Assessment of Mental Illness in the Movie "A Beautiful Mind"

Assessment of the mental illness in the
movie “A beautiful mind”
Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................................2
Understanding the disease, its etiology and patho physiology:..............................................................3
Assessment and treatment of schizophrenia:.........................................................................................5
Impact of schizophrenia on the individual, family and friends................................................................6
Stigma associated with schizophrenia:....................................................................................................9
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................................11
References:................................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction:
A mental disorder or disease is a behavior or state of mind which causes loss of touch with
reality (psychosis) in an individual. This article is centered on the assessment of the disease
focused on the movie “a beautiful mind”. The lead character of John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in
Economics is shown to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a serious mental
condition from which nearly 1% of the total world population suffers (Ju et al, 2016). The movie
emphasizes how schizophrenia turns John's life upside down affecting his personal and
professional life. The movie shows John's fight against the disease, his treatment method, and
the barriers he faced in his fight against his mental condition. Paranoid schizophrenia is the
most common form of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental condition in which the patient
suffers from delusions accompanied by hallucinations (Karrow et al, 2014). The patient mainly
starts hearing not – existing voices and starts believing in them. Besides the above-mentioned
symptoms, the patient also shows the absence of certain symptoms i.e. negative symptoms.
Disorganized speech, disorganized behavior, executive function deficits, working memory, and
recognition memory are cognitive symptoms which are seen less frequently (Ju et al, 2016). Due
to the auditory- hallucinations these patients can sometimes even be seen talking to “no
one”.The paranoid delusions in the schizophrenia tend the patient to think that everyone
around them is trying to harm them (Karrow et al, 2014). This is the condition from which John
in the movie suffered. Initially, he assumed he was working for United States Department of
Defense against the Russians under a mysterious supervisor by the name of Parcher. He starts
feeling he is being followed by the Russian intelligence and his family is constantly under threat.
His delusions even lead to the wreckage of his family and hurting his loved ones. A similar
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condition is experienced by most of the schizophrenia patients. Many tend to indulge in
dangerous criminal acts overpowered by these delusions (Peterson et al, 2014). The
entertainment industry is helping such patients by increasing the knowledge about
schizophrenia by making movies directed at the condition of individuals suffering from it.
Understanding the disease, its etiology and patho physiology:
Till date, it is not known what causes schizophrenia but a combination of genetics, brain
chemistry, and the environment is assumed to the cause of the disease. Prenatal exposure to
viral infections, low oxygen tension during childbirth, early separation from parents, viral
infection in infancy, sexual, verbal or physical abuse during childhood is assumed to be the
causes. A history of schizophrenia in the family, older age of father, birth complications,
autoimmune disorders, consumption of psychoactive drugs in teenage time is thought to be the
triggering factors for schizophrenia. Cannabis smoking is also assumed to be one of the causes
of schizophrenia (Karl et al, 2017). John’s professional life was rocketing sky high when he
abruptly fell victim to schizophrenia. His professional and personal life became suspended. He
even created an imaginary roommate and niece. In a study (Austin, 2017) it was seen that
individuals with higher I.Q are more prone to mental illness. This can be credited to the fact
that they are more responsive to the environment. Here in the movie under consideration " a
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beautiful mind" the lead character John plays the character of a highly educated economics
laureate with scholarship in mathematics. Although not proved, but this can be assumed as one
of the reasons for the character's schizophrenia. Again the correct path physiology of
schizophrenia is not yet understood, however, it is assumed that Dopaminergic, glutamatergic
and GABAergic neurotransmitter systems might be affected. The N- methyl- D- aspartate
receptor which is a major glutamate receptor subtype might be the causative factor. Abnormal
modulation of NR1 has been seen in the patients with schizophrenia (Ju et al, 2016). It is
assumed that the disease is caused due to the dysfunction of the interneurons, abnormalities of
the immune system and inappropriate myelination of the nerves. Besides these above-
mentioned theories regarding the abnormal functioning of the systems, latest researchers have
shown certain subtle average changes in the volume of certain areas of the brain in patients of
schizophrenia is seen as compared to other individuals. Patients with schizophrenia had a
smaller hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus and intracranial volumes. They also showed an
increase in lateral ventricle volume and pallidum (van Erp et al, 2016). Schizophrenia can lead to
suicidal tendencies, self-injury, obsessive-compulsive disorder, aggressiveness (although rare)
depression, social isolation, legal or financial or professional or personal problems etc. Here in
this movie " a beautiful mind" found working for the made up secret United States Defense
association more than his real job at MIT. He becomes obsessive about his new cooked up
decoding work and isolates himself from the real life. He almost drowns his toddler in the tub
out of ignorance and manages to injure his wife and newborn. As a result of which his wife
decides to flee with his baby.
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