A Beautiful Mind Paranoid Schizophrenia

The film A Beautiful Mind portrays the life story of Nobel Prize winning mathematician John Nash. Nash's genius in mathematics was counterbalanced by his affliction with paranoid schizophrenia. According to the DSM-IV (1994), paranoid schizophrenia is classified as one of six psychotic disorders that are characterized by psychosis, delusions and hallucinations. When the individual afflicted with paranoid schizophrenia hears voices, which Nash does, only one or more of the following symptoms need be present for a diagnosis of schizophrenia:

Disorganized Speech (e.g., frequent derailment of incoherence)

Grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior

Negative Symptoms (i.e., affective flattening, alogia, or avolition)

Schizoaffective disorder and mood disorder must be ruled out before schizophrenia diagnosis is determined, while duration (symptoms must persist at least six months) and social/occupational dysfunction are also diagnostic criteria.

The film A Beautiful Mind portrays the life of John F. Nash, Jr., a man who suffers from a classic case of paranoid schizophrenia. The films shows Nash's early college life, filled with intense study and avoidance of anything as commonplace and anti-educational as classes. "Classes will dull your mind", says Nash in the film (Howard, 2001). Through complete immersion in his mathematical preoccupations at the expense of his social relations

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You know...food" (Howard, 2001). Nash's work also suffers from his paranoia. He spends most of his time avoiding people, avoiding teaching class, and preoccupied with his delusions and mathematical considerations. Many schizophrenics refuse to believe they are sick. The delusions are so real that many schizophrenics become convinced of their persecutory delusions and refuse to trust anyone. The film does an excellent job in showing this by the way Nash becomes confused about his wife's motivations. He is afraid she is out to get him and have him committed. He can trust no one locked into his own inner world of visions and voices. This becomes terrifyingly for schizophrenics and those around them. We see this in the film when Alicia discovers John's scribbling and newspaper world in the cabin outside his home. In another scene, John becomes so convinced his delusions are real that we fear for Alicia's safety as does she. In one scene, trying desperately to reach him, Alicia says, "You want to know what's real? This...[putting her hand on his heart and his hand on her face]...this is real" (Howard, 2001). Causes of paranoid schizophrenia remain unknown, but hereditary and environmental traumas are thought to be significa

Category: Psychology - A