Schizophrenia In The Film: A Beautiful Mind

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This paper is based on the movie, A Beautiful Mind. The movie is based on the life of Nobel Prize winner, John Nash. John Nash was a brilliant mathematician who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a psychological disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels and acts. It affects all aspects of a person’s life (“Schizophrenia”, 2017). Schizophrenia is characterized by disordered thoughts, delusions which are firmly held beliefs that persist even when there is evidence they are not real and hallucinations which is seeing and/or hearing things that are not there. These sensory experiences may be threatening in nature which may cause the person to react in a bizarre or threatening way (Dina, 2018). The cause of schizophrenia …show more content…
According to the DSM-5 he meets two of the five conditions necessary to be diagnosed. These include, delusions and hallucinations that remain active for at least a one-month period. For at least six months, John’s ability to function both at work and home began to significantly decline. The symptoms that John showed could not be attributed to substance abuse, depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. Unfortunately, there is no cure for schizophrenia but several treatment options are available. John is given a course of insulin shot therapy along with an oral antipsychotic medication. He also receives counseling sessions and as part of his therapy he was confronted with the proof of his hallucinations. When John completed the inpatient treatment he was released to go home. Once he gets home he realizes the side effect the medication has on his cognitive ability and he stops taking it which leads to a relapse. Alicia not knowing that he has relapsed, leaves John alone with their baby. She then takes the trash out and sees that the back gate is open. She goes into the shed where papers are scattered and realizes that something isn't right with John. She rushes back inside to find the baby unsupervised with running water in the bathtub. This leads to an altercation between the two causing Alicia to call the doctor. They then realize that John has stopped taking his medication because the medication causes him to lose his brilliant mathematical mind and together they decide to stop taking the medication. He finally comes to the realization that he is having delusions and that none of the people are real. He is able to cope with the delusions and still be able to live a normal life thru cognitive-behavioral therapy, family support, and support from his work environment all without