Psychology 1013

Emmanuel M. Nacion Movie Review

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The movie A Beautiful Mind is a true story about a man named John Nash. He attended
Princeton and was immediately classified as a social outsider. When attending Princeton, John
Nash becomes close friends with his so called roommate, Charles. John Nash was a talented
Mathematician, and was devoted to finding a new and original theory. Later, John Nash meets a
government official named Parcher and he begins to work on top secret government information.
He takes a top secret cryptography job for the government and became a professor at MIT. A
student of his named Alicia becomes quite fond of him, and they end up getting married. Soon
enough, John Nash loses his grip on reality, becomes institutionalized, and is told he has
Schizophrenia. [Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that makes it difficult to tell the difference
between real and unreal experiences. It also makes it difficult for a person to think logically,
have normal emotional responses, and to behave normally in social situations.]
After grasping the concept of Schizophrenia, it is clear that John Nash has been hallucinating
about Charles as well as a few other characters, and desperately needs treatment. He is then put
on medication and undergoes insulin treatments. Then he is allowed to go back home. John
Nash did not believe he was mentally ill, so he stopped taking his medication when he got home
and continued hallucinating. Years later, John Nash finally became stable again. Then,
he perused his dream of creating his original theory at the University of Princeton. John Nash
finally perfected his theory, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in economics.

This movie is a very good reenactment of schizophrenia and the symptoms it causes. The movie
creates a very realistic perception for viewers on how the hallucinations of the person can be
very real. The movie also shows how this disease can affect everyone around you also. Much
stress and responsibility was put on the wife to take care of the patient. This story is very realistic
and it shows that this disease can happen to everyone, including geniuses.

The behaviors of John Nash were very diverse depending on environments and situations he
faced. At times, John seemed like a very normal and intelligent person while he was breaking
codes and studying. At other points when he was having hallucinations, he seemed very paranoid
and definitely showed signs of a mental disorder. His speech became more stuttered and his
facial expressions were much more dramatic.

His behavior was caused mostly in part of the hallucinations he was having. The hallucinations
were very real and serious to him, causing him to panic when he was faced with Parcher
especially.

Some of the methods used in the movie to calm schizophrenia are still used today. The doctors
gave him pills to take to help reduce the symptoms of the disease like hallucinations and bizarre
behaviors. The doctors also administered shock therapy, giving him shots of insulin to force his
body to go into shock, causing violent convulsions. John was also forced to learn how to deal
with his hallucinations, which was probably the best treatment of all. The other procedures were
given to lessen the symptoms of the disease, but learning how to deal with the problem was the
most important to living a normal life once again.