Movie: A Beautiful Mind
Psychological Issue: Schizophrenia

1) Using material from the text (or internet resources), describe your understanding of the disorder portrayed in the film. [This asks you to describe what someone with this disorder might really look like.]
In the movie “A Beautiful Mind” directed by Ron Howard; the disorder that is portrayed by the character John Nash is schizophrenia. This brain disorder alters the normal mechanisms occurring in the brain. The best explanation for this disorder can be pin pointed to the faulty interpretations and misfiring of dopamine neurons and their receptors in the brain. Although there are also other likely causes and effects such as low activity in the frontal lobotomy and enlarged ventricles, these are not the number one cause. However, all of which any of the causes will indeed lead to the various positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms that schizophrenia hold.
People with schizophrenia often tend to behave differently than their normal counterparts. The most commonly known symptoms for this disorder, which are the positive symptoms, include; delusions, hallucinations, thought disorder, and disorganized behavior. Although you need not to possess all symptoms to have schizophrenia, this disorder is often varying in symptoms from one to another. However, more often than not the early and most commonly known symptoms are the hallucinations and delusions. Most people who do have schizophrenia see and hear things that actually do not exist (hallucinations). It is as if they have additional things going on in their environment compared to what is in reality. They also tend to have delusional beliefs and express these ideas with extreme persistence (delusions).
Additional symptoms that are less severe include lack of emotional response, social withdrawal, and the loss of interest in everyday activities.