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Schizophrenia In A Beautiful Mind

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Popular culture repeatedly depicts individuals who have a mental illness as disrupting the social norm. Vividly creating the picture that sane minds differ from insane minds. But, does a sane and an insane mind truly exist? Or, does Hollywood neglect to show the neurodiversity that is inherent in our society because to do so would disrupt the social construction of mental illness? In this essay, I analyze the film, A Beautiful Mind, to understand how the film portrays schizophrenia. Through providing a summary of the film, presenting neurobiological knowledge about schizophrenia and analyzing how the film depicts John Nash’s experience with schizophrenia, I argue that individuals who have a mental illness are not “the others.” How popular culture depicts mental illness affects …show more content…

First, a summary of the film A Beautiful Mind.
A Beautiful Mind (2001) is a film that depicts the life of American mathematician John Nash. Reflecting certain points in his life in chronological order, the film begins in 1947 with Nash attending Princeton University for graduate school. While at Princeton, Nash begins to show early symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, i.e. disorganized thoughts, asociality and hallucinations (e.g. his roommate Charles). However, it is not until after Nash graduates from Princeton and is in his early 30’s teaching at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that his disorder worsens. Having the delusion that he is part of a secret government mission, he becomes paranoid that someone is after him, he begins to see messages in newspapers and starts dropping off letters in secret locations. One day, after presenting as a guest lecture at Harvard University, Nash is involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by his wife Alicia whom he met while teaching at MIT. It is there, at the psychiatric hospital, where Nash is diagnosed with (paranoid) schizophrenia

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