A Beautiful Mind
Nicole Calabro
Professor Kulpanowski
PSY 2013
October 21, 2013
A Beautiful Mind
“A Beautiful Mind” is a sad yet unique, inspiring film. The film was directed by Ron Howard and provided people a whole new perspective on psychological disorders. When people generally hear the words “mental illness,” the thoughts of crazy, insane, different, abnormal and weird come into place. “A Beautiful Mind,” based on a true story and a novel by Sylvia Nasar, has proven the standard thoughts to be inaccurate. John Nash was a man of extraordinary character. He held a position of great intelligence and had proven it to be true when he was awarded with the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics. Nash was also faced with great difficulty when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia (Lipovetsky, 2009). After watching the movie for the first time, it is clear to see John Nash is not the average person, but it was quite a shock to find out he had a psychological disorder as severe as schizophrenia. After watching the movie again, knowing what he had been diagnosed with, the picture became all too clear. It was very obvious that he suffered from schizophrenia because of the symptoms he had shown. There are predominantly three phases associated with schizophrenia. The beginning stage, or the prodromal stage, is where the symptoms start to develop and this phase can last for up to months. This is when the patient becomes less interested in his or her surroundings and finds his or herself with trouble concentrating, tending to be more distracted than usual. The second phase is called the active phase. This is where delusions and hallucinations come about. The final stage is called the residual phase. During this phase the symptoms from the prodromal stage can possibly increase and there is a chance that they will become worse. This stage is almost the same as the prodromal stage, but to a more extreme (What is schizophrenia; schizophrenia 2009). Nash’s major symptoms of
Professor Kulpanowski
PSY 2013
October 21, 2013
A Beautiful Mind
“A Beautiful Mind” is a sad yet unique, inspiring film. The film was directed by Ron Howard and provided people a whole new perspective on psychological disorders. When people generally hear the words “mental illness,” the thoughts of crazy, insane, different, abnormal and weird come into place. “A Beautiful Mind,” based on a true story and a novel by Sylvia Nasar, has proven the standard thoughts to be inaccurate. John Nash was a man of extraordinary character. He held a position of great intelligence and had proven it to be true when he was awarded with the Nobel Memorial Prize in economics. Nash was also faced with great difficulty when he was diagnosed with schizophrenia (Lipovetsky, 2009). After watching the movie for the first time, it is clear to see John Nash is not the average person, but it was quite a shock to find out he had a psychological disorder as severe as schizophrenia. After watching the movie again, knowing what he had been diagnosed with, the picture became all too clear. It was very obvious that he suffered from schizophrenia because of the symptoms he had shown. There are predominantly three phases associated with schizophrenia. The beginning stage, or the prodromal stage, is where the symptoms start to develop and this phase can last for up to months. This is when the patient becomes less interested in his or her surroundings and finds his or herself with trouble concentrating, tending to be more distracted than usual. The second phase is called the active phase. This is where delusions and hallucinations come about. The final stage is called the residual phase. During this phase the symptoms from the prodromal stage can possibly increase and there is a chance that they will become worse. This stage is almost the same as the prodromal stage, but to a more extreme (What is schizophrenia; schizophrenia 2009). Nash’s major symptoms of
Cited: Bustillo, Juan. (2008). Schizophrenia . Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Sharp and Dohm Corp. Dryden-Edwards, Roxanne. (2010). Schizophrenia. MedicineNet.com. Jaffe, DJ. (2001). Schizophrenia treatment . Lipovetsky, Josh. (2009). A beautiful mind- life isn 't an equation. Mayo Clinic Staff, . (2008). Paranoid schizophrenia. MFMER. Papalos, Demitri. (2001). Electroconvulsive therapy overview . Smith, Nicole. (2010). The film “a beautiful mind” and the representation of schizophrenia and mental illness. Article Myriad. What is schizophrenia; schizophrenia: an information guide . (2009). CAMH.