Question 1:
The film Beautiful Mind illustrates the life of a bright mathematician by the name of John Nash. He suffers from a severe form of mental illness- paranoid schizophrenia. His mental issues began in early adulthood, affecting his career and personal life. John Nash’s abnormal behavior towards the individuals surrounding him makes others find him as strange and distant. His behavior meets the criteria for abnormal, Nash is suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations and a distorted perception of reality. John Nash believes that Parcher, the US government agent, is relying on his unique decoding ability to help detect the Russian’s messages in order to find the bomb planted by them in the United States. He also believes that
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Question 3 There were no casual factors of schizophrenia presented in the movie. According to the researchers, schizophrenia is a “combination of genetics and environmental factors” (Joseph, G. 2016). Genes are the framework for our bodies. Any changes in the instructions or gene mutations can increase the chances of an individual developing schizophrenia. In addition, family history is proven to increase the chances of getting it as well. Environmental triggers such as viral infections or improper nutrition before birth will greatly increase the chances of developing schizophrenia in early adulthood. It is researched the possibility that using certain drugs such as methamphetamines, LSD or even marijuana can increase the chances of developing schizophrenia. Question 4 John Nash was involuntarily admitted for treatment to a Psychiatric Hospital. His treatment included of insulin coma therapy and electroshock therapy five times a week for ten weeks. In each treatment, he received a high dose of intravenous insulin causing him to go into a coma due to the removal of glucose from his bloodstream. (PBS, 2015). The electroshock therapy was administrated without anesthesia causing him to have spontaneous severe seizures. After he was released from the hospital, Nash’s condition improved. He was able to normally function, having his thoughts
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.
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.
Not every person with schizophrenia will have all symptoms, and the symptoms of schizophrenia may change over time.” (Schizophrenia: Sings, Types & Causes, Authors: Melinda Smith, M.A., and Jeanne Segal, Ph. D., Last Update February 2014, http://www.helpguide.org/mental/schizophrenia_symptom.htm) It is believed that no one single gene causes schizophrenia it is said that more than one gene is the cause of increased risk of schizophrenia there is a greater risk of a child developing it. There is more to this story than genetics; some type of early childhood trauma may play a role in schizophrenia. (The Causes of Schizophrenia http://www.nami.org/content/navigationmenu/mental_illnesses) The onset of schizophrenia occurs between the age of 15 and 45 in males, it is more common in males than females. There is talk from researchers about children with schizophrenia also having other mental disorders which include ADHD, ADD and bipolar disorder. Although there is not a tremendous amount of research they also believe that most children have had someone in their family who has been in a psychiatric hospital at some point and a family history of schizophrenia and some type of trauma. There is also a high number of suicide attempts in children with schizophrenia, there is also research to show that there is an increase of odds of schizophrenia in African Americans and Hispanic youth, however it is also very easy to misdiagnose these
No one really knows how schizophrenia is caused, but it can be seen that both environmental and genetic risks are factors in the development. The environment risks are the over use of marijuana, (add more thingy’s). The genetic risks of schizophrenia are the issues within growth during a pregnancy, brain chemistry and structure, passing of the schizophrenic gene from one generation to the next generation, (more thingy’s). As you can see in figure one both environmental and genetic factors work together in this unfortunate development.
The movie, A Beautiful Mind was inspired by a novel about John Nash Jr. that shared the same name. John Nash Jr. was a famous mathematician who taught at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University. After graduating from Princeton, he quickly gained recognition in the field of mathematics where he won a Nobel Prize in economics, as well as articulating a myriad of mathematical proofs and theories. Nash had been experiencing delusions and auditory hallucinations that led him to believe he was working for the pentagon to identify undercover-Soviet communication in the media. After his wife started noticing erratic behavior she forced him to go to a psychiatric hospital. His trip to the psychiatric hospital ended with him having
Schizophrenia is one of psychology’s most interesting mental illnesses. Each case of schizophrenia is so different in the symptoms and way it’s expressed, which is what makes it such an intriguing topic. As said in the paper “Nature vs. Nuture: Schizophrenia” by Gil Benahmou, nature can definitely be greatly attributed to schizophrenia. However, schizophrenia in itself is not caused by misuse of certain drugs, as mentioned in the paper. In fact, there is a completely separate diagnosis for this type of psychosis, called substance or medication induced psychotic disorder. This disorder is separated from general schizophrenia because this type of psychotic disorder is specifically brought on by drugs, while general schizophrenia has risk factors
The insulin shock therapy was hard to watch because he had to have the injections five times a week for ten weeks with the shock treatments. When he was finally able to come home, he was just on oral medication. After a while, he decided on his own to stop taking the medications and the hallucinations returned to his mind. He has a moment of clarity, because he realizes one of his hallucinations can’t be real because she never ages. He returns to the hospital on his own and receives additional therapy. At this point in his illness, he chooses to ignore the hallucinations and not feed into them so that he is able to go back to work to some degree. I agree and disagree with the treatment that Nash received. I think the insulin shock therapy probably could have been discarded as it seemed the medicines he was on when he came out worked fine. I do think that he needed a caretaker to make sure that he took his medicine, instead of like his wife in the movie, giving it to him and walking away. She was entrusted with his care when released from the hospital, so must show some accountability to make sure he takes the medication. Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy has been shown to be the most promising in helping patients with this disease (Franklin, 2004). I think with his treatment, it would have been beneficial to have some type of cognitive and behavioral management skills that would teach him how to
Many researchers believe it to be a combination of factors such as brain chemistry, genetics, and various environmental factors. Neuroimaging studies have shown differences in the brain structure and central nervous system of people with schizophrenia. While researchers aren't certain about the significance of these changes, they indicate that schizophrenia is a brain disease. (Mayo Clinic Healthy Living, October 11, 2012) Also, people who have problems with certain naturally occurring brain chemicals- including some neurotransmitters called dopamine and glutamate- have a higher risk of contracting schizophrenia. Other factors that may increase the risk of a person developing schizophrenia is having a family history of the disorder, pregnancy complications, taking certain psychoactive drugs, and exposure to neurotoxins at a young
“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).
Schizophrenia has many biological components but genetics and environmental are the main two that will be spoken. Psychologists are looking to see if this mental illness is genetic by looking at the family history. By looking at the family’s ancestry, it can help find the origin of the mental illness at least in the person’s family tree. It also suggests that it’s a “highly heritable disorder of neurodevelopment, where the development and expression of positive or psychotic symptoms are best viewed as signifying the outcome of a pathobiological cascade which originates in early brain development.”(Paula et al., 2016). Meaning that schizophrenia is very likely to be genetic because of the way their brain is developed as a child which goes on
Schizophrenia may develop in a persons teens or early twenties if they are susceptible to the illness. Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder that can effect logical thinking and natural behavior. Schizophrenia is believed to be the result of both genetic and environment causes (Schizophrenia. 2013). Different biological as well as psychological factors have been investigated and are strong factors in schizophrenia but their is no proof yet behind what truly causes the illness. There are different types of symptoms that contribute to schizophrenia, and treatment varies (King, L. 2014). One study proves that more research needs to be done in order to prevent suicidal tendencies in those who have schizophrenia.
There are many causes to Schizophrenia. Many causes are genetics, brain chemistry and structure, and the environment of a human being. Genetically Schizophrenia can run through a family and can be passed on generations at a time. “Individuals with a first degree relative (parent or sibling) who has schizophrenia have a 10 percent chance of developing the disorder, as opposed to the 1 percent chance of the general population.” (Helpguide.org) Identical twins are a good example of this. “If an identical twin is diagnosed with Schizophrenia the other twin is 50 percent more likely to also be diagnosed with the mental disorder (psychcentral.com).” Brain chemistry and structure is another big factor in the cause of Schizophrenia. Neurotransmitters-
This disease like other diseases do not have a specific reason to develop, the causes still unknown but the researchers found possible explanations of this disease. There are an “epidemiological studies that place in sorting out the environmental and social factors that increase schizophrenia risk, including urban birth, migrant status, prenatal factor and others” (WebMD, 2016). The genetic factors are a part essential in the developing not only of Schizophrenia, others disease can be developed by this factor. “Mutations or genetic changes can increase the chances to develop a mental illness” (WebMD, 2016). The researchers found that “if a parent, brother or sister have the condition then the chances increase up to ten percent, and if both parents have it, then the chances go to forty percent” (WebMD, 2016). In the environmental factors the “malnutrition of the mother at pregnancy or being exposed to viral infections before born can increase the chances to develop it (WebMD, 2016). The brain in the person with schizophrenia is different not only
In the movie, "A Beautiful Mind", John Nash displays classic positive symptoms of a schizophrenic. This movie does a fair job in portraying the personality and daily suffering of someone who is affected by the disease, although the film does not give a completely historically accurate account. In the film, John Nash would fall into the category of a paranoid schizophrenic, portraying all the symptoms that are typical for this illness. Nash suffers delusions of persecution, believing that there is a government conspiracy against him. He believes that because he is supposedly a secret agent working for the government breaking Soviet codes,
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.