"Imagine if you suddenly learned that the people, the places, the moments most important to you were not gone, not dead, but worse, had never been. What kind of hell would that be?" (Grazer & Howard, 2001). The hell described in the previous quote is the hell of schizophrenia; of learning that one has the disease, and much of what they considered to be reality is, in fact, a delusion. Hallucinations, delusions, flat affect, bizarre behavior, and more, are all common symptoms of schizophrenia. In the movie A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, the main character, John Nash, exhibits many of these symptoms over the course of the film. The symptoms portrayed in this character could, at first glance, lead to several possible diagnoses.
[...] Once it is evident that what the viewer thought was reality is truly Nash's delusions and hallucinations, a diagnosis of schizophrenia is the best possible conclusion to be made. Following the DSM-IV criteria, it is evident that John Nash does, in fact, have schizophrenia. Davison, Neale, and Kring (2004) state that according to the DSM-IV, a patient must meet the following criteria to be diagnosed with schizophrenia: or more of the following symptoms for a significant portion of time for at least 1 month: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, disorganized or catatonic behavior, negative symptoms ●Social and occupational functioning have declined since onset ●Signs of disturbance for at least 6 months; at least 1 month duration for the symptoms in the first bullet; during the remaining time either negative symptoms or other symptoms from the first bullet in attenuated form Based on this information, it is possible to make an accurate diagnosis of schizophrenia. [...]
[...] His friend is not sure of how to react until Nash laughs and tells him it was a joke. Other than this one scene, Nash's behavior while was as described above, making it evident that his normal functioning was seriously impaired. As a result of these feelings, Nash chooses to stop taking his medicine. In fact, this is a reason that many schizophrenia patients choose to go off their drug treatments. They do not feel as though they are themselves anymore, and they feel that the side effects of the medicine are worse than the illness itself. [...]
[...] He manages to hide it from his wife for what appears to be a few months before she discovers his shed full of periodicals, indicating that he was once again having delusions of doing top secret work for the government. This incident escalates into a fight between the Nash and Alicia, which culminates in John coming to a critical conclusion: never gets he states. “Marcee can't be real; she never gets (Grazer & Howard, 2001). When Nash finally realizes this, he determines that if Marcee is not real, then Charles and Parcher cannot be real either. [...]
[...] The negative symptom of asociality is described as a severe impairment in social relationships (Davison, Neale, & Kring, 2004). As mentioned earlier, it is evident that John Nash lacks certain skills for interpersonal relationships, and he prefers solitude. He is upset when his roommate Charles shows up, having been told that he would be rooming alone. Of course, he really did room alone at Princeton, but to Nash, Charles was very real and impeded on his privacy and desire to be alone. [...]
[...] With the help of a professional, a psychodynamic approach to schizophrenia combined with appropriate medications may prove to be even more successful than Nash's own self-treatment. While it is understandable why Nash, and so many other schizophrenia patients, choose to leave structured treatment, the effectiveness of such a treatment for most patients cannot be argued. The one medication did not work for Nash, but over the years from his first diagnosis to the conclusion of the film there were several advances in treatments for schizophrenia. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
