A CASE STUDY OF PARANOID SCHIZOPHRENIA AS SEEN IN “A BEAUTIFUL MIND”
INTRODUCTION
Diseases and ailments of all sorts are things not alien to the human society, so much so that they are often regarded as part of the many experiences of being a living being. As such, these diseases have been studied extensively by medical practitioners over the years and have been labeled, characterized and classified.
As a result, many a treatment have been devised by these geniuses to help the human condition. These diseases can be classified, roughly, as psychological diseases and physical diseases. The latter has to do with diseases and ailments that affect the physical body and can, most times, be seen and touched. The former has to do with the mind or psyche of an individual whereby only the symptoms of this class of disease manifest.
This ailment of the psyche is the chief concern of this essay; schizophrenia to be precise and we shall use the protagonist ( John Nash) in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” as a case study. By way of methodology, we shall explain the meaning of schizophrenia, touch on the features and sub-types of the disorder then on to the causes and criteria for diagnosing the disorder.
After this we shall take a look at the protagonist and how he meets the criteria for the diagnosis of one of the disorder’s sub-type (paranoid schizophrenia) taking into account the symptoms he manifested as observed in the movie and then the treatments administered for the disorder and finally the conclusion. THE MEANING OF SCHIZOPHRENIA Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder (or a group of disorders) marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions, and behaviors. Schizophrenic patients are typically unable to filter sensory stimuli and may have enhanced perceptions of sounds, colors, and other features of their environment. Most schizophrenics, if untreated, gradually withdraw from interactions with other people, and lose their ability to take care of personal needs and grooming.
The prevalence of schizophrenia is thought to be about 1%
Diseases and ailments of all sorts are things not alien to the human society, so much so that they are often regarded as part of the many experiences of being a living being. As such, these diseases have been studied extensively by medical practitioners over the years and have been labeled, characterized and classified.
As a result, many a treatment have been devised by these geniuses to help the human condition. These diseases can be classified, roughly, as psychological diseases and physical diseases. The latter has to do with diseases and ailments that affect the physical body and can, most times, be seen and touched. The former has to do with the mind or psyche of an individual whereby only the symptoms of this class of disease manifest.
This ailment of the psyche is the chief concern of this essay; schizophrenia to be precise and we shall use the protagonist ( John Nash) in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” as a case study. By way of methodology, we shall explain the meaning of schizophrenia, touch on the features and sub-types of the disorder then on to the causes and criteria for diagnosing the disorder.
After this we shall take a look at the protagonist and how he meets the criteria for the diagnosis of one of the disorder’s sub-type (paranoid schizophrenia) taking into account the symptoms he manifested as observed in the movie and then the treatments administered for the disorder and finally the conclusion. THE MEANING OF SCHIZOPHRENIA Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder (or a group of disorders) marked by severely impaired thinking, emotions, and behaviors. Schizophrenic patients are typically unable to filter sensory stimuli and may have enhanced perceptions of sounds, colors, and other features of their environment. Most schizophrenics, if untreated, gradually withdraw from interactions with other people, and lose their ability to take care of personal needs and grooming.
The prevalence of schizophrenia is thought to be about 1%