A Beautiful Mind Film - Critical analysis PDF

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Psychology in a Film - Critical Evaluation of the Film, A Beautiful Mind...

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Psychology in Film: A Beautiful Mind JUSTINE UMALI TM20-10574 TMC Academy Module: Abnormal Psychology Lecturer: Dr. Austin Ang Chin-Siang Date of submission: March 8, 2021 Word count: 1649

Intro

A Beautiful Mind is an American film that showcases the life of John Nash, a genius mathematician who proposed the concept in game theory called Nash Equilibrium which eventually wins him the Nobel Prize for economics in 1994. During the cold war, John (at the age of around 30), experiences visual and auditory hallucinations and delusions that he works for the government as a codebreaker for the United States against Russia. John’s battle with his mental illness and his eventual remission are aspects of John’s life that led the plot of the movie. This paper discusses John Ash’s mind from a clinical perspective. Firstly, the article focuses on an individual level such as John’s personal thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. Secondly, the article focuses on the environment and reviews the environmental factors that were showcased in the movie.

Body

The movie illustrates Nash’s extreme intelligence. Moreover, Nash had trouble understanding how to act and carry himself in social settings, and he also showed incompetence to communicate and relate with the people around him. In addition, Nash displayed arrogance and apathy toward others. He believed that he was superior and did not need to attend classes or do the same tasks as his classmates. However, these feelings were ultimately validated when his professor praised him for his outstanding paper he wrote called ‘The Bargaining Problem’. At this point in the movie, Nash’s behaviours were not considered abnormal yet because even though his behaviours were socially odd and eccentric, and caused him tremendous distress, he was still able to manage his life without fully having an utter dysfunction, not until Nash experienced hallucinations. A hallucination is a sensory perception that is often experienced as visual images or sounds that are distinct from the individual’s own thoughts. Nash also encountered delusions that are fixed convictions that do not alter, despite the presence of contradicting evidence. He exhibited disorganized thinking or switching thoughts rapidly that are demonstrated through semantically incoherent speech which conveyed no meaning to the listener. Moreover, Nash displayed negative symptoms which included reduced emotional responses and facial expressions which are characterized as a decrease in purposeful, determined, self-initiated activities.

Throughout the movie, John Nash has three recurring hallucinations. The first

hallucination that appeared is his roommate, Charles. Another hallucination is Charle’s niece Marcy. Lastly, his most dangerous hallucination is William Parcher, “Big Brother”. The hallucinations of John Nash triggered his delusions directly. His most dominant delusion was that he was invited to the Pentagon to work for the Department of Defence as a secret agent helping to defeat the Russians by codebreaking a cluster of numbers.

He had persecutory delusions which is a paranoia that someone is after you and is going to injure you, despite a lack of evidence. Nash specifically suspected that he is being targeted by Parcher and other spies.

In the film, Nash gets diagnosed with schizophrenia which is one of the categories under the schizophrenia spectrum and other psychiatric disorders in the DSM-5. They are characterized by abnormalities in one or more of the key features that define the psychotic disorders – delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking (speech), grossly disorganized behaviour, and negative symptoms. However, other psychologists disagree with this diagnosis. Parker (2015) stated that Nash should have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder while Capps (2005) stated that Nash had a narcissistic personality disorder. John nearly fits the criteria for bipolar disorder; however, the movie did not clearly show whether his psychotic disturbances arise during a depressed or manic time. To accurately diagnose John Nash, a private consultation is required to decide whether his delusions and hallucinations happened within a major mood period. It is unclear whether to diagnose John with bipolar or schizoaffective disorder without having an interview with him face-to-face. Nash fits the criteria for schizophrenia based on the details from the movie.

Over a span of one month, two or more syndromes under criteria A must be present. Criteria A can only be met if at least one of the first three syndromes under Criteria A is present. He meets number one as he had delusions accompanied by hallucinations that he was being tracked and was trying to crack codes for the government. He meets number two as he had hallucinations that there are three people interacting with him regularly. He meets number three because his speech was disorganized throughout the movie, most noticeably when he was giving a speech that was mostly incoherent. He meets number four as he exhibited grossly disorganized behaviour which was consistent throughout the movie - his total disinterest in the organization of his school notes and his erratic indulgence in patterns by collecting magazines and newspapers are all very clear examples of disorganized behavior. He meets number five as he experienced negative symptoms most noticeably reduced emotion - this was most noticeable when he was staring into space and acting motionless while his

baby was crying in his arms.

At the beginning of the movie, Nash seemed to be capable of coping with the hectic university life but as the movie progressed and his mental disturbances started to arise, his quality of life gradually started decreasing. Refusing to participate in classes and the inability to fulfill occupational commitments are clear examples of decreased level of functioning, therefore, he meets criterion B. He satisfies criterion C since, for at least 6 months, he showed persistent signs of mental disturbance - his psychotic symptoms were apparent since his time at Princeton University. Schizoaffective depressive or bipolar disorder is ruled out because of a shortage of knowledge on major depressive or psychotic symptoms, considering all information gathered from the movie, he satisfies criterion D. Since there is no proof that he was under the influence of a drug, he meets criterion E. Since we lack knowledge about Nash's upbringing, it is not appropriate to diagnose him with autism spectrum disorder, thus, he satisfies criterion F. Based on the DSM-V, John Nash would be diagnosed with schizophrenia with catatonia which is coded as 293.89 (F06.1) since, after hospitalization, he lost interest in daily life.

By the end of the movie, the specifier, multiple episodes currently partial remission is most appropriate for John Nash’s condition. This is because he had stopped taking his medication and still saw the hallucinations but was able to ignore them.

There are several studies that state that genetics has a greater effect than environmental factors as a precipitating cause of schizophrenia. According to Avila et al. (2003), schizophrenia is determined by genetic to a very large extent. John Nash's interest in sophisticated mathematical algorithms during his doctorate degree and his occupation as a professor in math seemed to have fueled his fantasies of working for the government as a code breaker. The movie did not show how he was reared as a child to see if it had anything to do with his mental illness. Schizophrenia is a complex condition that has been linked to a range of genetic and environmental causes (NeuRa, 2017). According to Neuroscience Research Australia (2017), schizophrenia has a wide range of genes that are linked to it and it has an estimated 80% heritability. So, it seems that the biological paradigm is supported as the most probable.

However, John's disorder was also influenced by a number of external causes. According to Fearon and Morgan (2005), many environmental factors add elevated risks to

developing schizophrenia. They theorized, for example, that migrants have higher risks of developing schizophrenia because of the pain they've experienced when coping with conflict and fleeing to another country for survival. The era that Nash was born in was the Cold War era, and this had a massive impact on his delusions, so much so, that it was the main theme of his delusions - he believed that Russian spies were after him.

Hollywood often distorts mental disorders in film. John Nash after seeing the movie for the first time said that it was a very good movie but it was not him. However, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ brings a great visual perspective to what hallucinations and delusions can look and feel like to the person affected by them. There are a few differences between the real John Nash and the movie according to Nazar (2015) who wrote a biography on Nash also called ‘A Beautiful Mind’. It is reported by Keefe (2002) that although the movie portrayed John Nash as having visual hallucinations, in reality, his hallucinations were predominantly more auditory than visual. In fact, John reported only auditory hallucinations (Nazar, 2015). According to John Milnor (1998) who lived with Nash briefly noted that John had reoccurring relationships with other men. In the film, they do not bring up his homosexual experiences.

The way people communicate with someone who is suffering from a mental illness may be beneficial or harmful. In the film, John Nash's wife, Alicia Nash, is portrayed as a very understanding partner, helping him through his illness. Throughout the film, she is very supportive of him. His university friends and eventual coworkers were obviously perplexed by his actions at the start of the film. But after learning about his diagnosis, they were compassionate and urged him to continue coming to Princeton. Dr. Rosen, his psychiatrist, admitted him to a mental institution and then helped him understand that his delusions and hallucinations were not real. He also treated him with electroshock therapy and antipsychotic drugs.

Conclusion

In summary, John Nash meets all the criteria for schizophrenia in the DSM-V. Both biological factors and environmental factors play a role in influencing John Nash’s syndromes. Electroshock therapy and antipsychotic drugs helped him for a short period of time especially in the early onset of schizophrenia. In the long run, John was able to stop taking his medications with the help of his family and friends. Overall, John Nash exemplifies how mental illness can be understood and treated rather than feared and stigmatized.

References

Avila, M. T., Sherr, J., Valentine, L. E., Blaxton, T. A., & Thaker, G. K. (2003). Neurodevelopmental Interactions Conferring Risk for Schizophrenia: A Study of Dermatoglyphic Markers in Patients and Relatives. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 29 (3), 595– 605. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.schbul.a007031 Capps, D. (2003). John Nash's Postdelusional Period: A Case of Transformed Narcissism. Pastoral Psychology, 52 (4), 289–313. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:pasp.0000016935.18714.09 Fearon, P., & Morgan, C. (2005). Environmental Factors in Schizophrenia: The Role of Migrant Studies. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 32(3), 405–408. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbj076 Keefe, R. (2002, March 27). A straight look at schizophrenia. PAW: Features Web Exclusives. http://www.princeton.edu/~paw/web_exclusives/plus/plus_032702mind1.html. Milnor, J. (1998). John Nash and “A Beautiful Mind.” American Mathematical Society. https://www.ams.org/notices/199810/milnor.pdf. Nazar, S. (1998). A Beautiful Mind. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. NeuRa. (2018, April 17). Schizophrenia. Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRa). https://www.neura.edu.au/health/schizophrenia/. Parker, G. (2015, October 12). A diagnostic bind: MOVIE mania and John Nash's schizophrenia. https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/acps.12504....