee.com/news/noooo-my-precious-screams-governor-whitmer-after-state-orders-her-to-throw-ring-of-power-into-the-fires-of-mount-doom Governor Whitmer Refuses to throw Ring of Power into the Fires of Mount Doom]]"

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Generally, the [[MoreThanMindControl effect]] of the Grand Relics on their users in ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance''.

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/{{Elvenquest}}'': Anyone who holds the Sword of Asnagar for even a moment immediately turns into a cackling, raving maniac. Except Amis, which is why he's the Chosen One. Problem is, Amis is also ''very'' suggestible. The perils of your chosen one being a dog turned into a human.

[[folder:Roleplay]]
* In ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'', as the Cure [[LovecraftianSuperpower mutates]] its victims, they become progressively more powerful but also more unhinged.

* ''WebOriginal/OrionsArm'', being a civilisation built by Transhumans, has a few interesting thoughts about how radically changing and augmenting one's thought processes could go wrong. Many baselines ("modosophonts") try to boost themselves through the first toposphic singularity to gain vastly more capable (and somewhat alien) modes of thought, but it doesn't always go well...

It seems like any major military- or corporate-backed venture to give a [[{{Muggles}} mundane person]] [[StockSuperPowersIndex super powers]] or just enhance their [[BadassNormal normal abilities]] results in the test subject going [[PsychoPrototype uncontrollably berserk]] as a [[GoneHorriblyWrong side-effect]].

Sometimes the choice of test subject is clearly to blame. Convicted criminals are convenient ("[[BoxedCrook One swallow and ten years go off your sentence!"]]) but unreliable guinea pigs if you're trying to develop a SuperSoldier who can punch out a tank. Nobody in any of these programs ever seems to have been given the [[ThereAreNoTherapists most basic psychiatric evaluation.]] The evidence indicates a connection between morals and one's ability to remain "sane". Normally, using the power makes you crazy the longer you use it, because EvilFeelsGood, but a noble, heroic character is [[HeroicWillpower better able to stay in control]].

Other times, it seems that [[PsychoSerum insanity happens as a side effect]] for no discernible reason other than to justify the needs of the plot and/or give the super individual a [[KryptoniteFactor weakness]] that they must struggle to balance and maintain. This also gives the BadassNormal their one edge over the competition as they lack this weakness. There will be some TechnoBabble but this will be the real reason.

Sometimes, the creators of the super being realize the error while in the prototype phase and will [[SealedEvilInACan seal the subject away]], hoping everyone just forgets about them. Often, the [[SuperPrototype first subject]] to undergo the process — or a single subsequent subject — will [[PhlebotinumRebel turn out okay]], so on top of all the various other issues that the treatment has, it's usually their job to clean up the mess made by subsequent failed attempts. If it's a ScienceIsBad story, the sponsors of the program are likely to just keep pumping out nutty prototypes hoping they'll eventually make one that is ''not'' insane.

CastFromSanity is the gameplay form of this trope: apparently "Sanity" has a gauge/number and is some kind of resource/payment to do a skill, i.e you lose your sanity the more you use it.

* This trope is the reason why the world is so dangerous in ''Literature/{{Brennus}}''. The more powerful the metahuman is, the more likely they are to be insane (and the odds are doubled for mad scientists). Most of the really powerful metahumans are crazy in one way or another, and Desolation In Light, one of most powerful, is an OmnicidalManiac. Not a good combination for anyone nearby.
* ''Literature/{{Defection}}'': The greater effect your superpower has on your mind, the greater the chance is that you are bug-out nuts. The villain Prysim remarks several times that no, she isn't evil - just insane, whether that is just a bad excuse or not is left up to the reader.