Category: A Beautiful Mind

Abnormal psychology is a branch of psychology that studies people who are ‘abnormal’ or ‘atypical’ compared to what is acceptable and follows the social norms in a given society. Their behavior may be incomprehensible to others or make others feel threatened and or uncomfortable. With this definition, a person is seen as abnormal when he/she is unable to cope with the demands of everyday life. Such people are unable to perform the behaviors that are necessary for day-to-day living, such as interact meaningfully with others, provide self-care, make themselves understood or be able to withhold a job. However, the concept of abnormal is not quite precise and difficult to define. There are considerable ways to define ‘abnormal’ as those ideas concerning what is ‘normal’.

A film that depicts elements of abnormal cognitive and behavior that I watched for the purpose of this assignment is ‘A Beautiful Mind’. ‘A Beautiful Mind’ is a biographical film based on the life of John Nash, a Nobel Memorial Prize recipient in economics. The film starts out Nash as a student at Princeton where he develops a new concept of game theory. His roommate Charles encourages him to propose his findings to the dean and get his work published. With much success of the article, Nash lands a position at MIT. A couple years later, Nash is taken to the Pentagon, where he meets an alluring supervisor, William Parcher of the United States Department of Defense. He offers Nash a job that would help him decode messages to detect a bomb the Soviet had been hiding. This code is said to be found in the newspapers and magazines so Nash spends a considerable amount of time looking for patterns in magazines and newspapers in order to prevent the Soviet’s plan. Nash subsequently becomes obsessive looking for these hidden patterns and believes he is being followed when he delivers his findings to a special encoded mailbox.

The stress of Nash’s job takes a toll when he witnesses a shootout between his supervisor Parcher and Soviet agents, causing him to fear for his life. Alongside paranoia of being watched by the Soviet, Nash attempts to quit but Parcher blackmails him into staying on his assignment. Nash is then invited to deliver a guest lecture at Harvard University where his speech is slurred and incomprehensible. Mainly because he is distraught when he believes the Soviet agents are there to take him. In an attempt to run from said agents, led by Dr. Rosen, Nash punches Rosen consequently forcing them to sedate him and send him to a psychiatric facility he believes is run by the Soviet. It is in this psychiatric facility that it is revealed John suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. According to the DSM, a person suffering from schizophrenia is typically dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, fixed beliefs that are either false, over-imaginative or unrealistic. Often accompanied by hallucinations, in which a person experiences what seems to be real perception of something not actually present. Other predominant signs are delusions, in Nash’s case he expressed what is called ‘delusions of persecution’, where he believed the Soviet were out to get him. lack of motivation for life, and mild clinical depression. As it turns out, Johns infamous roommate Charles, was a hallucination. He never had a roommate while attending Princeton. His ‘job’ for the Pentagon and his boss Parcher were all hallucinations. Dr. Rosen explains to Johns’ wife: “A mathematician with no military training is a government spy… or he has lost his grip with reality. The only way I can help him is to show him the difference from what is real and what is in his mind”.

Contributing factors to Nash’s disorder, those of behavioral influences, included positive symptoms such as delusions, where Nash believes himself to work for the government and be a part of a big mission that only he can help with given his talents of encoding, as well as the hallucinations of Charles and Parcher. Social and cultural factors contribute to biology and behavior. For example, whether you live in a city or the country may be associated with the chances of developing schizophrenia. Nash was living in New Jersey attending an Ivy League school. The rigors of school and surrounded by other talented students ultimately put a strain on him. Social support also affects the health and behavior of someone suffering from schizophrenia. Living in a family with high expressed emotion makes a schizophrenic individual 3.7 times more likely to relapse (Durand, 2016). Nash’s wife, in her attempts to make her home life normal, urges him to take his medication, assist with the baby, be intimate with her. But ultimately, he shows negative symptoms of anhedonia: an inability to experience pleasure from activities usually found enjoyable, as well as affective flattening, relatively immobile and unresponsive facial expressions, have poor eye contact and little body language (Durand, 2016). Emotional/cognitive interactions that are high in criticism and emotional over-involvement can trigger a relapse in patients with schizophrenia. John put this immense pressure on himself to make a discovery and make a contribution to his field because he believed it was the only way he would be important. “Find a truly original idea. It is the only way I will ever distinguish myself. It is the only way I will ever matter” (‘A Beautiful Mind’, 2001). As well as competing with other talented mathematicians brought out this overachieving nature in himself.

Because Nash hid taking his prescribed medication from his wife, it’s safe to assume he had negative side effects and the insulin induced electroshock therapy he would receive at the mental institute was not effective. Cognitive behavioral therapy would be the best route, given that schizophrenia has a negative impact on a person’s ability to relate to others. Although it is not as striking as the hallucinations and delusions, problems with social skills can prevent people with schizophrenia from obtaining and keeping a job as well as making and maintaining meaningful relationships. In addition to social skills, cognitive behavioral therapy can teach a range of ways people can adapt to their disorder yet live and be a part of the community.

“My quest has taken me to the physical, the metaphysical, the delusional, and back” (‘A Beautiful Mind’, 2001). Nash suggested his delusional thinking was related to his unhappiness, his desire to feel important and be recognized, and his characteristic way of thinking (Wikipedia, 2019). That goes to show the power of the mind and its many components. Ultimately, that kind of drive and stress can take a toll on even the sharpest of minds. What may seem abnormal to others may just as well be a coping mechanism as it was for Nash. It ultimately led him to come up with distinguishing scientific ideas. Even with proper treatment, Nash still saw Charles and Parcher, however, he learned to ignore them and eventually returned to Princeton to teach.

Nobel Prize laureate John Forbes Nash Jr. still teaches at Princeton, and walks around grounds every day. That these customary clarifications nearly brought tears to people’s eyes suggests the power of ‘A Beautiful Mind’, the record of a man who is maybe the best mathematician, and experiences schizophrenia. Nash acknowledged for a period that Russians were sending him coded messages on the principal page of the New York Times.

‘A Beautiful Mind’ stars Russell Crowe as Nash, and Jennifer Connelly as his loved one, Alicia, who is pregnant with their child when the basic symptoms of his affliction become clear. It relates the account of a man whose mind was of immense help to humankind while at the same time sold out him with disturbing likes. He exhibits a man who drops into a frenzy and a short time later, all of a sudden, recovers the ability to work in the insightful world. Nash has appeared differently in relation to Newton, Mendel and Darwin, however, then again was for quite a while just a man mumbling to himself in the corner.

Boss Ron Howard can propose a focal point of goodness in Nash that energized his significant other and others to stay by him, to keep trust and, in her words at his limit, “to acknowledge that something extraordinary is possible”. The film’s Nash begins as a quiet yet pretentious youth with a West Virginia supplement, who continuously changes into a tormented, covered psychotic who acknowledges he is a secretive specialist being trailed by government administrators. Crowe, who has an uncanny ability to change his would like to fit an occupation, reliably seems, by all accounts, to be convincing as a man who ages 47 years during the film.

The early Nash, seen at Princeton in the late 1940s, serenity tells an award victor “there is unquestionably not a single essential idea on both of your papers”. When he loses at a series of Go, he explains: “I had the fundamental move. My play was impeccable. The game is damaged”. He thinks about his impact on others (“I don’t much like people and they don’t much like me”) and audits that his first-grade educator said he was “carried into the world with two helpings of brain and a half-supporting of heart”. It is Alicia who urges him to find the heart. She is a graduated class understudy when they meet, is dismantled in to his virtuoso, is moved by his misery, can recognize his idea of sentiment when he prompts her, “Custom requires we proceed with different impartial activities before we participate in sexual relations”. To the degree that he can be reached, she gets in touch with him, yet much of the time he gives off an impression of being gotten inside himself; Sylvia Nasar, who formed the 1998 biography that lights up Akiva Goldsman’s screenplay, begins her book by referring to Wordsworth around “a man ceaselessly voyaging through unusual seas of Thought, alone”. Nash’s schizophrenia takes a demanding, visual structure. He acknowledges he is being looked for after by an administration expert (Ed Harris), and imagines himself in seek after scenes that give off an impression of being energized by 1940s bad behavior films. He begins to find plans where no models exist. One night he and Alicia stay under the sky and he demands that her name in any article, and a short time later partners start to draw it. Nostalgic, anyway it’s not too wistful when she discovers his office thickly papered with endless bits torn from papers and magazines and related by surged lines into whimsical models.

The film pursues his treatment by a getting pro (Christopher Plummer), and his appalling courses of insulin stagger treatment. Medication makes him improve reasonably – anyway just, clearly, when he takes the medicine. Over the long haul more state-of-the-art meds are progressively practical, and he begins a temporary reappearance into the academic world at Princeton.

The film captivated me about the life of this man, and I searched for more information, finding that for quite a while he was a recluse, wandering the grounds, bantering with no one, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, paging through piles of papers and magazines. Furthermore, a while later one day he paid a typical compliment to an accomplice about his daughter, and it was seen that Nash gave off an impression of being better.

There is an astonishing scene in the film when an operator for the Nobel board (Austin Pendleton) comes visiting, and experiences that he is being ‘considered’ for the prize. Nash sees that people are ordinarily instructed they have won, not that they are being thought of as: “came here to see whether I am crazy and would wreck everything if I won”. He did win, and didn’t destroy everything.

When he won the Nobel, Nash got some data about his life, and he was clear enough to express his recovery is “less a matter of joy”. He watches: “Without his ‘free for all’, Zarathustra would basically have been only one greater amount of the millions or billions of human individuals who have lived and after that been neglected”. Without his frenzy, would Nash have similarly lived and thereafter been ignored? Did his ability to penetrate the most irksome scopes of numerical thoughts by somehow go with a worth joined? The movie doesn’t have the foggiest thought and can’t state.

In the two biopic films, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and ‘The Kings Speech’, there are many rather unique characters and some of which are extremely different to one another. These contrasts that the directors of these films have purposefully implemented into these films help to intensify the meaning and or the intention of the biopic film.

In the biopic ‘The Kings Speech’ the audience is introduced to two characters. Bertie is a character which comes from royalty and riches. In the film Bertie is the main character and has a speech impediment issue which breaks him down and he therefor has an extremely low self-esteem and is unable to do what is required of him. We are also introduced to another character in this biopic film by the name of Lionel. Lionel is a character who is on a completely different level to Bertie. Lionel is not rich, not royal and is living a rather average lifestyle. Lionel’s profession is to help those who have problems when it comes to speech. Although Lionel is not the main character in this film, he plays a huge role in it. It is important that this is taken note of as it has a lot to do with the message of the film or at least one of the messages as there are a few. The reason why these two contrasts help intensify the message of this film is because of how it proves that two opposites can come together and help one another. Just because Lionel is ‘lower’ than Bertie in terms of social status doesn’t mean anything. Bertie was in desperate need of someone, anyone who could help and someone who was completely different to him was just the right person for the job.

In the other biopic ‘A Beautiful Mind’, which is closely similar to ‘The Kings Speech’ in terms of contrast in the two selected characters as well as their lifestyles, we are introduced to Professor John Nash who is the main character in the film. John Nash is a mathematician. This already gives away the impression that he is vastly intelligent and is one hundred percent devoted to is studies and work. This professor also has schizophrenia which leads him on the believing that he has a roommate by the name of Charles Herman. Charles Herman is one of the few characters in the film of which Professor John Nash’s mind alongside his schizophrenia have created. Charles Herman unlike John Nash is an alcoholic, loves to go out and about and spends very little time if not no time at all on his studies. It is also noticeable that they are different because of the way they dress. The director makes John Nash neat and Charles rather messy. Just by looking at these two characters lifestyles it is easy to tell that they are completely different if not completely opposite. The fact that they are completely different is what causes a lot of emotion in this film. Charles tries to get John Nash to forget about his studies for a bit and live life on the edge. John Nash after sometime realizes this and tries his best to ignore him in order to continue with his studies.

So, by having a closer look at these two biopics, viewers will now know that although there are two contrasting characters in both of these films the two together can cause very different effects to one another where as in ‘The Kings Speech’ the two contrasting characters were able to work together where as in ‘A Beautiful Mind’ they weren’t.

‘A Beautiful Mind’ is a true story that was turned into a film in 2001 about a man named John Nash who struggled with schizophrenia throughout his life and how he eventually learned to overcome it. Throughout the film, John’s schizophrenia caused him to hallucinate and imagine people that did not actually exist. One of the men that John imagines named William Parcher convinces him that his coding skills are needed to help save the United States from a nuclear disaster. He did not know that William was not real so John would spend all of his time looking through newspapers and magazines trying to find clues about when and where the nuclear strike was going to happen. John’s wife Alicia, eventually noticed what John was up to and had him put into a mental institution where John would undergo insulin shock therapy which eventually stared to work and helped end the hallucinations. A few years later, John stopped taking his medication which caused the hallucinations to begin again. After John realized that William Parcher was fake, he learned to overcome and ignore the hallucinations. He then went on to develop a theory called the non-cooperative game theory which led to him winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994.

Throughout the film John showed how his condition and mental state had changed over the years. The chapter from psychology that fit best with his condition and the way his behavior changed fits in with chapter four which talks about development throughout the life span. In ‘A Beautiful Mind’, John showed how his social development had changed over the years from his young adulthood when he first started college to his middle adulthood where he struggled the most with his schizophrenia and into his late adulthood where he won the Noble Prize for his work. All of these stages are involved in Erikson’s stages of psychological development.

The film starts with John beginning his first year at Princeton University and this is where the first signs of his schizophrenia are shown. While at Princeton, John was supposed to be in a dorm room by himself but the audience is introduced to his first imaginary friend named Charles. When John first meets Charles, it is hard to tell that he is actually just in John’s imagination and not an actual person. During this time in college, he experienced intimacy vs. isolation which is a part of young adulthood in the stages of psychological development. John becomes very close with Charles over his years at Princeton but often struggled to become intimate and find love. He would often have chances to talk to girls but he would get nervous and mess up. After being rejected multiple times, John started to feel socially isolated from everyone else. Eventually John moved through the stages of intimacy vs. isolation and meets Alicia whom he eventually marries.

As John’s life continued into his forties, he advanced into the social development stage of generativity vs. stagnation. He thought that he was being a productive member of society by working for William Parcher to break the code of when and where the nuclear strike is going to happen. After Alicia found out that John wasn’t actually going to work and that he was just spending all of his time trying to break the codes she ended up putting him in a mental hospital. Being put into the mental hospital, John felt helpless and that he was failing his ‘mission’. John’s behavior went from generativity to stagnation when he realized that all of the work, he had been doing was all for nothing.

Even though John’s life started to spiral downwards, he received the proper treatment and medication which helped reduce his hallucinations. Over time John decided to stop taking his medication which caused William and Charles to re appear. John eventually realized that they weren’t real and that he was just imagining them. Although John did not want to recognize that they weren’t actual people, he realized that over the years they have stayed the same and never got any older.

As John’s life reached late adulthood, he often struggled with integrity vs despair as he would be proud of an accomplishment of his and then remember how he struggled throughout his life. John learned to ignore his hallucinations and went back to Princeton to see if his old friend would offer him a job. After being offered a job teaching a math class, John felt unimportant that he wasn’t given an office and had to work out of the library. John’s life was progressively getting better as he became comfortable teaching and doing something with his life. One day after John was done teaching his class a man approached him to let him know that he was being considered for the Noble Peace Prize because of the thesis he had developed during his years in college. After feeling like he was failure and disappointment for so many years, he had an accomplishment that he could truly be proud of.

As a young adult in today’s society, it is easy to relate to the stage of intimacy vs. isolation. Having completed 4 years in a small high school and venturing to a new college with limited familiar faces, one can struggle with feeling socially isolated. It can be a daily struggle to feel included and step out of a comfort zone. Hopefully with the passage of time that insecure feeling will lead to close and intimate relationships. With my mother and father being in the middle adulthood stage, they are a great example of generativity vs. stagnation. As they have contributed to the world by having four children, paying taxes, and having jobs. They often wonder if their jobs provide enough or if there is something better that they could do. Parents often worry about if they have provided enough for their children and have directed them in the right path. This uncertainty can cause unending questions and concerns. As one reaches the late adult hood stage, people often reflect on their lives and either feel like they have been successful or could have done better. My grandparents are a great example of integrity vs. despair as they are well into their late adulthood and have spent time reflecting on their lives. They have a lot to be satisfied with as they had three children and started a family and now have 6 grandchildren.

Have you ever watched a movie and wonder what is wrong with a certain character? After reading about various mental disorders listed and play close attention to their symptom it made me realize what could be wrong with a person. Many movies and tv shows often show or educate the public on mental disorders but often I find myself wondering what is wrong with them.

Which brings me to a disorder called schizophrenia, which is defined as a severe psychological disorder characterized by highly disordered that process. Individuals suffering from schizophrenia may be referred to as psychotic because they are so far removed from reality. Schizophrenia involves a range of problems with thinking (cognition), behavior or emotions. Signs and symptoms may vary, but usually involve delusions, hallucinations or disorganized speech, and reflect an impaired ability to function.

When we look at the symptoms associated with schizophrenia, there’s a few that stood out, delusions, which are false point of views that are not based in reality. Which these delusions often occur in most people with schizophrenia. Next, we have hallucinations, these usually entail seeing or hearing things that don’t exist. But for a person suffering from schizophrenia, they will experience the full effect and conclusions as if were a normal experience. Hallucinations can be in any of the senses, but hearing voices are the most common hallucination for someone suffering from this disease. Another symptom is speech impairment of difficulties thinking often communication is impaired and words cannot be understood, which is called word salad. Lastly, abnormal motor behavior and negative symptoms which include poor hygiene or lack of emotion (Nami.org, 2019).

As I researched more it can also be broken down more by gender. In men schizophrenia symptoms typically start in the early to mid-20s. In women, symptoms typically begin in the late 20s. It’s uncommon for children to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and rare for those older than age 45. Even when attempting to obtain accurate estimates of the prevalence of schizophrenia, it is difficult to obtain due to the fact that clinical and methodological factors are extremely difficult to diagnose such disorder, not only because it mimics other disorders but because of the complex studies. As schizophrenia is not a common disease and often very difficult to diagnose it is a chronic and serious disorder. According to my research and American Addiction Centers, worldwide about 1 percent of the population is diagnosed with schizophrenia, and approximately 1.2% of Americans (3.2 million) have the disorder. About 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with schizophrenia this year around the world. In the United States, this means about 100,000 people will be diagnosed, which translates to 7.2 people per 1,000 or about 21,000 people within a city of 3 million who are likely to be suffering from schizophrenia (Mental Help, 2019).

Schizophrenia can affect people throughout the lifespan although new instances of the illness are most likely to occur in early adulthood. It is relatively rare for children and older adults to develop schizophrenia, but it does happen. More commonly the incidence (rate of diagnosis) of new cases of schizophrenia increases in the teen years, reaching a peak of vulnerability between the ages of 16 and 25 years. Men and women show different patterns of susceptibility for developing schizophrenic symptoms. Males reach a single peak of vulnerability for developing

No choosing a movie or tv was different because I am a huge movie enthusiast but never really broke down the characters mental disorder like this. Having watched tons of movies and shows and having seen hundreds of characters battle an illness of some sort makes me realize that there is true underlying diagnosis in these characters. I am no expect but after reading and researching about these mental disorders I can definitely see some traits in certain characters.

For this essay I chose ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and the character of John Nash is played by Russell Crowe. The movie was created in 2001 by Ron Howard which covered the life of Noble Prize winner John Nash. The movie won several awards and the Oscar for Best Director, Best Picture, Best Cast, and Best Screenplay. The story is on the mathematics expert of John Nash whose game theory was overshadowed from decades of the mental illness. John Nash’s theories are still to this day widely used in economics. He attended Princeton and MIT and also served as a senior research mathematician at Princeton. He first started developing symptoms in the late 50’s when he was about 30, after he had already made huge contributions in the field of math. Over the next several decades, he was hospitalized several times, and was on and off anti-psychotic medications.

As I rewatched the movie I did notice his actions as paranoid and often delusional which those symptoms are part of what I read about schizophrenia. Even though he was hospitalized and diagnosed with schizophrenia and battled the disease in and out of psychiatric units his behavior matched the information in our book. I learned a lot about this condition, having not known much about it. It was definitely very interesting to see this disease displayed in such a predominate individual. Even though he struggled with this what surprised me was that he gradually learned to manage his condition, and could eventually begin to do some work in mathematics again and audit courses at Princeton. At Princeton, he became known as the ‘Phantom of the Hall’ – a reclusive figure who could sometimes be seen in the middle of the night at the mathematics center, scribbling equations on the blackboards. Eventually, Nash got well enough to teach again. He and Alicia, who had remained his close friend and keen supporter throughout his struggle, rekindled their romantic relationship in the 1990s and remarried in 2001.

References

1. Nami.org. (2019). What is Schizophrenia? NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Schizophrenia/Discuss [Accessed 7 Dec. 2019].
2. Anon. n.d. ‘Schizophrenia Symptoms, Patterns and Statistics and Patterns’. Mental Help Schizophrenia Symptoms Patterns and Statistics and Patterns Comments. Retrieved December 7, 2019. https://www.mentalhelp.net/schizophrenia/statistics

The 2001 film, ‘A Beautiful Mind’, tells the story of John Nash, a brilliant mathematical mind and Nobel prize winner in economics who has suffered from schizophrenia throughout his life. The film faithfully portrays the passages of his illness, from the onset to the stage in which he chooses to ignore the hallucinations that will continue to accompany him throughout his life. John Nash was diagnosed at about 30 years of age with paranoid delusional schizophrenia, a mental illness that leads those affected by it to have delusions (recurrent thoughts that do not adhere to reality) and hallucinations (in his case, visual). Both of these symptoms are masterfully described and represented in the film.

Schizophrenia was introduced by the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1911, first identified by the German psychiatrist Kraepelin in 1886 under the name ‘early dementia’. The age of onset is between 15 and 45 years, although it usually begins at the end of adolescence. The person with schizophrenia experiences a distortion of thoughts and feelings. What characterizes it is the total damage it causes in the individual, because the person who suffers it can, feel, think and speak differently than before. They tend to isolate themselves, avoid dating, friends, sleep little or too much, speak alone or laugh for no reason through impaired emotional intelligence.

Since childhood, John lived discreetly. Because his only friends were books, it was impossible for him to socialize and share knowledge with people his age. John Nash was an intelligent person, shy and insecure with the world around him, he never shared much with the outside world, he lived in his personal world interested in his studies, and numbers were the only thing that made him feel really secure. In books, he spent most of his time. As John grew older, strange behaviors began to be observed from others, but for him, it was his norm. His internal reality was not the same as the reality of others, but at the same time it was not his reality. His life was being affected by schizophrenia disease. He heard and saw voices that were not real and that were in his mind. They existed as a plane of perception that did not let him differentiate what was truly real and, as a result, a distortion of perception occurred. This caused a non-objective reality for Nash. He had ‘imaginary friends’ which gave him the friendship that he was unable to obtain with real people. John was able to develop great mathematical intelligence, but emotional intelligence was not an advantage for him, as it was difficult for him to identify what he was experiencing. He did not open up to others, he was a strictly reserved and uncommunicative person. John Nash used oral, written, body language, and internal language; however, the language that he used was not to please his peers, he only used it to express his ideas.

Paranoid schizophrenia is perhaps the best known and prototypical type of schizophrenia of this disorder. It is considered as such that modality of schizophrenia characterized by a predominant presence of positive symptoms, with mainly psychic-type symptoms in which auditory hallucinations and delusions appear. This type of schizophrenia that John Nash presented during his life. Likewise, he was dealing with the type of schizophrenia that causes the least cognitive deterioration (there are generally no negative symptoms) and that usually has the best response to treatment. Generally, it is found that the hallucinations of patients with this disorder are often in the form of third-person voices that speak about the subject and that tend to have a derogatory and threatening content for the subject. These hallucinations and their content are usually persecutory in nature, the patient feeling that something or someone is trying to harm them and being able to trigger fear, anxiety or aggressive reactions. This is seen in John’s fixation on the risk of being killed by Russians, leading him to constantly be weary of others and even so much as an attempt to remove a tracking device from his body. There was clearly presence of delusions and auditory hallucinations without clear alterations in affectivity, language and without showing associated catatonic behavior.

It could be observed that there is disorganized thinking in John, which in turn influenced language and verbal behavior, but only because he was so focused on studying and discovering new theories that he was very self-conscious and little enabled when speaking, consequently he did not clearly express his ideas. In other words, if there is disorganized thinking due to delusion of grandeur, disorganized and incoherent language will be observed. In this case of schizophrenia, John only presents visual, tactile, and auditory hallucinations as he can admit that he sees and interacts with three people: little Marcy, his friend Charles and his boss Parker. The degree of hallucination that Nash presented was complex since his boss Parker threatened him and he even ordered him to get rid of his wife so that he did not interfere with his work as the nation’s secret agent. He is also advised by his best friend Charles in innumerable moments, specifically he was manipulated by him on various occasions so that John that he was real again and did not ignore him. It is observed that John Nash experiences tactile hallucinations of complexity (feels simple contacts on his skin) and of activity (he carries out certain contacts, touches non-existent objects) because it could be seen, in an addition to the hugs that John received from little Marcy and his best friend Charles, and to whom he corresponded.

As for treatment, I would only be recommended to continue with the pharmacological treatment, perhaps some not so strong (avoid insulin shock therapy entirely), to be able to work therapeutically with John. An analytically oriented therapy, perhaps specifically Kleinian oriented, would be helpful in this case. It will seek to locate the patient in reality, show him those aspects of reality that he does not know, and help him integrate them, since they are dissociated from him. An attempt should be made to avoid the generation of anxiety with constant interpretations, which could intensify John’s already apparent regression. The therapeutic approach should focus on the progression and integration of factors dissociated from John’s reality. Show him the healthy and sick aspects, ‘good’ and ‘bad’, that will help him to organize his personality after integrating them. The analyst must seek to place himself as an anchor based in reality in which John can find his return to reality. The analyst should work with any healthy part of the patient’s self, however small it may be. In summary, the analyst must first maintain contact with John, to then be able to continue with the analysis, never losing contact with him. Gradually integrating it into society would be useful after a long time in treatment.

The schizophrenic disorder of John Nash appeared when he started his tertiary education, where little by little due to stress, his shyness and the pressure he was exposing himself to for his thesis, led him to have a mental crisis of great amplitude. The delusions that this mathematical genius had of certain matters of daily life allowed him, on the one hand, to find important hidden relationships in things, but on the other hand, this same ability made him lose his ability to distinguish between the real and the imaginary, as a result of paranoid schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia, like many other disorders, is an invisible illness that affects about 1/100 people within society. The illness itself is cognitive and emotional dysfunctions, including delusions, and hallucinations, disorganized speech and behavior, and inappropriate emotions (Barlow, D. H., Durand, V. M., Lalumiere, M. L., & Hofmann, S. G., 2018).) Many individuals have mistaken schizophrenia as a ‘split personality’ which is also referred to as ‘multiple personality disorder’ in the DSM-5. While some symptoms of both illnesses may seem similar, such as hearing voices that attribute to different people, these illnesses fall in different categories of one another. John Nash, a math prodigy in the movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’, has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. The movie is an accurate representation of schizophrenia and how it affects an individual throughout daily life using John Nash as a perfect example, who exhibits many of the key symptoms of the disease such as hallucinations, delusions, and troubles focusing. The time period the film is set in is a key aspect of the of the development of treatment for schizophrenia. Using John Nash as a case study, this paper will address schizophrenia and the need for diagnostic criteria to fully understand and diagnosis the illness as well as certain treatments used to treat individuals with schizophrenia.

Diagnosis

Schizophrenia is labelled as a psychotic disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). For an individual to be correctly labelled as a schizophrenic an individual has to portray two or more signs of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking (speech), grossly disorganized or abnormal motor behavior (including catatonia), and negative symptoms that are present for a significant amount of time within a one-month time period (DSM-5). While delusions are described as false beliefs that are not based in reality, hallucinations are described as hearing or seeing things that do not exist (Barlow, D. H., Durand, V. M., Lalumiere, M. L., & Hofmann, S. G., 2018).) Schizophrenia can be easily described as an individual’s feeling out of touch with reality and is usually experienced in adolescence or early adulthood and usually goes through a psychotic break (Kavak, F., & Yilmaz, E., 2018).

Nash followed the typical path for a schizophrenic as he had his first psychotic break in early adulthood. As an audience we quickly grasp that there is something different about Nash, he states that he likes numbers over people quickly displaying his introverted personality and withdrawal for personal relationships. Nash portrays almost all symptoms outlined in the DSM-5 as he has both auditory and visual hallucinations, paranoid ideations, delusional thinking, as well as a distorted sense of reality. Nash’s hallucinations start at grad school, they start when Nash meets his roommate, Charles, but it very apparent to the audience that the room is made for one person. Charles follows Nash throughout the film helping him find his original thesis. The film moves on and Nash is sought out by a secret agent who explains Nash’s roles in fighting communism. At this point in the film the audience is able to see that all of these people are figments of Nash’s imagination. Nash has a hallucination of a gunfight with Russians causing him to have paranoia that the Russians are trying to kill him. Nash experiences both auditory and visual hallucinations, these episodes create Nash to become out of touch with reality and both paranoia and strange behavior begins. Nash is able to see and speak to his hallucinations, as well and believe and respond to his delusions. The DSM also states that hallucinations are brought on by stress so taking that into account to see if Nash’s symptoms fit within the criteria, we can see the progression and development of schizophrenia within a certain time period.

Environment and History

It is not known what causes schizophrenia but researchers believe that a combination of genetics, brain chemistry and environment contribute to development of the disorder (Craig, M., 2007). Some studies believe that a possible cause of the illness can be the loss of both parents before the age of 16, but they are unaware if its due to the stress or the separation (Engstrom, E. J., 2017) While there are theories about why schizophrenia occurs, it is proven that their brain does show differences in the brain structure and central nervous system of people with schizophrenia. Due to schizophrenia being so unknown there is so much room for questions therefore a reason as to why there is so many myths about schizophrenia. Before a lot of research was done, schizophrenia used to be called ‘dementia praecox’ which meant dementia of early life. It was believed that the illness only occurred in young people and led to mental deterioration. Through the studying of the mental illness, researchers were able to prove that theory wrong and help reduce the stigma that now surrounds the illness. Since the movie does not show Nash’s childhood as well as there is no specific reason as to why one develops schizophrenia, we are not able to compare certain traits to certain theories.

Treatment

Schizophrenia is considered a lifelong condition that is rarely considered cured. While there are multiple treatment pathways to help an individual with schizophrenia such as cognitive behavior therapy, cognitive enhancement theory, and individual psychotherapy as well as antipsychotics, it has taken a long time to discover how to treat individuals that were perceived to be mad. Before there was much knowledge on what schizophrenia was the best treatment that was believed to work was the insulin coma therapy as well as electroshock therapy, which was electrically induced seizures or comas. While researchers plan on how to treat schizophrenia has improved, we still see faults within the treatment as a lot of individuals do take themselves off of their antipsychotics as well as it takes a long time for an individual to find the right drug that works for them. It is found that prosocial approaches paired with antipsychotics does increase the effectiveness of treatment and decreases the chances to relapse (Kavak, F., Yilmaz, E., 2018). When Nash’s hallucinations got to a point where they took over his life, he lost sight of what was real and what was a hallucination. Nash got admitted into a treatment center against his will and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Nash undergoes both electroshock therapy as well as insulin coma therapy paired with antipsychotic drugs for 10 weeks 4 times a week. The film effectively portrays the trials and errors of treating schizophrenia and the attempts an individual goes through to regain control of their life. Studies have shown that antipsychotic medications which suppress dopamine activity have been found effective in reducing or eliminating symptoms in many cases of schizophrenia (Bemak & Epp, 2002). In ‘A Beautiful Mind’, Nash struggles with compliance in taking his medication and suffers many symptoms such as drooling, sexual dysfunctions, loss of creativity, and emotional flatness from his antipsychotic drugs. Due to the side effects Nash discontinued his use and succumbed to his hallucinations and delusions once again. Nash eventually was able to gain mind and even though he could still see and hear his hallucination he chose to ignore them which led to his reintegration into society.

Conclusion

Schizophrenia is an illness that takes over an individual’s life. Nash was not just a math genius that displayed odd behaviors, such as inward far-fetched thinking, social isolation, as well was emotionally detached, but instead he was showing early symptoms of a mental illness. The film ‘A Beautiful Mind’ effectively used John Nash as a prime example of what individuals go through in the struggles of early symptoms of schizophrenia, understanding the differences between what’s real and what’s not as well as the struggles individuals faces in finding the right treatment.

I have chosen to psychoanalyze the character John Forbes Nash Jr. in the film ‘A Beautiful Mind’, within the schizophrenia spectrum. Schizophrenia is a disorder that functions to impair the emotional, behavioral, and cognitive areas of an individual’s life. ‘A Beautiful Mind’ is a biographical drama film depicting the real life of John Forbes Nash Jr. Nash was an extremely brilliant mathematician whose graduate career began at the Princeton University where he earned a doctorate by the age of 22 in mathematics. His work then earned him a teaching position at MIT, and eventually a Nobel Prize. The film depicts the account of his life through Princeton, his marriage, his mental downfall due to schizophrenia, and his eventual victory over schizophrenia. My claim is that Nash meets the criteria for schizophrenia based on the information provided in the film. According to the DSM-5, schizophrenia affects the individual through delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and behavior, and negative symptoms (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Nash hallucinates multiple people which I believe leads to his delusions. These delusions and hallucinations cause him to be disorganized in his thinking and behavior, exemplify negative symptoms, and ultimately admits him to a psychiatric facility.

John Nash experiences a symptom profile that directly points to schizophrenia. First, he experiences hallucinations. Hallucinations are an auditory or visual experience perceived as voices distinct from the individual’s own thoughts (Hooley et al., 2020). His first hallucination is Charles Herman, his ‘roommate’, whom he meets while adjusting to his dorm room. Throughout the film Charles follows Nash around wherever he goes. He is the most recurrent voice to Nash throughout the film. His second hallucination is Marcee, Charles’ niece, who is usual appearance is accompanied by Charles. She is sweet and offers hugs to Nash. The third hallucination is William Parcher, i.e., ‘big brother’. He is a member of the Department of Defense who Nash believes is a spy sent to watch Nash. These hallucinations drive his delusions, especially Parcher. In one hallucination, Parcher says: “The Russians are in control of a bomb and intend to detonate it on US soil”. His main delusion is that he is a secret agent for the Department of Defense and is trying to stop the Russians by code breaking periodicals. His delusions are specifically persecutory delusions; he believes that Parcher and other spies are pursuing him since he is the code breaker. He also exemplifies disorganized speech which is depicted when he is giving a math lecture at MIT and his words are rapidly incoherent to the point that the audience cannot understand. Furthermore, he matches the criteria for grossly disorganized and abnormal motor behavior. At one point in the movie, he was playing a board game with a classmate and proceeded to throw a tantrum upon losing and rushing away with a distorted, painful face. This does not seem that abnormal, however he then stayed in his room and did not eat for two days. In addition, he was told by a math professor that he did not present a project properly and so he withdrew to his room, hit his head on glass, and threw his desk out the window. He portrayed negative symptoms throughout the film, most noticeably when he withdrew from multiple situations and in one scene he was sitting, unmoving, expressionlessly holding his screaming and crying baby.

According to the DSM-5, Nash specifically meets the diagnostic criteria A through F. The symptom profile in the previous section meets criteria A. He meets criteria B because his level of functioning was lower than before the onset of his disturbances; he refused to go to school after being diagnosed and eventually is unable to work due to his illness (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Criteria C is met because he shows continuous signs of disturbance for at least 6 months (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Schizoaffective depressive and bipolar disorder are excluded due to a lack of information on major depressive or manic episodes in the film; this meets criteria D (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). There was no evidence throughout the film that Nash was on any sort of substance, besides the post diagnosis medicine, therefore he meets criteria E. Finally, because we lack information from the film on Nash’s childhood, we cannot diagnose autism spectrum disorder – which meets criteria F (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).

Nash’s manic mathematical episodes show overlap into the bipolar disorder, but the lack of major depressive episodes in the film is what ultimately differentiates his diagnosis from the bipolar disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Autism spectrum disorder also competes for Nash’s diagnosis since he is highly fixated on a specific interest such as his obsession with producing an original mathematical idea, and his lack of awareness and understanding of relationships (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). However, what ultimately separates him from autism is his hallucinations and delusions.

I believe John Nash’s schizophrenia manifested through multiple factors. First, the film depicted him as twenty-two years old when the symptoms began; this the median age among the highest prevalence rates of schizophrenia in males (Hooley et al., 2020). Second, researchers at the University of Colorado (Leonard, S., Mexal, S., & Freedman, R., 2007) suggest there is evidence that schizophrenia is genetic in nature. According to the research, 80% of individuals with schizophrenia smoke tobacco as compared to 25% of the general population (Leonard et al., 2007). In the film, we do see Nash smoking during some of his hallucinations. However, this could me simply a case of self-medication with nicotine. Third, a nationwide Danish twin study concluded that schizophrenia had a 79% rate of heritability (Hilker et al., 2018). To reinforce this genetic proposal for Nash’s disorder, his son also suffers from schizophrenia. Fourth, a study suggests environmental factors could also be risk factors for schizophrenia (Gejman, Sanders, & Duan, 2010). Nash’s environmental factors include his strong, unyielding wife who supported him throughout the film, his classmates who at first thought he was odd and would make fun of him but eventually supported and encouraged him upon discovering his illness, and his psychiatrist, Dr. Rosen, worked with him throughout the film to help him realize the hallucinations and delusions are not real and provided electroshock therapy and gave him medications. I believe the Cold War era that Nash lived in is another environmental factor, and the fact that he was going to school for mathematics both encouraged his delusions of code breaking. Being seen as an outsider could have encouraged him to start his delusions to feel less isolated and to cope. Fifth, stress could have also been a factor, and some research suggests that stress could cause an increase release of dopamine during a psychotic episode. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in the brain and is involved in delusions and hallucinations (Brisch et al, 2014). According to a study published in 2012, the research shows there is an increase in dopamine release during a psychotic episode due to stress (Mizrahi et al, 2012). The fact that he was studying mathematics at Princeton is stressful enough, but then having to produce an original idea to be successful only adds more.

The early chapters of the textbook outline the basic scientific views of abnormalities. In chapter one, for something like schizophrenia to be abnormal, it is not caused by any one factor but instead a multitude of factors. The abnormality must clearly distress the individual, and the individual does not adjust well to their distress (Hooley et al., 2020). The disorder could be statistically deviant and may be a disturbance to the standards of society (Hooley et al., 2020). In addition to these, the abnormality may cause social discomfort, irrationally and unpredictability, and may be dangerous to the individual or surrounding people (Hooley et al., 2020). According to chapter three in the text, necessary causes for schizophrenia are psychosis and distress to an extend that impairs the level of functioning (Hooley et al., 2020). In addition, contributory causes would be the stress and environmental factors in Nash’s life (Hooley et al., 2020).

John Nash descended from the height of his mathematical career down the deteriorating slope of schizophrenia. His delusions were born out of his hallucinations, which drove this deterioration of his cognitive, behavioral, and emotional abilities. I believe he knew there was something abnormal going on in his life since it was so apparent to everyone around him that he acted ‘odd’. In one scene he is asked why he has no family or friends and his response was “I like to think it’s because I’m a lone wolf”, proving his isolation. He even feels he is above going to class or doing the same work as his peers when he says, “Classes will dull your mind”. He was absolutely obsessed with mathematics, specifically with the notion he must create an original idea. The schizophrenia clearly was affecting his cognitive function when he gave a lecture at MIT and could not form coherent sentences. He believed his delusions of Russian code breaking and acted out upon it by saving thousands of periodicals and mailing the Department of Defense all the codes he was cracking. At one point in the film, he was so emotionally engrossed with the code breaking that he left his baby in a tub filling with water because he believed ‘Charles’ was watching her. After his wife discovered the baby almost drowning and saved her, Nash did not show any emotional sympathy, but rather stammered ‘Charles’ was watching her. It affected his relationship with his wife by becoming a hard burden on her as he was admitted to psychiatric care near the time his baby was born, and he was treated for years. It also affected his professional relationships as he was unable to teach at MIT anymore.

I believe that ‘A Beautiful Mind’ brought a great visual perspective to what hallucinations and delusions can look and feel like to the person affected by them. The biggest part of schizophrenia is confusion, fear, and not understanding what is happening, and they accurately depicted that in the film. It was extraordinary to witness John learn to live with his hallucinations. What I really thought was important that the film did not depict John to exemplify the stigma of a crazy-violent person. The other characters in the film reacted just like you would expect: confused and weirded out by his odd speech and behaviors. Alicia’s unyielding support showed that an individual with schizophrenia can succeed with the aid of family. After his diagnosis and treatment, his wife, friends, and colleagues all treat him with love and care, and I believe that was pivotal in his victory over schizophrenia. I also believe that was important for the viewer to see that schizophrenia can be treated and the individual can return to function in society. The electroshock therapy and medication did help him, but John Nash hated the side effects and eventually stopped all medication and therapy together. Near the end of the movie, as he was rewarded with the Nobel Prize, he explained that he was simply ignoring his hallucinations and delusions and essentially outwilling schizophrenia. The only problem I had with the film was that the end of the movie sort of delivers a message that you can ‘out think’ schizophrenia which is unrealistic since there is no cure. Overall, the movie is a great example that mental illness is something to be understood and treated rather than feared.

References

1. A Beautiful Mind. (2001). Starring Russel Crowe, Ed Harris, & Jennifer Connelly. Movie Database. Retrieved December 2nd, 2019.
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7. Leonard, S., Mexal, S., & Freedman, R. (2007). Smoking, Genetics and Schizophrenia: Evidence for Self-Medication. Journal of dual diagnosis, 3(3-4), 43–59. doi:10.1300/J374v03n03_05.
8. Mizrahi, R., Addington, J., Rusjan, P, M., Suridjan, I., Ng, A., Boilea, I., Pruessner, J, C., Remington, G., Houle, S., Wilson, A.A. (2012). Increased Stress-Induced Dopamine Release in Psychosis. Biological Psychiatry: A Journal of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Therapeutics. 71(6), 561-567. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.10.009.