Schizophrenia in the film “A Beautiful Mind”

MAHATI GARIMELLA

“A Beautiful Mind” is a film based on the life of a distinguished mathematician, John Nash, who suffered from Schrizophrenia. Schizophrenia is characterised as a chronic mental disorder, which affects the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves; particularly, one experiences a significant loss of touch with reality. The disorder is associated with various symptoms like delusions, hallucinations and disorganised speech.

The film captures Nash’s life from the time he began his graduate studies at Princeton University. It is during this period that his schizophrenic symptoms first began to appear. He was shown to be experiencing vivid visual hallucinations, which included seeing and interacting with an imaginary roommate, his (imaginary roommate’s) niece, and government secret agent. His interactions with the government agent lead him into believing that he has been employed under the Department of Defence to perform top secret soviet code breaking. Functioning under this delusion, he begins to examine and cut out news articles during his work hours.

In spite of being diagnosed with schizophrenia by the psychiatrist, Nash was reluctant to believe that he had been functioning under the realm of hallucinations and delusions. He initially considered the psychiatrist and the hospital staff to be Russian spies who were conspiring against him. These sequences in the film, highlight the particular kind of schizophrenia Nash suffered from  - paranoid schizophrenia. This subtype of the schizophrenia, causes one to hold several absurd and illogical beliefs that are often clearly described and organised into a sound delusional framework. Nash’s schizophrenia leads him to have both, delusions of persecution (feeling like they’re in danger, as someone is planning to hurt them), and delusions of grandeur (false belief that one has superior qualities like genius, fame, omnipotence, etc).

Another important element the film highlights, is the insensitive treatment of patients with mental illnesses during the 1950s. During Nash’s first encounter with the psychiatrist at the mental hospital, his hands and legs are tied up in chains. Restrained by these fetters, he was dragged into an empty room, by a team of nurses. Further, Nash had to undergo insulin coma therapy (ICT) as a part of his treatment for schizophrenia. ICT involves an injection of insulin which results in a rapid fall in blood sugar, coma, and convulsions. However, this treatment was later discredited given its torturous nature, potential side effects (apart from obesity, there was a liability of permanent brain damage), and clinical trials which proved the effectiveness of other drugs.

Apart from receiving ICT, Nash was prescribed antipsychotic drugs as well. The importance of antipsychotic drugs was brought into light, when Nash, frustrated with their side effects begins to avoid them. Aa a result, Nash falls into relapse, and begins to function under his delusions and hallucinations again. However, in one particular scene, he realises that the little girl (hallucinatory figure) he had been interacting with over the years, wasn’t growing old. It is after this incident, that Nash finally begins to believe in the severity of his disorder. Nash then, decides to fight against his disorder by himself, without any hospitalisation or medications.

Here, it should be noted that people with schizophrenia rarely have visual hallucinations, where they vividly perceive the presence of real people. When they have visual hallucinations, they usually see fleeting visual fragments. Thus, it is unlikely for someone with schizophrenia to be able to draw such rational inferences from their hallucinations (as Nash was seen to be making in the film).

At the end, Nash did overcome his disorder without the aid of medications. In his case, a socially supportive environment and aging, played a critical role in the mitigation of the disorder. It is true that a positive social environment and aging, help in reducing the severity of schizophrenia; however, this does not happen in all cases. In many patients, the symptoms could also become worse without medications. And even when one attempts to deal with the symptoms of schizophrenia, without medication, it is an extremely difficult and long struggle. However, the film shows that Nash successfully habituated himself to ignore the hallucinations, within a brief period of time. Such a portrayal, could mislead the audience into thinking that one can recover from schizophrenia with relative ease, even without medication.

Nevertheless, this film plays a critical role in spreading awareness about schizophrenia, and sensitising the society towards mental illnesses. The film may not necessarily be an accurate representation of Nash’s schizophrenia; however, apart from a few limitations, it paints a well-grounded picture of the disorder itself and the struggle faced by its victims.

Though the film does contain a couple of scenes showing Nash’s struggle to avoid his hallucinations without medications, it doesn’t delve deep enough into the troubles one has to go through during such a phase.