Perception Versus Reality : The Film A Beautiful Mind

This hallucination of Ed Harris is the key factor in Nash’s delusional thinking. He has delusions of being a secret government aide that is helping the U.S. find bombs throughout the country

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,

In addition to hallucinations and delusions, other symptoms were portrayed in the film. Nash was constantly suspicious of the people around him. This was a result of his belief that the Russians were after him. For example, when Nash was taken to the psychiatric hospital, he thought that Dr. Rosen was Russian and trying to stop him from doing his work. As a result, Nash resorted to violence in order to protect himself.

Seeing as Nash's experiences in the film follow the Type II diagnosis (DSM-IV-TR) one could reasonably expect that his symptoms would follow in the same diagnostic pattern. But, instead of coming on slowly and consistently, these auditory and visual hallucinations come on acutely (actually almost immediately). This extremely acute onset of serious symptoms is out of line with what should be occurring. What should be shown is slowly deteriorating symptoms that are in line with increasingly complex delusions. The onset of delusions after the hallucinations is also outside the norm of the differential of Schizophrenia, although not impossible.

An alternative diagnosis that I would have given Nash had it not been ruled out by his obvious and severe signs of paranoid schizophrenia would have been bipolar I. This disorder encompasses many overlapping symptoms with his true diagnosis. “Bipolar I is the category in which mania is present and although not required may also show symptoms of depression” (Ray, 2015, p. 268). Nash never presented any signs of being depressed but he did experience periods of time where he seemed to be manic. He exhibits an inflated self-esteem and grandiosity through the duration of the film. After he begins working for the Pentagon, Nash begins to get obsessive about his work (a goal-directed activity) and starts sleeping less. These are all symptoms of bipolar I and Nash presented them all at different points of the movie. I ultimately ruled out this disorder because his positive symptoms of schizophrenia could not be explained by bipolar

After a period of normal life, Nash was again subjected to constant visual and auditory hallucinations because he stopped taking his medications. In a gripping scene, he interacted with his wife and his hallucinations at the same time, but eventually came to the conclusion that his hallucinations were indeed unreal because the little girl "never gets old". After many years of intense battling, Nash ultimately triumphed over his illness with his wife by his side.

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.

Throughout the film, John Nash displays some of the classical schizophrenic symptoms. This essay will elaborate more on these symptoms. Furthermore, what could have been

is diagnose as Schizophrenic because he met category A with two or more disorders, which include delusion and hallucination. An example to proven that John Nash fulfill delusion is when he starts to see Parcher a person he made up to be a secret agent that he is protecting John from the Russians. John goes on missions for Parcher and see him everywhere he goes Nash himself felt followed by him. Another example was when he felt his baby boy in the bath tub and his wife came back seeing his boy crying in

His old friend Charles, as well as his niece Marcy come back into the picture to help him deal with the stress. Nash's new wife Alicia realizes her husband's condition one night when he comes home a mess and completely loses it when she turns on the lights in their apartment, screaming that the "Russians will find them!" Nash loses it on stage in the middle of a presentation at a math convention, and a psychiatrist sedates him and brings him to a mental institution. There he is diagnosed as schizophrenic and undergoes extensive shock therapy five times a week for ten weeks and is prescribed medication that helped rid him of his hallucinations.

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

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

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.

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

Mr. Nash accepts this assignment, and gradually he becomes completely fixated on doing nothing except code extraction. Around this same time he is asked to dinner by one of his students, Alicia, whom he is almost immediately intrigued by. It is while on this date that his delusional content shifts. Up to this point, his delusions and hallucinations had, for the most part, played into his grandiosity, however, this night, a persecutory theme emerges, as he notices suspicious men watching him.