Samantha Adams, O’Bryanna Turman, Natalie Wilson, Theresa Meador
Professor Staley-Abney
Abnormal Psychology 212
11 April 2016
A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind is a beautifully written film. This film is based on the real life of Dr. John Forbes Nash Jr. In the beginning, John Nash is seen to have arrived at Princeton University where he will be attending classes for mathematics. This is where he meets other science and math graduate students named Richard Sol, Ainsley, and Bender. He also meets his roommate Charles Herman. The graduate students all have to develop a theory, John Nash feels extreme pressure to publish a theory, but he wants it to be his own idea. John accomplishes this goal and publishes his new concept of governing dynamics.
An article from AMHC.org states “the five key symptoms presented in the DSM-5 include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized or catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms. According to the DSM-5, two of these five symptoms must be present to be diagnosed. Also at least one of the two symptoms that are present must be one of the first three (delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech) (AMHC)”. According to DSM5.org, “once a patient shows prevalent signs of at least two of the symptoms mentioned above, they must be present for six months and include at least one month of active symptoms (DSM5)”. Abnormal Psychology in a Changing world states that “schizophrenia tends to develop around early adulthood.” In the movie, A Beautiful Mind, it begins with John Nash who is attending Princeton University. Nash’s first hallucination seems to occur around this time which would fall right into the early 20’s, which is a common age for schizophrenia to develop. Nash seems to show prevalent symptoms of hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized speech. He also presents negative symptoms as well. Nash is an extremely intelligent individual who has a remarkable way of breaking codes or any mathematical problem. John Nash’s life consists of his excessive work habits which tie into his hallucinations and delusions he has. The DSM-5 states that hallucinations can involve various
As shown in the movie having this disorder undiagnosed poses more of a threat to ones safety of themselves and their loved ones, such as the incident of John leaving his son unattended in a tub because he believed his “friend” was watching him. Although there are more downsides to having Paranoid Schizophrenia there are some perks that come along with the illness. Many people with the disorder have shown higher instances of mental intelligence and above average IQ’s, especially in math and science subjects. Living with the disorder no longer has to be a life spent in institutions or isolation. Although there is no cure for Paranoid Schizophrenia there are treatments options for multiple antipsychotics medications, psychotherapy, and even electroshock therapy. As the quest for answers and solutions grow, and with today’s growing technology, the cure and ultimately, the prevention of Paranoid Schizophrenia is sure to
In A Beautiful Mind, John Nash is a brilliant mathematician who goes to Princeton in order to receive his doctorate. After he proves Adam Smith wrong, his professor explains how he can have any placement he wants. So he ended up working for the United States government, becomes best friends with his roommate, falls in love with one of his students, and has some frustrating times. Unfortunately, some of the most important parts of his life turn out to be not real.
Both the positive symptoms and the negative symptoms had been described in the book. The character of Nash shows all the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. The film demonstrates the type of therapy when Nash is admired to the hospital. Also, the textbooks mention the types of medication and the film states that these medications are crucial to reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia, and it also explained how certain treatments as well as medications have side effects. Overall, this film is a great resource for people who are interested on how the illness of schizophrenia starts and what triggers it. This film it was well covered the life of John Forbes Nash Jr. in terms of the aspects of his illness, and how he was able to manage to live the rest of his life and career with paranoid schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is a disorder that affects about 1 in 100 people at different stages in their lives and is very difficult to diagnose. It has many symptoms that typically begin to appear around age 18-30 (2). Signs of Schizophrenia can be misread and sometimes overlooked due to the amount of other disorders that share many of the symptoms. Autism is one example. Symptoms can be classified into "negative" and "positive." Negative symptoms could be seen as those that are absent but should be present. Examples of negative symptoms include lack of motivation or apathy, blunted feelings, depression, and social withdrawal (1). Positive symptoms are those that should be present but are absent. Some examples of positive symptoms are hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and an altered sense of self (1). It is thought that hallucinations are the...
Schizophrenia, also known as the splitting of the mind, is a mental disorder characterized by disintegration of thought process and of emotional responsiveness. It manifests as auditory hallucinations, paranoid and bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it are accompanied by significant social and or occupational dysfunction. It is a group of psychotic disorders usually characterized by withdrawal from reality, illogical patterns of thinking, delusions and hallucinations, and accompanied by other emotional behavioral or intellectual disturbances. There are three main factors that are involved in the diagnosis of schizophrenia: 1-Delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, which is a manifestation of formal thought disorder, grossly disorganized behavior or catatonic behavior, negative symptoms, blunted affect, alogia or avolition; 2-Social or occupational dysfunction; 3- Significant duration: continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least six months; according to the DSM IV. Delusions are a false belief based on faulty judgment about one’s environment. Hallucinations are experiencing something from any of the five senses that is not occurring in reality. Positive and negative (deficit) symptoms are important in diagnosing schizophrenia. Positive symptoms (PS) are not experienced, but are present. Delusions, disordered thoughts and speech, tactile, auditory, visual, olfactory, and gustatory hallucinations or manifestations of psychosis are all positive symptoms. Negative symptoms (NS) are deficits of normal emotional responses and thought processes that normally do not respond to medications. The patient experience a flat or blunted affect and emotion, poverty of speech (alogia), inability to expe...
John Nash’s needs largely influenced his hallucinations. John Nash struggled to connect with other people his entire life. He was an outcast and spent most of his time studying mathematics. His need to connect with another person was fulfilled when he hallucinated he had a roommate. This fictional roommate, Charles, was his closest companion. John confided in Charles whenever he faced a problem. Charles helped him through the struggles he faced while attending Princeton. Charles would also praise John whenever he made accomplishments in his work. John wanted to be appreciated for his hard work at Princeton and Charles made him feel important. John hallucinated that Charles had a young niece, Marcee. The hallucination of Marcee met his need to be a parental figure. He loved Marcee like she was his own daughter and wanted to care for her. Marcee was also comforting presence for John. She was an innocent child who would never harm anyone. John also hallucinated he was working with a secret government official, Parcher. John thought Parcher sought him out for his excellent skills in math. This met John’s need to be praised for his work in mathematics. John wanted to feel important and wanted to use his skills to help the world. When he imagined he was
The type of emotional disturbance John Nash experiences is paranoid schizophrenia. Some hallucination John Nash had was his imaginary roommate Charles Herman and Marcee. He had trouble distinguishing what was real and when he thought he was a spy hiding from the Russian. He had problems communicating with others.
The subject John Forbes Nash, Jr. is portrayed as a typical student while attending Princeton University back in 1947. During his stay at Princeton, he would often be seen seated at the far end of the class isolating himself from the rest of his classmates and ultimately doesn’t appear to attend classes at all. He has difficulty associating with people around him though it is implied that he has made a few acquaintances and got to hang out with them at times nevertheless he was referred to as a genius and was extremely intelligent. He appears to have good family upbringing. Aside from difficulty in associating people, he has difficulty in accepting defeat and disappointment (A Beautiful Life (film), 2001).
He influenced people’s lives and learned to overcome a huge obstacle in his life. The way Nash sees numbers is unlike anything else and by Charles appearing throughout the movie signifies another personality of Nash which helps describe his condition. The way the camera moves throughout the movie also helps distinguish important scenes from not important ones and helps make the movie more meaningful. Without Alicia, in the movie, Nash would of not been able to overcome certain obstacles, and with Alicia’s help Nash is able to live a more meaningful
The movie, A Beautiful Mind, depicts the life of John Nash and his struggle with the disorder, showing the symptoms and treatment methods used during the time period. In the movie, the main character, John Nash, experiences positive symptoms in which bizarre additions are added to the person’s behavior like disorganized thinking or in Nash’s case, hallucinations. At one point in the movie, John could be considered to have tactile hallucinations (sensations of tingling, burning) mixed with his visual and auditory ones when Parcher implants a device into his arm, causing a stinging or painful sensation. His visual and auditory hallucinations, although auditory hallucinations are considered more common in schizophrenics, the audience is not aware of these symptoms until mid-way through the movie, however, the nonexistent “people” he sees start in grad school with the first one being Charles Herman, his “roommate.” During this time, the main character would be in the prodromal stage of the disorder where the function is decreasing and the symptoms come on gradually at a rate unnoticeable to others, because he is
Nasar, S. (2001).A beautiful mind: the life of mathematical genius and nobel laureate john nash.
The movie "A Beautiful Mind" tells the story of Nobel Prize winner John Nash's struggle with schizophrenia. It follows his journey from the point where he is not even aware he has schizophrenia, to the point where Nash and his wife find a way to manage his condition. The movie provides a lot of information and insight into the psychological condition of schizophrenia, including information on the symptoms, the treatment and cures, the life for the individual and for the individual's family. The movie is effective at demonstrating various concepts related to schizophrenia, and provides an insight into the disease of schizophrenia.
In the film “ A Beautiful Mind” John Nash experiences a few different positive symptoms. The first of these positive symptoms are seen through the hallucinations John has of having a room -mate while at Princeton. This room- mate continues to stay “in contact” with John through out his adult life and later this room- mate’s niece enters Johns mind as another coinciding hallucination. Nash’s other hallucination is Ed Harris, who plays a government agent that seeks out Nash’s intelligence in the field of code- breaking.
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.
One of these realizations is the fact that seeing something is not a guarantee for you to believe that it really exists. This fact only states that even your own eyes and your own minds can fool you. This is what happened to the case of John Nash in the movie. His wife, Alicia, took note of every weird action that he started manifesting, and these weird actions frightened her and their child. Then, Alicia called the psychiatric hospital to inform them of the various erratic behaviors that she observed. After these, it was discovered that Nash is experiencing an advanced paranoid schizophrenia, which started to become evident after he was chased by Russian agents. Finding out about his disease lead them to identify that his British room mate, named Charles, who later on became his best friend is just a product of his own imagination. The same goes with Marcee, Charles’ niece whom Nash adores deeply and William Parcher, whom he believed to belong to the US Department of Defense and whom he worked as a secret agent. These three people contributed greatly in Nash’s life and perceptions were later found out to be non-existing and are just part of his hallucination.
A Beautiful Mind tells the true story of Professor John Nash (Russell Crowe), but, while the gross facts may be accurate, one must expect embellishment of the details. It first shows Nash as a student at Princeton in 1947. He is brilliant but erratic - a mathematical genius who lacks social skills. He is aided in making it through those difficult years by his roommate, Charles. Years later, following an astounding breakthrough that revolutionizes economics, John is teaching at M.I.T. and doing code-breaking work for a shady government agent, William Parcher (Ed Harris). It's at this time that John meets, falls in love with, and marries Alicia (Jennifer Connelly). But his happy world soon starts to crumble.