Aahana Banerjee
The Oscar-winning film, A Beautiful Mind is set in the mid-twentieth century and traces the life
of mathematician John Nash and his life-long struggle with Schizophrenia. While, as creative
license permits, the movie does exaggerate certain aspects of his life, the film still gives a
reasonably accurate account of the experience of schizophrenia.
This blog post will assess the accuracy of the film to determine whether it could be
representative of a realistic incident of schizophrenia. First, it will examine the portrayal of the
symptoms of the disorder, including its onset, treatment and Nash’s recovery, after which it will
delve into the reactions of those surrounding the diagnosed individual, to gauge whether the
social responses to the disorder have been accurately depicted.
Schizophrenia refers to a chronic disorder that can often cause hallucinations, delusions,
disorganised speech, problems with thinking and lack of motivation. As per the American
Psychiatric Association, its symptoms are grouped into three broad categories: positive
symptoms, negative symptoms and disorganised symptoms. Positive symptoms refer to abnormal
excesses of thoughts, emotions or behaviour such as delusions and hallucinations, negative
symptoms are abnormal absences of the same such as blunt effect and flat effect, and
disorganised symptoms refer to disordered thinking or speech and abnormal behaviour or
movements (Torres, 2020).
Regarding its onset, patients with schizophrenia usually develop symptoms in their mid
to late 20’s, though this is subject to exceptions. In order to be diagnosed, according to DSM-V,
the symptoms must persist for a period of at least six months (Torres, 2020). In A Beautiful Mind
John Nash is depicted as having developed schizophrenia in his early 20’s. While the real John
Nash only began displaying symptoms in his 30’s, the movie does corroborate the usual age-
related expectations with respect to the onset of the disorder.
In the film, Nash experiences visual and auditory hallucinations as well as delusions of
grandeur and persecution. These are a diagnostic feature of schizophrenia, occurring in an
estimated 60%–70% of people with this disorder, with auditory hallucinations being the most
common (Boksa, 2009). While the real-life John Nash had auditory hallucinations, the movie did
still successfully depict one’s experience of these symptoms and drew attention to the possibility
of their occurrence. In the film, Nash’s visual hallucinations took form in his college roommate
Charles, Charles’s niece, and Agent Parcher from the CIA whom he believed approached him to
crack codes. Nash was portrayed as perpetually paranoid, pointing towards his delusions of
persecution, and his belief that he had a greater purpose in working for a spy agency was
indicative of his delusions of grandeur.
Moreover, John Nash exhibits signs of the blunted and flat effects which refer to reduced
emotional expression or no emotional expression, respectively (Gur et al., 2006). Impaired
emotional functioning is fairly common in patients with Schizophrenia and the movie does well
to depict Nash’s emotional aloofness as well as his reluctance to mix with people. Due to his
inability to carry out social interactions ‘normally’ and his belief in the superiority of his own
intellect (a part of his delusions of grandeur), which led him to often offend his classmates, Nash
was considered to be a freak in college (2022). This is in line with the opinions held by people of
schizophrenics around the time that the film is set in.
Once it is clear that Nash is suffering from Schizophrenia, he is administered electro-
convulsive therapy and is prescribed anti-psychotic drugs to help him with his disorder. Nash’s
treatment is depicted well in the movie, particularly in accordance with the time period it is set
in, i.e., the 1950’s, including the adverse effects of his medication that cloud his senses to dull
his hallucinations and delusions (Thacker & Hughes, 2013). Medication today has fewer and less
severe side-effects and proves essential in allowing patients suffering from schizophrenia to lead
normal lives. This, coupled with psychotherapy and social support, can aid their recovery
process.
The film excellently captures the importance of support for patients through Alicia,
Nash’s wife, who plays an integral role in his diagnosis and recovery. It also accurately depicts
the toll it can take on patients and their loved ones, but highlights the imperativeness of standing
by them.
Where the movie falls short is in its portrayal of Nash’s recovery. The film shows him
fighting his hallucinations through sheer willpower, where he learns to simply ignore their
presence. However, it is extremely unrealistic to expect patients to display this ability and
conviction since most rely heavily on therapy and medicines.
Therefore, A Beautiful Mind does well to shed light on the symptoms of and struggles
with schizophrenia and also accurately portrays its treatment. Its creative license prevents a
realistic depiction of a patient’s recovery and enables some discrepancies between the real John
Nash’s life and that of the Nash in the film. However, on the whole, the movie can prove to be
reasonably educational about the disorder and is ultimately a good preliminary tool to understand
the experience of Schizophrenia.
References
Alyssa. (2022, January 26). How schizophrenia was portrayed in a Beautiful mind: Banyan
mental health. Mental Health Program at Banyan Treatment Centers. Retrieved February
9, 2022, from https://www.banyanmentalhealth.com/2021/03/30/how-schizophrenia-was-
portrayed-in-a-beautiful-mind/
A Beautiful Mind. (2001). United States.
Boksa, P. (2009, July). On the neurobiology of hallucinations. Journal of psychiatry &
neuroscience : JPN. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2702442/
Burton, N. (2015, October 7). Schizophrenia and its treatment . Psychology Today. Retrieved
February 9, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-
seek/201510/schizophrenia-and-its-treatment
Gur, R. E., Kohler, C. G., Ragland, J. D., Siegel, S. J., Lesko, K., Bilker, W. B., & Gur, R. C.
(2006, April). Flat affect in schizophrenia: Relation to emotion processing and
neurocognitive measures. Schizophrenia bulletin. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2632232/
Thacker, M., & Hughes, C. (2013). Movie Review: A beautiful mind. Mental Health Clinician,
2(8), 246–247. https://doi.org/10.9740/mhc.n132978
Torres, F. (2020, August). What Is Schizophrenia? What is Schizophrenia? Retrieved February
6, 2022, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-
schizophrenia
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