The Main Characters Of Schizophrenia In A Beautiful Mind

Schizophrenia is a disorder that is characterized by a broken thought process and poor emotional responses. Typical symptoms of this disorder include delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, social dysfunctions,

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.

     In the film “ A Beautiful Mind” John Nash experiences a few different positive symptoms. The first of these positive symptoms are seen through the hallucinations John has of having a room -mate while at Princeton. This room- mate continues to stay “in contact” with John through out his adult life and later this room- mate’s niece enters Johns mind as another coinciding hallucination. Nash’s other hallucination is Ed Harris, who plays a government agent that seeks out Nash’s intelligence in the field of code- breaking.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder that affects one out of 100 people and presents with both positive and negative symptoms. Misconceptions of people with schizophrenia may include a belief that they are violent however they are more likely to be the victims of violence as of result of their abnormal behaviors. Positive symptoms may include the presence of symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, and abnormal behavior whereas negative symptoms indicate a lack of a particular behavior. A positive symptom of schizophrenia may include hallucinations which are typically auditory hallucinations although may also be visual hallucinations in which clients experience some event despite a lack of stimuli. A negative symptom

A Beautiful Mind, is a movie that was produced in the year 2002 by Universal Pictures. This film is about a man named John Nash who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, paranoid type. Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder with key features including delusions, hallucinations, difficulty concentrating, and other negative symptoms (Parekh, 2017). Paranoid schizophrenia specifically, is “characterized mainly by the presence of delusions of persecution or grandeur” (Sadock and Sadock, 2005). The typical age for the onset of schizophrenia is in late adolescence or early adulthood, and is seen in men and women equally (Sadock and Sadock, 2005).

Additional, inferences about the disorder are provided by Whitcomb and Merrell (2013). The authors characterize the symptoms of schizophrenia as delusions that are “typically bizarre and implausible” and pronounced hallucinations such as hearing voices for long periods of time (p. 363). Additional, impairments noted by the authors include “severe disturbances in perception, thought and affect, a severe decline in personal and social functioning, poor personal hygiene, inability to function effectively at school or work, and a severe impairment in social relationships” (Whitcomb and Merrell, 2013 p.363).

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 consists of a broad spectrum of diagnostic criteria (both cognitive and emotional dysfunctions) that cause problems in every day functioning (Barlow et al., 2015). This criteria includes the presence of delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized/catatonic behaviour, and/or negative symptoms, such as diminished emotional expression (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The prevalence rate of this disorder is estimated to be in the range of 0.2% to 1.5% in the general population (Barlow et al., 2015).

In the film " A Beautiful Mind" John Nash experiences a few different positive symptoms. The first of these positive symptoms are seen through the hallucinations John has of having a room -mate while at Princeton. This room- mate continues to stay "in contact" with John through out his adult life and later this room- mate's niece enters Johns mind as another coinciding hallucination. Nash's other hallucination is Ed Harris, who plays a government agent that seeks out Nash's intelligence in the field of code- breaking.

The distinctive characteristic of schizophrenia are disruptions in perception, language, and thinking. Psychotic symptoms include delusions and hallucinations. Delusions are strange or false beliefs that a person has even when they are shown that their beliefs are not

The positive symptoms, symptoms that manifest, are the hallucinations, delusions, or disorganized speech. Two or more of the positive symptoms must be present for a diagnosis. Hallucinations, in the context of schizophrenia, are recurring auditory or visual experiences that are a creation of the mind. A person may see their dead relative or hear voices that are not part of reality. Delusions, on the other hand, are thoughts or beliefs that are irrational and often impossible, but the individual believes the thoughts or beliefs without question. The usual negative symptoms, symptoms that show a loss in a quality, are lack of emotion expression and lack of motivation or drive for everyday activities. An individual with negative symptoms may lay around the house all day, unmotivated to go to school or work. The individual may also have trouble expressing emotion or difficulty maintaining eye contact (Nolen-Hoeksema). The listed symptoms all fall on the schizophrenia spectrum, and manifest in each individual differently. Some individuals fit the criteria, while others fall along the spectrum. Schizophrenia symptoms can often be mistaken for certain personality disorders, such as schizotypal personality disorder, and vice versa. Nicole Diver, a main character in Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, is a prime example of a misdiagnosis between schizophrenia and schizotypal personality

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that can be characterized with irrational thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Some people confuse schizophrenia with dissociative identity disorder, but schizophrenia is quite different. There are three different categories of schizophrenia. ("Schizophrenia" National 1-2) Even though it is not a popular disease, it is well known. Symptoms for schizophrenia are characterized into three groups: cognitive, positive and negative. Symptoms that are deemed “positive” are psychotic behaviors that are not seen in mentally healthy people, which include hallucinations and delusions. “Negative” symptoms are disturbances to normal emotions and behaviors, such as the “flat affect” and reduced speaking. Finally, “cognitive” symptoms are changed in memory or thinking, such as trouble focusing and paying attention. ("Schizophrenia" National 1-2) In Macbeth, Macbeth mostly shows positive symptoms of schizophrenia. Risk factors for this disease include genetic information, problems during birth and psychosocial

2011). Varcarolis et al. 2006 describe positive symptoms of schizophrenia as ‘florid psychotic symptoms’ ‘as they capture attention’. Cognitive deficits lay primarily within the domains of memory and language affecting mood and behaviour (Elder et al. 2009). Positive symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations and sever thought process disturbances and have an acute onset (Elder et al. 2009).Varcarolis, Carson and Shoemaker (2006) state that a patient experiencing a delusion is convinced that what they perceive is real and consequently the patients thinking often reflects feelings of great fear, isolation and trust issues. Additionally Elder et al. (2009) state that cognitive deficits are considered psychotic symptoms and that behaviours, perceptions and beliefs shown in a person having an exacerbation of schizophrenia are not consistent with normal human experience.

The film “A Beautiful Mind” is about the life of Nobel prize winner John Nash Jr who suffered with schizophrenia. The movie starts as Nash has entered graduate school at Princeton, he was a mathematical genius who made a discovery early I his career of an original idea that helped him earn international acclaim. The socially awkward genius soon found himself on a painful journey of self-discovery. John Nash made up a life that was not real, his friends and secrete job were also not real. He could not distinguish between what was real, imaginary and made up in his head. His diagnosis of schizophrenia interfered with his everyday life and overall caused him to break until he decided to ignore what would forever haunt him.

“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).