Report: Psychological Disorder Analysis in 'A Beautiful Mind' Movie

This report provides an analysis of the psychological disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, as depicted in the movie 'A Beautiful Mind', focusing on the life of John Forbes Nash Jr. The report addresses the criteria for abnormality, detailing the symptoms of mental illness portrayed, and assessing the realism of the depiction. It also explores the causal factors suggested in the film, the treatments received, and their typicality for individuals with this disorder, including insulin shock therapy and anti-psychotic medications. Furthermore, the report examines the impact of Nash's disorder on his life and others, including his struggles with hallucinations, social isolation, and the challenges faced by his family. The analysis concludes by evaluating the movie's accuracy in portraying the complexities of paranoid schizophrenia and its potential for promoting awareness of mental illness.

Running head: A BEAUTIFUL MIND: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER ANALYSIS
A BEAUTIFUL MIND: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1A BEAUTIFUL MIND: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER ANALYSIS
1. Paranoid schizophrenia is portrayed in the movie. The biographical film focuses on the
life of John Forbes Nash Jr. who is a Nobel Prize winning mathematician and showed
clear indications of mental illness which was diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenia.
2. The symptoms of John Nash’s paranoid schizophrenia can be seen throughout the movie.
The movie gives insight into the fact the individuals suffering from paranoid
schizophrenia have trouble differentiating between the real and imaginary. The delusional
thinking of John’s that he has been invited to Pentagon for cracking the encrypted
telecommunications of the soviet enemies and Nash sees himself deciphering code
mentally. John’s stimulating hallucinations makes his regular tasks uninteresting and is
pleased when new assignment is given to him by William Parcher, imaginary supervisor
of John Nash from Department of Defense, USA. Parcher offers Nash decoding tasks to
detect bomb which Soviets were hiding which is hidden in newspapers and magazines.
John Nash ends up obsessed looking for hidden patterns which he decodes and sends to
Parcher via a secret mailbox.
As John Nash is interested and motivated by the delusions of decoding more than his
regular tasks, he ignores his job and family and concentrates more in the delusions which
he is unable to recognize as unreal. The film tries its best to accurately represent
schizophrenia. John’s schizophrenia starts in his 20’s which is the normal age for the
onset of schizophrenia in most patients. The movie portrays his delusions, his social
awkwardness and reduced speaking as the common symptoms of the schizophrenia
(Milnor & Forbes, 2008). The symptoms are shown from the beginning of movie where
Charles, John Nash’s imaginary friend and roommate at Princeton University appears and
John is shown to crack a joke which offends other graduate students. He speaks less and
lacks emotion when he speaks which is another symptom of his mental illness.
Nevertheless, most of the symptoms are precisely showed, John Nash did not have

2A BEAUTIFUL MIND: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER ANALYSIS
delusions figures as hallucinations, as John Nash suffered mainly from aural delusions
(Nasar, 2011).
3. The main causal factor which made John Nash’s paranoid schizophrenia worse was
social isolation. As he was socially awkward, people avoided him or made fun of him and
he found it very difficult to befriend anybody. John Nash’s paranoid schizophrenia
aggravated due to his loneliness and he created an imaginary friend named Charles as his
roommate at Princeton University with whom he could share his thoughts, talk about his
ideas and find solace interacting.
4. John Nash was subjected to cruel techniques to help cure his paranoid schizophrenia.
The insulin shock therapy sittings were violent, requiring restraints to keep John in
control. The psychiatric sanatorium is shown as all white, every room along with the
hallway which gives one an unsettling feel about the hospital and the treatment. The new
medical and therapeutic treatments to cure paranoid schizophrenia were still under
development. John was forced to take insulin shock therapy and stay at the hospital for
some time and then released with anti-psychotic medications which made him
unresponsive and lethargic and he could barely work or concentrate in his work or
connect with his wife and his baby. The movie also shows how the advent of new anti-
psychotic drugs is critical for schizophrenic people as it aids in making them lead normal
lives.
Based on the movie, this form of treatment is precisely portrayed given the time period in
which the movie is set in. The movie being a periodic biography of the 1950s, it
accurately portrays the treatments used then to treat paranoid schizophrenia (Rosenstock,
2003).
5. Nash's schizophrenia gravely impacted his life. He was forcibly hospitalized and was
restrained and was given insulin shock therapy against his will. He also had to take anti-

3A BEAUTIFUL MIND: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER ANALYSIS
psychotic drugs which him lag behind in his work and therefore he got severely depressed
and secretly stopped taking his medication. As he starts avoiding his medication, his
schizophrenia relapses and he accidentally drowns his baby and hurts his wife who
threatens to leave him and that is when John Nash comes to term with his paranoid
schizophrenia.
The actor playing John Nash Russell Crowe realistically portrays the challenges of an
individual struggling with paranoid schizophrenia along with enlightening the viewer
about the disease and its effects and impact on life.
6. Being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and realizing the disease can be
overwhelming as lot of the individual’s life would be deemed unreal and one has to
accept those as illusions and symptoms of the disease (Nasar, 2011). However, the sooner
one realizes the effects of paranoid schizophrenia, the person must seek out for help and
support from his family and friends as social isolation and loneliness intensifies the
symptoms and being surrounded by family would help curb the manifestations of the
paranoid schizophrenia. Being accompanied by a friend or family member while going to
the therapist might also be recommended as the friend might be able to aid in
differentiating the hallucinations from the real events (Milnor & Forbes, 2008).
7. After watching A Beautiful Mind, feelings of empathy, sadness as well as happiness as
John Nash despite his debilitating mental illness, is awarded with the Nobel Prize and the
fact that he recognizes his wife as the leading support behind his recovery and work is
moving. After analyzing the key scenes along with reading multiple reviews online in
addition to the review of the actual John Forbes Nash Jr. on the biographic portrayal of
his life, it can be concluded that the movie is quite accurate in portraying the intricacies of
paranoid schizophrenia (Rosenstock, 2003). Although few scenes have been dramatized

4A BEAUTIFUL MIND: PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDER ANALYSIS
in relevance to John Nash’s actual life, the movie represents the facts about schizophrenia
quite precisely.
The movie had also successfully incorporated the accurate view related to medicine and
science used in 1950’s / 1960’s which provides an authentic view on the mental
disability. Therefore, this movie is the perfect example of an individual with paranoid
schizophrenia along with being a great platform to promote awareness of this mental
disease with the audience (Nasar, 2011).
References
Milnor, J., & Forbes, J. (2008). John Nash and" A Beautiful Mind. In Novermber NOTICES
OF THE AMS.
Nasar, S. (2011). A beautiful mind. Simon and Schuster.
Rosenstock, J. (2003). Beyond a beautiful mind: film choices for teaching schizophrenia.
Academic Psychiatry, 27(2), 117-122.