A Beautiful Mind Analysis

In Ron Howard's work, A Beautiful Mind, depicts the real life account of Professor John Nash and his struggle with paranoid Schizophrenia. The topic of mental illness has become popularized as of late, particularly in popular media (film, television). This focus on mental disorders has greatly improved awareness of mental disorders, but this media has become a double edged sword. The same process that educates people (ie these films and shows) can also disseminate largely false or misleading information. In the film, both sides of this information distribution phenomena are expressed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the movie to accurately describe the occurrence of paranoid Schizophrenia one must look at the accuracy of the onset,

In the movie A Beautiful Mind, which primarily takes place in the 1950s, John Nash exhibits signs of schizophrenia. He shows both positive and negative signs of the disorder. However, the movie does not portray all symptoms of schizophrenia accurately. Throughout Nash’s life-long battle with his illness, his family is dramatically affected. Overall, the movie implements a positive stigma of the disorder. While John Nash’s journey with his illness is not an entirely accurate depiction, the movie gives a positive light and awareness to schizophrenia.

I think for the most part the movie did a good job portraying schizophrenia as it is in reality. Nash experienced delusions of grandeur that blurred the lines between reality and imagination, illuminating a powerful example of just how debilitating schizophrenia can be. Auditory hallucination is the most common symptom found in schizophrenia. The one’s experienced by Nash in the film were in-line with how the DSM specifies them to be. The film puts a large emphasis on the paranoia experienced by Nash. In the DSM-IV, paranoia was a specifier for a sub-category of schizophrenia, called paranoid schizophrenia. The new version of the DSM does not include paranoia as a specifier for schizophrenia, rather it is viewed as a comorbid mental disorder. One aspect I thought was overdone concerns the visual hallucinations. It was necessary for the entertainment value of the film, but is largely inaccurate in its attempt to represent the visual hallucinations experienced by individuals who have schizophrenia. Visual hallucinations are not common in schizophrenia, especially not to the degree the movie depicts, in which whole scenarios and events are vividly made up. I think it is a common misconception that visual hallucinations are a hallmark of schizophrenia. I think that the producers of this movie included

The Soloist on its part is a film that is based upon the true story of Nathaniel Ayers, a musician who suffers from schizophrenia and Steve Lopez, journalist for the Los Angeles Times, who befriended Ayers amid concerns of the severe and debilitating signs and symptoms associated with the mental condition (The Soloist). With its concept based in real life story, this film provides a remarkable opportunity to review the

The movie Beautiful Mind is about Dr. John Nash who is a mathematical genius and a natural code breaker, at least in his own mind. He was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia which is a psychological disorder. According to Baird (2011), paranoid schizophrenia is when a person has “delusions of grandeur and persecution often accompanied by hallucinations” (p. 273). The person has a split from real life circumstances, where their new reality becomes actual fact to them.

The movie takes place in 1947, the main character John Nash arrives at Princeton. Him and Martin Hansen are both recipients of an award. The prestigious award was a Carnegie Scholarship for math. At the opening reception, he meets a group of math and science graduate students, there names were Richard Sol, Ainsley, and Bender. He even meets his roommate Charles Herman, and he’s a literature student.

“To some extent insanity is a form of conformity; people are always selling the idea that people who have mental illness are suffering. But it’s really not so simple…I think mental illness or madness can be an escape also” (qtd. in “John Forbes Nash”). To many “normal” people, the terms “insanity” or “madness” portray a negative connotation-- the unfortunate ones “suffer” from mental illness. However, brilliant mathematician and Nobel laureate John Forbes Nash, who has paranoid schizophrenia, cherishes his unique condition as a means of retreat from the brutalities of reality (“John Forbes Nash”). Since ancient times, people have observed the link between madness and creative genius. Indeed, research has proven that the two conditions of

“A Beautiful mind” is a story based on the life of John Forbes Nash, who is a famous mathematician. Unfortunately, he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia that majorly affects his personal and social life. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder in which the patient’s ability to function is impaired by severely distorted beliefs, perceptions, and thought processes (Hockenbury, 2010).

(Szasz,1982, p.4, p.29) In 1900, the term schizophrenia, now used worldwide, was used to describe the condition that one out of every hundred people had. This statistic remains the same today. Through research and years of study, the world has a better understanding of schizophrenia, its forms, characteristics, symptoms, types, possible causes, and treatments, if any. ( Pierce, 1990. p.263 )

The film “A Beautiful Mind” is about the life of Nobel prize winner John Nash Jr who suffered with schizophrenia. The movie starts as Nash has entered graduate school at Princeton, he was a mathematical genius who made a discovery early I his career of an original idea that helped him earn international acclaim. The socially awkward genius soon found himself on a painful journey of self-discovery. John Nash made up a life that was not real, his friends and secrete job were also not real. He could not distinguish between what was real, imaginary and made up in his head. His diagnosis of schizophrenia interfered with his everyday life and overall caused him to break until he decided to ignore what would forever haunt him.

Maintaining accuracy while producing a biographical film is a difficult undertaking. It requires complex research and genuine understanding of the person in order to accurately represent them on screen. In 2001, film makers attempted to translate to screen the life of John Nash in A Beautiful Mind (Gazer & Howard). John Nash, who is a notable figure in the world of academia and mathematics, won the Nobel Prize in economics for his game theory (Nash, 1994). Nash is also widely known for his long-term struggle with mental illness and was diagnosed with schizophrenia during his mid-thirties (Samels & MacLowry, 2002). In order to examine the accuracy of this portrayal it is necessary to examine the aspects of schizophrenia displayed in the film such as the mannerisms, signs and symptoms, and forms of treatment; while comparing them to the actual realities of this disorder.

Also, Nash almost kills his own daughter by leaving her unattended after believing that Parcher would look after his child. Having these disorganized and bizarre thoughts are very common in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Nash also showed a negative symptom at the beginning of the movie. I believe that he had flat affect when Alicia first began to pursue him. He could not look her in the eyes at first and did not seem like he cared if she did or did not want to go out with

From the beginning of the movie, it was obvious John Nash was different from those around him. He rarely made eye contact with anyone. He rarely spoke unless it was of his passion, math. He rarely stopped working and thinking about one area, his work. While schizophrenia was not the only probable reason for this behavior, the symptoms aligned. Many psychologists would have seen the signs immediately, but not being a professional, I was unaware of the specific mental disorder or illness Nash exhibited many of these symptoms, but it wasn’t until later in the film that I realized why he had a psychological illness.

The friend looked like he was fearful of John and what he might do. Many times people viewed Nash as dangerous and insane. Most of the characters carried a negative attitude toward mental illness in general, except for John’s wife Alicia. She is supportive and wants John to get better ‘so he can get back to being the man she married’. Alicia’s attitude toward his mental illness was understanding and supportive, while also pushing him to get better. The mental health professional in this movie is Dr. Rosen, who is only seen a few times in the whole movie. He is portrayed as a reasonable, logical man who is only there to help. Hyler’s stereotypes of mental illness can be applied to this movie also. Instead of Nash and his disorder portraying him as a homicidal manic or the like, Nash was portrayed as another stereotype of Hyler’s that is rarely depicted in modern films, the enlightened member of society. Nash is the enlightened member of society who envisions great things and appears to be a well-balanced individual, even with his delusions at the beginning of the movie. This stereotype contradicts our usual view of individuals with mental

In the movie, "A Beautiful Mind", the main character, John Nash, is a mathematician who suffers from schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is actually the most chronic and disabling of the major mental illnesses and it distorts the way a person thinks, acts, expresses emotions, interprets reality and relates to others.