...The movie, A Beautiful Mind captures the life of a mathematical genius' John Nash. In Nash’s early twenties, he studied at a prestigious school called the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The signs of mental illness started to unfold as Nash created his imaginary best friend named Charles. Another character he created is named Parcher, who works for the Central Intelligence Agency and desperately needed his assistance in deciphering Russian messages. “Diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia [at the age of 31], Nash spent the next three decades in and out of mental hospitals” (www.pbs.org). Throughout that time he eventually overcame the struggles of the disorder through his intellectual mind. Schizophrenia is a chronic, more or less debilitating illness characterized by perturbations in cognition, affect and behavior, all of which have a bizarre aspect, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition. “A more modern definition of schizophrenia describes it as a long-lasting psychotic disorder (involving a severe break with reality). In which there is an inability to distinguish what is real from fantasy as well as disturbances in thinking, emotions, behavior, and perception” (Ciccarelli & White, 2012). In reference to the DSM-IV-TR, the characteristic symptoms of criteria is delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, negative symptoms, and grossly disorganized or catatonic...
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...schizophrenia and later his pursuit to overcome it. The film begins in September of 1947 on John Nash’s first day at Princeton University as a graduate student. Nash who is recognized as a genius among geniuses, never once attends class saying, he instead spends his time at Princeton searching for “a truly original idea”. Nash forms a close friendship with his roommate, Charles Herman, an English student and a competitive friendship with four other math and science graduate students. Mid-way through his final year of school Nash comes up with his “truly original idea” which is considered a breakthrough of great magnitude. Upon...
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...Prize winning mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. His genius in mathematics was counterbalanced by his affliction with the diagnosis of schizophrenia. According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision, (DSM-IV-TR) (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, p. 299), schizophrenia is characterized by positive symptoms (delusions, hallucinations, illusions, disorganized speech and paranoia) and negative symptoms (deficit or loss of normal functions relating to degree of emotions, fluency and productivity of thought and speech and initiation of goal-directed behavior). It is characterized by a person’s perception of reality which can be very different from the way most other people perceive the same reality. It allows viewers to learn about the illness and its effect on people who have it, their families and their friends. This movie provides an excellent opportunity to learn about schizophrenia, a disease that impairs an individual’s perceptions, concentration, and social interaction and thus, making it quite disabling. The symptoms of schizophrenia that were identified in the movie were: antisocial behavior, hallucinations, delusions, disorganized speech and paranoia. The great thing about this movie is that is written and filmed from the perspective of a person with schizophrenia as well as the perspective of others. It presents not only what is observed about John through society’s reality;...
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...life of Mathematician John Nash and his struggle with paranoid schizophrenia. It follows his journey from the point in his life that he is completely unaware of his schizophrenia, to the point where, thanks to Princeton University, his employer at the time, along with his dedicated and faithful wife Alicia and their accommodations for him, find a way to properly manage his condition. The film succeeds in realistically describing the disturbed thinking, emotion, and behavior that characterizes this disorder, as well as the difficult management and recovery from schizophrenia. The movie communicates the vital importance of the factors that contributed to Nash’s recovery and achievement as an intellectual, such as the Nobel Prize in 1994 and world acclaim. His story shows first-hand the problems that come with the territory. This is the story about the mystery and complex functions of the mind, in its three main acts, genius, madness, and reawakening.in this paper I will discuss how accurate the depiction of schizophrenia is in the film. Nash shows many of the symptoms characterized by schizophrenia, such as being socially withdrawn. For example, at the beginning of the film Nash is very dissociated and awkward in social situations. He doesn’t seem to be well associated with people and becomes very anxious and disoriented around others most of the time he is under the assumption that people do not like him, and is rarely in the company of others. As Nash’s schizophrenia increasingly...
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...As a graduate student at Princeton University, John Nash is dedicated to make a contribution to serve in the world of mathematics. After graduate school, Dr. Nash turns into teaching, where he meets Alicia, a former student and now wife. In the meanwhile, the government asks Nash for his help by breaking codes with the Soviets, which leads to Nash getting involved in a conspiracy plot. Nash grows to be more and more paranoid only to find out that he has been diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. It is now up to Alicia and Dr. Rosen to help Nash recover to a strong mental state and help regain his status as a great and talented mathematician. John Nash has difficulty interacting with simple day-to-day situations in society. One specific scene involves a man coming up to Dr. Nash but Dr. Nash first asks a student if they can see the man as well. Nash then apologizes to the man and explains that he gets skeptical of people he has never met before due to his schizophrenia and his hallucinations. A scene that best explains societies perception on Nash’s disability is when Nash goes back to Princeton and approaches his old friend and rival, Martin Hansen, who is now the head of the Princeton mathematics department. Hansen grants Nash permission to work out the library and audit classes. The scene ends with him storming out of the library and screaming to his hallucinations telling them they are not real. Other students who are around Nash look at him with confusion because they...
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...a brilliant mathematician, John Nash who is diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia in his early thirties. As a Princeton Scholar, Nash spends his days obsessing with numbers in order to come up with a revolutionary mathematical equation. He leads a secretive life as a government spy and code breaker and later wants to quit the job because it poses threat to his wife, Alicia. It is only after half the film that Nash is convinced that most events and people including his job are only illusions within his mind. Disorder: Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder that leads to a breakdown of personality functioning caused by a withdrawal from reality (Delusions, hallucinations and socially withdrawn), emotional blunting (Anhedonia) and distortion and disturbances in thought and behavior (Inappropriate emotions). Paranoid Schizophrenia is a common subtype of Schizophrenia indicated by constant and recurring delusions and hallucinations, generally with persecution or grandiosity. An early sign of social isolation is seen as Nash attends Princeton welcome party. He isolates himself from his friends and when the situation demands social interaction he displays socially awkward gestures such as avoiding eye contact by looking down, not introducing himself and keeping conversations short by simply walking away. His first symptom of hallucination is in his dormitory, of his roommate, Charles. Charles Herman, his so called ‘best friend’ tends to appear when John is upset. He is also seen playing...
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...Fauzan Plasticwala Social Psychology 230 Assignment 1: Film Analysis March 15, 2015 A Beautiful Mind John Nash was a graduate student at Princeton University and was well talented mathematician. Starting his graduate school year, the prodromal phase of schizophrenia began to emerge. Prodromal phase is a time period where symptoms for schizophrenia begin to appear but not yet recognized until the active psychosis takes place (Cameron, 1938). He was socially awkward and suffers social rejection. His social behavior was often mocked upon by classmates but did receive support by his close friend, Charles. There are many occurrences of social psychological theories that were depicted in this film. Some of the many social psychological phenomenons that were used in this film were person perception or attribution theory, the self, cognitive dissonance, attitude, and conformity. The self theory is "the individual's belief about himself or herself, including the person's attributes and who and what the self is" (Baumeister, 1999). Nash had distinct sensory ability and high self esteem in regards to his intellect. Self esteem is the degree to which we comment ourselves (Morse and Gergen, 1970). Nash had a positive view of himself. He was able to see the light pattern through a glass and was able synchronize it with patterns on the tie of his classmate. This shows that he considered himself intellectually superior than his classmates. The grandiosity of his intelligence was well...
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...this disease. In the movie A Beautiful Mind John Nash shows many similarities to someone who has Schizophrenia. In A Beautiful Mind, it gives you a sense of knowing a little more of how sad and debilitating Schizophrenia can be. Although it is just a movie this disease is very real. A Beautiful Mind 3 A Look into A Beautiful Mind The movie A Beautiful Mind exhibits many characteristics of someone who is Schizophrenic and in my opinion doesn’t contradict itself by showing a lot of non “typical” schizophrenic traits. In the beginning of the movie John Nash seems to be an average yet out of sorts man who is trying to find his place in this world. He is anti- Social, but makes several attempts at normal human interaction. Schizophrenia is divided into positive and negative symptoms. Positive Symptoms are those that distort normal everyday functions (Oct 25, 2008 https://www.Schizophrenia.com). For example someone with schizophrenia having positive symptoms would experience hallucinations, racing thoughts and delusions. In the beginning of the movie this is similar to John Nash’s symptoms. John saw rays of light and colors brighter than others, and certain letters and numbers would jump out to him ultimately resulting in him thinking he was a code breaker for the government. Someone experiencing negative symptoms would be someone who doesn’t feel or show emotion (Oct 25, 2008 https://www.Schizophrenia.com). This is what John Nash was going through towards the end of...
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...A Beautiful Mind John Nash- A brilliant mathematician, John’s troubles begin during his time at Princeton. He begins to hallucinate, consistently carrying on conversations and relationships with people who never existed. To make matters worse, he is already anti-social, and has a tendency to isolate and bury himself in work. As time passes, his condition worsens. He begins to believe that there is this elaborate scheme against him; he believes he is being forced to work for the government to decipher codes. That they inserted a coded chip in order to keep track of him, and if he doesn’t comply with their wishes, they will expose him to the Russians, who in turn will kill him. This interferes with his personal and work life tremendously. Although he is able to carry on the basic everyday tasks such as taking care of personal hygiene and eating, he is not able to differentiate the real world from his imaginary world. Eventually, the situation gets to be so extreme that he is placed in a mental institution for a certain period of time, undergoing shock and insulin therapies in order to “treat” his condition. Professor Nash’s case is a very straightforward and meets the criteria for Paranoid Schizophrenia. To be clear Schizophrenia is not the same thing as multiple personality disorder, because Schizophrenics don’t have problems with a split personality but instead a split mind. Hence the Latin derivation “Schitz”Split and “phrenic” meaning mind. Mind in the sense of what is actually...
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...characterized by abnormal social behaviour and failure to recognize what is real. Common symptoms include false beliefs, unclear or confused thinking, auditory hallucinations, reduced social engagement and emotional expression, and inactivity. A person with schizophrenia often hears voices, experiences delusions and hallucinations and may believe thoughts, feelings and actions are controlled or shared by someone else. 2. When did John first have symptoms or problems? How long has this been going on? John went through most if not all the symptoms of schizophrenia. John’s wife, Alicia, who was pregnant with their child when the first symptoms of his disease become apparent. This had probably been happening for a long time but it was just not as apparent before. 3. Can you find any examples of how there is a stigma attached to mental illness? Stigma is a mark of disgrace that sets a person apart. Stigma brings experiences and feelings of: shame, blame, hopelessness, distress, misrepresentation in the media, reluctance to seek and/or accept necessary help. This could attach to mental illness because stigma can cause mental illnesses if it gets to a certain point. 4. “I don’t much like people and they don’t much like me”. Comment on John Nash’s statement by using examples from the film. John Nash is very socially awkward. He is hard to relate to and make connections with. He lives in his own world. He scares people away. He has unpredictable outbursts...
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...deranged lunatics that are incapable of rational thought and should be avoided due to a tendency towards violence. John Nash, a successful mathematician, was among the first people to challenge the stereotypes against schizophrenics. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that develops later in life, so the young Nash showed in obvious signs of the illness he would struggle with later in his life. He a love for education, preferring books and experiments to the activities other children typically enjoy. As he grew up, Nash struggled with social interactions and knowledge as an escape. In college, he was teased for his odd behavior and he challenged his bullies...
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...A Beautiful Mind DSM IV Diagnosis for John Nash: Axis I: Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type, Continuious Axis II: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (Provisional) Axis III: None Axis IV: Occupational problems Not very social High Stressful Enviornment Axis V: GAF= 30 According to the DSM IV-TR. Symptoms of schizophrenia, include meeting three criteria: need to have two or more characteristics symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized behavior/catatonic behavior or negative symptoms such as blunted affect, alogia, or alovitian which was evident in this film.. In addition to these symptoms, the individual must also display a social or occupational dysfunction, such as a disturbance in functioning in his work, interpersonal relationship or self-care. The third criterion is having all of these symptoms continue for more than six months which John Nash showed throughout his graduate school. Criterion A for schizophrenia is met because the hallucinations described in that criterion were present in John Nash. Reinforcing this is the fact that John Nash is perceived as a as normal student attending Princeton University studying to be a Mathematician. Nash hallucinated different positive symptoms. When Nash was at Princeton, he was supposed to be in a single room dormitory with no roommate, and he ended up hallucinating he had a roommate, named Charles Herman. This roommate ends up staying in contact with him throughout the...
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... This trend of personalizing history by telling it through the lives and contributions of brilliant individuals continues today. Due to the wide-ranging success of science, mathematics, and technology, a unique emphasis has been placed in recent years on the individual contributions of innovative scientists, mathematical geniuses, and technologist. As a mathematical genius, John Nash is an individual whose life frames many facets of the diverting landscape of 19th century America, individually because he suffered an abrupt fall from grace after he fell victim to paranoid schizophrenia at the peak of his professional career. Through remarkable remission of his sickness and the winning of the 1994 Nobel Prize, Nash was brought back into the public’s eye. Through the book and movie A Beautiful Mind, the reader and viewer was able to see that Nash was a man of incredible historical interest. Both the film and movie were able to show his reality to a general audience. In many ways the film A Beautiful Mind absolutely misleads the audience of the historical detail in its representation of the life of John Nash. Although he was enrolled as a graduate student at Princeton University, his experience there was considerably different from that shown in the film. In the beginning of the movie, Professor Helinger delivers a motivational speech to the incoming freshman class, asking the students “Now who among you will be the next Morse? The next Einstein? Who among you will be the vanguard...
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...In the Movie “A Beautiful Mind” the main character John Nash is a graduate student at Princeton University. He states too many of his fellow classmates that class will dull your mind. He has a roommate named Charles who is considered to be his best friend. He is offered to go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he meets Alicia who eventually he marries and has a child with. Nash also meets a man by the name of William Parcher, who claims that he is a part of the Department of Defense. Nash was invited to go to the Pentagon to crack certain codes. Somehow Parcher talks Nash into looking for codes in newspapers and magazines. It is within this time period that Nash becomes extremely paranoid and starts to act irrationally. Now that he is married to Alicia, she was extremely concerned about his before and decided to talk to Nash’s old friend Sol. Sol confirms that Nash has been taking secret envelops and dropping them off at an old mail box. She shows Nash in the hospital all of the letters that he dropped off in the mailbox but were never opened. Then he discovers that hallucinating and he finally understands that he is mentally unstable. This is where he finally understands that Parcher, Charles, and Charles niece are all products of his own imagination. He is diagnosed with schizophrenia and they place him into a mental hospital where he receives instant shock therapy five times a day for ten weeks. When he finally moves back home he is required to take medicine...
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...Beautiful Mind Summary: In 1947 a brilliant mathematician by the name of John Nash arrives at Princeton University among other bright students of the prestigious Carnegie Scholarship. He first meets his new roommate by the name of Charles and an unlikely friendship develops, he is pressure to publish but refuses to do so until he finds a truly original idea. Upon inspiration at a local bar he then writes his new concept on governing dynamics, Nash is first approach by the pentagon to crack encrypted enemy communication it is then that he meets mysterious William of the United States Department to look for patters in magazines and newspaper in order to prevent a Soviet plot. Meanwhile he falls in love with his wife Alicia and starts a family, his unusual job with the United States Department leads him to fear for his life however William blackmails him to stay on his assignment. While in a conference he attempts to flee from what appears to him the Soviets, however he was just running away from Dr. Rosen a psychiatrics after being sedated he believes the facilities are property of the Soviets. His wife is told that John has schizophrenia and that Charles, Marcee and William exist only in his imagination, that he doesn’t work for United States Department, he is then give insulin shock therapy and eventually released it is then when he decides to secretly stop taking his medication and accepts his hallucinations and instead of medication decides to solve the problem by ignoring the...
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