John Nash: Living With Schizophrenia

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.

The evidence of the cognitive symptoms, as with any disease, is more difficult to see externally in a person suffering from Schizophrenia. John Nash was not a very social person and I believe that this is attributed to the inability of expressing thoughts and feelings caused by the disease. His office in the movie looks somewhat like what I imagined the inside of his mind to look like; cluttered. Pictures on top of articles, on top of more pictures. There were papers hanging from the ceiling and string connecting pictures while forming patterns. One pattern I saw repeated a few times throughout the film was a spider- web image. This to me just shows how everything in his mind seemed as though it was connected in some way.

Schizophrenia is a disorder of the brain affecting how one acts, thinks and sees the world around them. Persons with schizophrenia have an altered perception of reality and may see or here things

2.The most highly visible aspects of Nash’s condition are of course his elaborate delusions and hallucinations (creating friends and relationships that don’t in fact exist) and his paranoia (for example, his belief that the hospital is run by the Soviets). DSM-V lists negative symptoms--alogia, anhedonia and avolition--that we don’t see in the film. When Nash is medicated and flailing in his life--unable to focus on his work and unable to respond to his crying child--he asks his wife, “What do people do?” It’s then that we see the most mood disorder-related aspects: avolition, defined as a lack of will and self-direction, and anhedonia, an inability to experience pleasure. Alogia may be indicated when Alicia says to Nash on their picnic date by the lake, “You don’t talk much, do you?” and Nash responds,

Another common symptom of schizophrenia is anhedonia. This is “the inability to experience pleasure or sustain interests in activities” (Cara & MacRae, 2005). Nash definitely experienced this symptom. Nash had the opportunity to make

Schizophrenia is a mental ailment in which the person inflicted is taunted by uncontrollable voices heard inside their heads and very vivid, realistic hallucinations. The voices and hallucinations can be benevolent, but they can also be violent. Many cases constitute of people being told by such voices to hurt themselves or others. People who suffer from Schizophrenia are often isolated from society and admitted into psychiatric wards and mental institutions for the majority of their lives. The general public does not understand the torment that these people go through on a day-to-day basis. In order to give readers insight into the mind of a schizophrenic, the poet Jim Stevens uses the depleting condition and turmoil taking place inside

At the age of 30, Nash’s symptoms have returned after the birth of his first child. The stress leading up to that event could have triggered the symptoms to come back. From then on, he begins to be closed off from the real world in his realistic

Inspired by the true story of famed mathematical genius John Nash, A Beautiful Mind explores the topic of schizophrenia, starting with John’s initial break while at graduate school, following him throughout life. In addition to a theatrical representation of experiencing schizophrenia, this story encapsulates what it is like to live with, be friends with, and work with someone who suffers from schizophrenia, while also demonstrating popular treatments and practices of the 1950s. Schizophrenia is a mental illness illustrated by the presence of hallucinations, cognitive decline, social withdrawal, and delusions and has symptoms characterized by three main categories: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and disorganized symptoms (Lambert & Kinsley,

“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

John Nash is well above average in terms of intellectual functioning. He is diagnosed with schizophrenia. He first started exhibiting symptoms of schizophrenia when he attended Princeton University. The symptoms that were observed were hallucinations and delusions. In Nash’s mind, he had a college roommate name Charles Herman. In addition, he stated that he met Herman’s niece named Marcee and a secret agent named William Parcher, whom he worked for at a secret location by breaking Russian codes. He developed persecutory delusions while working for William Parcher because he believe that Russians are trying to kill him for

Throughout the entirety of the film, Nash struggles with symptoms typical for those with schizophrenia, visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, and displays of disorganized behavior. His inability to grasp the concept of reality, takes a toll on his work and relationships with others. John Nash meets the criteria for schizophrenia mainly because of both his positive symptoms of delusions and hallucinations and his disorganized behavior. In many, if not all the scenes in the film, his hallucinations are illustrated. The delusions and disorganized behavior are also quite common in the film, but it is not revealed until after his diagnosis.

In the movie it seemed like he did not have a lack of social involvement with the outside world but once the viewer realized that the roommate and Parcher were not real then it all came together. All of Nash’s symptoms started when he began looking for his original idea to be published. The DSM5 says the reaction to stress causes individuals with schizophrenia to have increases in negative mood and behaviors. I believe the stress of trying to find something new pushed him over the edge and forced him to create a world that helped him cope with the pressure but in reality it created more work for him to do. Nash’s over all functions in everyday life were impaired due to his disorder. After going to the psychiatric hospital and beginning his medication he began to suffer from intellectual paralysis cause by the medication. His delusion might have gone away but his work and overall well-being suffered which caused him to stop taking the medication and have another psychic

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

John Nash suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia. He is a gifted mathematician who began graduate school at Princeton University in 1947. We will begin Mr. Nash’s history from this point in time, for it is here that his symptoms first began to emerge. During this time in his life he is in what is known as the prodromal phase of schizophrenia, which is a period before active

People with schizophrenia experience psychosis, which can be defined as a loss of contact with reality. The symptoms that were apparent in “A Beautiful Mind” were auditory and visual hallucinations; paranoid ideations; delusions and misperception of reality. These were clear signs that the character in the movie had type 1 schizophrenia which is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Since these positive symptoms were exhibited by John Nash, it can be affirmed that he had schizophrenia. According to the Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology “for one month, individuals needs to display two are more of the following symptoms most of the time.”(Comer, 2016). As in Nash case he was past the one month mark and was showing more than two of the symptoms.