Essay about Schizophrenia in A Beautiful Mind

Throughout the duration of the film, John Nash appears to have a series of positive symptoms. According to King, positive symptoms “reflect something added above and beyond normal behavior”. This generalization is clearly evident in A Beautiful Mind. The most visible symptom that can be seen in John Nash’s behavior is his psychomotor movements. King states that “a person with schizophrenia may show unusual mannerisms, body movements, and facial expressions”. In the film, John Nash demonstrates these movements through

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,

“Delusions are fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Nash experienced both delusions of persecution and of grandeur. The delusions of persecution that he had, was that he worked for Parcher as a spy, and he was running away from the Russians. He believed that the Russians were after him and therefore lived in a constant state of fear of his life. The delusions of grandeur that Nash had, was that it was up to him to maintain United State’s power over the Russians. Nash was an extremely intelligent man, but not to the degree that he thought. These delusions took over Nash’s mind and he spent most of his time breaking codes and putting envelopes in a mailbox that he believed was going to the government.

I think for the most part the movie did a good job portraying schizophrenia as it is in reality. Nash experienced delusions of grandeur that blurred the lines between reality and imagination, illuminating a powerful example of just how debilitating schizophrenia can be. Auditory hallucination is the most common symptom found in schizophrenia. The one’s experienced by Nash in the film were in-line with how the DSM specifies them to be. The film puts a large emphasis on the paranoia experienced by Nash. In the DSM-IV, paranoia was a specifier for a sub-category of schizophrenia, called paranoid schizophrenia. The new version of the DSM does not include paranoia as a specifier for schizophrenia, rather it is viewed as a comorbid mental disorder. One aspect I thought was overdone concerns the visual hallucinations. It was necessary for the entertainment value of the film, but is largely inaccurate in its attempt to represent the visual hallucinations experienced by individuals who have schizophrenia. Visual hallucinations are not common in schizophrenia, especially not to the degree the movie depicts, in which whole scenarios and events are vividly made up. I think it is a common misconception that visual hallucinations are a hallmark of schizophrenia. I think that the producers of this movie included

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 that were placed here by the

Unfortunately his medication disrupts his relationship with his wife almost as much as his delusions did in the first place. For example, he couldn't respond to his wife in bed, he couldn't show affection to their child, and he couldn't do simple tasks around the house. He stops taking his medication and falls back into his paranoid delusions. Nash has a breakthrough and realizes that the people he is seeing are hallucinations when he realizes that none of them age.

Negative symptoms involve a decrease in, or loss of normal functions including loss of motivation, an inability to feel emotionally as well as a reduction in the quantity and quality of speech (SFNSW n.d.). Elder et al. (2009) state that negative symptoms to be; anhedonia (loss of the experience of pleasure), alogia (poverty of speech), blunted or flat affect and anergia (loss of energy). According to Varcarolis et al. (2006) psychosocial

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

Schizophrenia is a disease that effects the mind. This can lead to confusion between what is real and what is in their imagination (Whitbourne & Halgin, 2013). Typically, television and movies will show someone who is suffering from schizophrenia as dangerous, multiple personalities, and not smart. One movie that portrays someone with schizophrenia is A Beautiful Mind. It is the true story of John Forbes Nash Jr. Mr. Nash was extremely smart and solved math problems no one else could. He stated he just decided one day that he wasn’t going to give in to his mental illness and believes he cured himself. His son also suffers with schizophrenia (Grinberg & Sgueglia, 2015). He is the perfect example that you can have schizophrenia and not

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,” normal means to be able to live a normal life, care for one-self, properly communicate with others, have real friends, complete work and assignments on time, and–‒most importantly–‒be able to tell the difference between reality and fantasies. John Nash’s friends, his wife, his psychologist, his professors, and students are all considered normal in the movie. On the other hand, John is the one who is abnormal because of his mental illness. John Nash is not able to properly care for himself and often forgets to eat. He is extremely obsessed with his work and his mission to serve his country, and this obsession results in his frequently missing classes, being late for dinner, and being forgetful. He has inappropriate behavior and strong negative emotions, such as anger and fear. He experiences distorted thoughts, hallucinations, and hardship with relationships.

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

In 1953, Mr. Nash was summoned to the pentagon to help decipher intercepted Russian messages, and it was upon leaving that he first noticed a mysterious man by the name of William Parcher, who is actually another hallucination. Parcher later approaches Mr. Nash at night and takes him to what appears to be a code breaker lab set up in an old warehouse. It is here that he is asked if he will help the Department of Defense by deciphering codes in certain newspapers and periodicals, at which time a devise is implanted into his arm. However, this entire experience is nothing more than an elaborate delusion and hallucination.

One aspect depicted throughout the film are the various mannerisms of schizophrenia. Nash 's character often displays agitated movements which are sometimes jerky in motion. Many times this is shown with head movements, hand gestures and even agitated pacing. This coincides with the National Institute of Mental Health 's (2009) description of the mannerisms associated with schizophrenia. Individuals with diagnosed schizophrenia can display a flat affect, with no emotion and diminished facial expressions, as well as a catatonic stupor becoming non-responsive to any type of stimulus (National Institute