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A Beautiful Mind through a Psychological Lens

Mihika Poore


Schizophrenia referred to as the cancer of mental disorders, is a severe mental illness. It is characterized by incoherent thoughts, bizarre behavior, disorganized speech, delusions, and hallucinations (“Schizophrenia”). ‘A Beautiful Mind’ is an American biographical film inspired by the life story of John Nash, a mathematical genius who suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia. This blog endeavors to assist the concept that the film displays an accurate depiction of the disorder.

John Nash suffered from hallucinations, the sensory experiences that appear real to the person experiencing them but take place in the absence of the external stimulus (p. 526). Although Nash experienced auditory hallucinations and never saw them, the movie showed visual hallucinations to provide the audience an insight into his feelings. Auditory hallucinations are associated with the problems in the speech production areas of the brain. In contrast, visual hallucinations occur due to the presence of lesions in the central nervous system pathway between the eye and the visual cortex (Boksa, 2009). Even if Nash did not have visual hallucinations, the depiction of these in the movie was very accurate. For instance, Nash pointed out that his hallucinating characters in no way grew old, and the humans around him never noticed them. These were the vital signs that confirmed a difference between reality and imagination.

To diagnose Schizophrenia, a man or woman need to exhibit more primary symptoms than just hallucinations. Nash additionally had delusions, a fixed or firm belief held by despite seeing clear contradictory evidence (p. 524). He had Paranoid Schizophrenia in which delusion of persecution is the most common wherein a person believes that s/he is on a special mission (p. 80). Nash’s delusions made him think he was working as a secret spy in-charge of soviet code breaking in the department of defense for which he had to deliver his findings in envelopes in a mailbox. He hallucinated that he was working under William Parcher and was getting observed through the Soviet spies. The movie brilliantly illustrates the combination of both- delusions and hallucinations that account for the presence of positive symptoms a Schizophrenic would possibly experience.

 Another critical detail to be noticed before diagnosing a person with schizophrenia is the onset of the disorder. As shown clearly, Nash’s initial episode of hallucinations began when he was in Princeton and saw his roommate Charles with his niece, Marcee who was just a figment of his imagination. Even though the onset of the disorder started late, it nonetheless felt within the estimated range of age group of men who suffer from the disorder. Alongside positive symptoms, negative symptoms were also noticeable in Nash. For instance, he spoke rarely and expressed less while having a conversation with the people around him. On two occasions, he requested out women for intercourse in an explicitly straightforward manner, which confirmed a presence of blunted affect.

Moreover, the movie was efficacious in showing the treatment methods followed at that time. Nash was given Insulin Shock Therapy at first and medications later. Nowadays, a combination of different therapies has surfaced like fever therapy and ICT (Burton, 2015).  Furthermore, the film doesn’t fail to exhibit how a person would possibly bear relapses of the episodes after the therapy. Nash experienced hallucinations and delusions when he came back home from the rehabilitation center. A sudden reduction or discontinuation of medicinal drugs might be a reason for the same (PT). Nash threw his medicines away which increased his difficulty in living a normal life.

Even though the movie ends with a fine word as Nash wins a Nobel Prize while continuing to fight against his insecurities. It ends up showing that Nash, without taking any psychological help, learns to ignore his hallucinations by accepting that it’s all in his mind. However, this may have a wrong impact on other patients who might ignore medication and worsen their situation. Many movies like the Shutter Island show a correct depiction of the disorder. Contrariwise, few films show violent conduct of the patients to add drama in the storylines, which spreads a wrong message to the audience, making them suppose otherwise of those who have any mental ailment.

In general, disorders disturb the emotional, behavioral, and psychological aspects of one’s existence severely. The feeling of guilt and helplessness in Nash is highlighted as his cognitive abilities were deteriorating over time. Being a real-life story, the movie represents various facets of the disorder and wonderfully sums up the exact meaning of Schizophrenia without exaggerating to earn fame.










References:
Boksa, P. (2009, July). On the neurobiology of hallucinations. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702442/.
Burton, N. (2015, October 7). Schizophrenia and Its Treatment. Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201510/schizophrenia-and-its-treatment.
Butcher, James N, Hooley, Jill M, & Mineka, Susan. (2017). Abnormal Psychology (17th ed.). Pearson Education, inc.
Schizophrenia - apa.org. (n.d.). Retrieved November 8, 2019, from https://www.apa.org/topics/schiz/.
World Health Organization. (n.d.). The Icd-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders (Vol. 10).

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