A Beautiful Mind

Film Analysis: A Beautiful Mind

Plot Summary: The movie “A Beautiful Mind” is about a mathematical genius, John Nash, and is based on a true story. The movie portrays the different events in his life, starting from the time he studied in Princeton University, then getting married and then having a son. However, the movie’s primary motive was to depict the things he had to go through suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

Disorder: Schizophrenia is type of mood disorder where a person loses touch with reality, is unable to respond emotionally in certain situations and has distorted thought patterns. Moreover, schizophrenia is usually characterized by hallucinations and delusions. Paranoid schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia where the person experiences all of the above-mentioned symptoms and particularly paranoid delusions.

There were signs and symptoms throughout the movie that proved that John Nash had paranoid schizophrenia. For instance, when John was studying in Princeton University, he believed that he had a roommate by the name of Charles Herman, a literature student, only to find out later that he was a fictional character. Furthermore, he believed that William Parcher, a top secret agent from the US Department of Defense, approached him while he was working at MIT. While decoding, we see the patterns of the distorted numbers come into play. It gets worst when John starts getting hallucinations like being chased and shot by the Soviet spies and when he believes that he has a chip inserted in his wrist. These are clear indications that John had paranoid and somatic delusions.

Causal Factors:

Biological: There is a possibility that either or both of Nash’s parents were schizophrenic and that he might have inherited it from them since schizophrenics have a 50% likelihood of giving birth to a child with schizophrenia. Moreover, imbalances in the neurotransmitters such as excess amount of serotonin and dopamine in the brain have been associated with schizophrenia. Drugs have also played an important role, as there has been a correlation between drugs such as tobacco and marijuana and schizophrenia.

We cannot tell for sure whether John’s parents had schizophrenia since the movie starts when he’s already a student in Princeton University. However, the smoking activity around the campus, which influenced his smoking habit, could have caused his schizophrenic symptoms.

Psychodynamic: The psychodynamic theory states that schizophrenia occurs because of breakdown of the ego. This could have been as a result of lack of attention from the people around him, thus causing him to have the need for hallucinations and delusions subconsciously.

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