Mental Illness : A Beautiful Mind

1. The psychological disorder portrayed in character of John Nash in the film A Beautiful Mind is schizophrenia. The most prominent symptoms were hallucinations, grandiose delusions, paranoia, a persecutory complex. Beginning with DSM-V, two or more symptoms from the list of schizophrenic criteria must be present for at least six months and active for at least one month. John Nash certainly qualifies for another DSM-V criterion of diagnosis, social/occupational dysfunction, due to his apparent abandonment of relevant mathematical work in favor of conspiracy analysis/obsession. Nash is given the official diagnosis of schizophrenia during his admission to the mental hospital.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder that affects many individuals around the world. It affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves. The focus on this paper will be on the film entitled A beautiful Mind. This film focuses on the life of John Nash, who was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. This paper will include three parts. Part one will describe Mr. Nash’s diagnosis based on the DSM-5. Part two will include literature review explaining Mr. Nash’s diagnosis. Then, based on this literature review, I will develop a complete biopsychosocial to implement a treatment strategy to help Mr. Nash. Part three will describe how the film portrays the disorder that Mr. Nash is diagnosed with.

Our comprehension of human experience can be expanded through the viewing of a world outside our own. In A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, a differing world engulfed with mental illness has been depicted through the life of mathematician John Nash and the subsequent human experience of the relationships built around it and the struggles associated. It is the responders’ observation of a differing world that leads to a greater understanding of the mental illness and the impact of relationships while allowing me to gain a greater compassion for those who suffer from mental illness.

A Beautiful Mind illustrates many of the topics relating to psychological disorders. The main character of the film, John Nash, is a brilliant mathematician who suffers from symptoms of Schizophrenia. His symptoms include paranoid delusions, grandiosity, and disturbed perceptions. The disease disrupts his social relationships, his studies, and his work. The more stressful his life becomes the more his mind is not able to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

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.

A Beautiful Mind, is a movie that was produced in the year 2002 by Universal Pictures. This film is about a man named John Nash who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, paranoid type. Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder with key features including delusions, hallucinations, difficulty concentrating, and other negative symptoms (Parekh, 2017). Paranoid schizophrenia specifically, is “characterized mainly by the presence of delusions of persecution or grandeur” (Sadock and Sadock, 2005). The typical age for the onset of schizophrenia is in late adolescence or early adulthood, and is seen in men and women equally (Sadock and Sadock, 2005).

Forget all the stereotypes of mental illness. It has no face. It has no particular victim. Mental illness can affect an individual from any background and the black community is no exception. African Americans sometimes experience even more severe forms of mental health conditions because of unmet needs and barriers to treatment. According to the Office of Minority Health, African Americans are 20 percent more likely to experience serious mental health problems than the general population. That’s why UGA third year Majenneh Sengbe is taking action as the co-founder of her upcoming organization Black Minds Daily.

According to the DMV-IV John Nash was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia because of certain criteria he showed, hallucinations and delusions. It is listed in the DMV-IV as 295.30 Paranoid Type-Schizophrenia (DSM-IV, 1994). Dr. Nash had a break from reality when he

“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).

John Nash portray a man that develops Schizophrenia throughout the movie. Schizophrenia according to, Licht, Hull, and Ballantyne 2017 is a “psychological disorder that includes delusion, hallucination, disorganized speech, and abnormal speech”. According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders[DSM-5] Fifth Edition,2014, John Nash

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.

A Beautiful Mind The movie “A Beautiful Mind” depicts John Nash with symptoms and treatment for schizophrenia. In discussing his biological, psychological, environmental and genetic factors is thought to interplay in his symptomology. My observation as it related to schizophrenia diagnose John may have had exhibited mental illness earlier in life for example he as a college student he was isolated, he was socially awkward and possible suffered social rejection. He only had one real friend, his roommate Charles.

He grabbed some hoops, staves and some tools and sat down again on his stool and started pounding away, willing the wood to bend and curve how he wanted it to. This barrel felt like it took longer than the first to complete, since he ran into some trouble when the wood started to split in the middle of a stave. He then had to cut a new piece of wood and bend it according to scale.

“A Beautiful Mind” depicts the true- story of a mathematical savant, John Nash and how schizophrenia has affected both his personal and social life. His hallucinations started in his college years at Princeton University and only worsened from then on. He hallucinated his roommate and best friend, Charles and his niece, Marcee. He also hallucinated that he worked secretly for the US Department with the aid of his supervisor, Parcher (also a fragment of his imagination). He became extremely paranoid but eventually came to the realization that he was sick when he almost lost his wife and child. At the end, he was able to live as a schizophrenic without the use of medication. He was able to distinguish reality from fantasy and lived on to receive a Nobel Prize for his work as a mathematician. This paper will describe schizophrenia, its history, symptoms, biological factors as well as its environmental aspect.

At the time of Nash's diagnosis, only the older treatment models for schizophrenia were available. Those models viewed patients with schizophrenia as hopeless cases who needed to stabilized with hospitalization. While being hospitalized the patients are maintained with medications, such as Thorazine. These medications had heavy tranquilizing effects and made management of patients easier. But the drugs being induced only suppressed the disease; the drugs could neither arrest nor reverse the positive symptoms. As a result Nash resisted his medications, and the positive symptoms returned. What is fascinating is that Nash himself applied a form of Self-Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy, and that this actually did work. The basic premise of cognitive therapy is that beliefs, expectations, and assessments of self and the world affect how we perceive ourselves and others, how we approach problems, and how successful we are in coping and in achieving goals. This is a contemporary treatment model for schizophrenia, and certainly in the case of John Nash, is arguably indicated.