A Beautiful Mind Teaches us About Suffering from Schizophrenia

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“A Beautiful Mind” is a movie by director Ron Howard, which is based on the biography of a mathematical genius John Forbes Nash, Jr, played by Russell Crowe. Jennifer Connelly plays the role of Alicia Larde, wife of John Nash. John is a schizophrenic. He received the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994 for developing the “game theory”. This is a movie about how schizophrenia affects the functioning of the person as well as their family. Though we will never know what it is actually like to suffer from this disorder, this movie tries to portray the experiences of a schizophrenic. This movie also tries to encourage people to get help because schizophrenia can be treated though not cured. John is a graduate student at Princeton University. He is a mathematical genius who is trying to develop an original idea. Like many cases of schizophrenia, his symptoms start to begin in his 20s, which is evident by the fact that Charles Herman is his imaginary friend, his roommate from Princeton. Besides, the way he talks and walks is somewhat eccentric. He is very competitive. He had schizophrenia long before he was diagnosed with it. It takes him a while to realize his problems after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.

This movie provides information about the symptoms, treatment and the difficulties the person and their family have to go through. Nash exhibits many key symptoms of schizophrenia. An inability to communicate is one of the main symptoms of schizophrenia, and this affects interpersonal relationships and intimacy. Nash does not have many friends and he does not talk to many people. Even though he gets marries to Alicia, one of his students while he was teaching at MIT, later when his symptoms are severe he is unable to respond to her. He suffers from both visual and auditory hallucinations as well as delusions. He believed that he was working for a top secret project for the government and that the Russians were following him because they had found out about his work. He is not able to think properly. His speech is jumbled and his facial expressions and gestures are awkward. His social skills are poor.

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