People who do not understand mental illness will see this film in a new light, because it not only shows how Nash reacts to his own illness, but how others, from employers to family and friends react. Some of the reactions indicate fear, some loathing, and some just bewilderment and a sense of unreality and hopelessness. Some of the reactions are also based on some of the stereotypes of schizophrenia, such as the disease is a multiple-personality disorder, and it is not treatable. It also breaks apart the myth that schizophrenics are violent. Some can be, but many are not, and this film shows that Nash may have had some bizarre behaviors, but he was not violent or hurtful to his family. Of course, his family suffered, and the film shows this, but they did not suffer physical abuse, really it was more mental abuse and stress and strain from worrying about him and having to make a life without him while he was in treatment.
The film also chronicles the trouble with medications of the time, and psychopathic medications that Nash said "deadened" his mind, so he refused to take them. It also shows some of the other treatments, like insulin shock treatments, that are no longer used in treating the disease, and it shows the horrible environment of mental institutions in the 1950s, after his wife has him involuntarily committed several times in an effort to control his disease. In the end, he did manage to control his disease, and the film shows him hearing voices but learning how to control and ignore them so he can lead a meaningful and worthwhile life. He teaches again, and he and his wife remain together. The film gives hope, but it also realistically shows many aspects of schizophrenia, from the onset that usually takes people by surprise to the end, when often people can function again. It also shows treatments and medications that some people believe can be worse that the disease itself.
Is the film totally realistic...
In one way, it can seem that Nash has low communication competence. For example, he does not have good relationships with his classmates, his workmates, or his students. However, there are various signs that this is related more to a lack of social skills than an inability to communicate. This is seen towards the end of the film where Nash is seen tutoring and teaching students. In these interactions,
He also has hallucinations about being followed by a federal agent, in keeping with his academic world where the government seeks on the one hand to employ mathematicians and scientists and on the other hand mistrusts them. Many of the encounters he has in his mind with this agent and others have the aura of a detective movie, showing that Nash is replaying films he has seen and that
Empirical studies, MRI scans, and other medical interventions can be used to test some of these theories. However, the exact causes of schizophrenia are likely to remain unknown until the connections between social and biological factors can be isolated. For this reason, schizophrenia is often seen as the key to understanding human nature, the human brain, and the link between nature and nurture in psychological functioning. II. Treatments Directly related to
Mozart Effect by Don Campbell, published by HarperCollins in 1997 and again in 2001, posits the theory that listening to Mozart's music can help to boost one's IQ. The theory is based on interviews and studies conducted by researchers, from which Campbell produces the general notion that music has a "healing" quality to it and can be used to improve one's overall life.[footnoteRef:1] Campbell points to the 1993 study by
Most people suffering from Schizophrenia are depressed and lose interest in mostly anything which they previously enjoyed. Some people suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia may also become more active and develop an obsession for a certain activity. One of the greatest people diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia had been Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash Jr. His biography had been adapted to the plot of the movie "A Beautiful Mind." The movie
Earth for Me Sheehan, Susan. (1983) Is There No Place On Earth for Me? New York: Vintage Books. When Benjamin Wilder reminisced recently about Sylvia's summer in Chicago, he said he could have tolerated Sylvia's presence in his house for a few more weeks if he had had to, but she was taking such a toll on him that he had asked himself whether it was his mission in life to
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