Schizophrenia in films: A Beautiful Mind
Schizophrenia is a disease in which the patients get subjected to hallucinations of hypothetical characters and start feeling them to be part of that hypothetical world. There are films which have portrayed their characters suffering from this disease and explained the consequent underpinnings to the family peace and development of such patients. A Beautiful Mind (2001) is an Oscar winning film that has depicted the real life story of noble laureate, Sir John Nash. Although, the film has its own share of dramatic and cinematic inclusions to demystify the actual sufferings and issues regarding Schizophrenia, still the prolific screenplay and efficient role play have resulted in realistic impact from the movie. We will be analyzing the various aspects of psychological, mental, and social behavior changes related to Schizophrenia via this film.
Psychological impact on patient and the family
Illustration of Mental state and its similarity to fantasy world
Fantasy world can be defined as an irrational sequence of affairs which tend to deviate from any such activity in reality. In case of A Beautiful Mind, John Nash’s lifestyle was extremely secluded with least social values as he was extremely studious and people considered him to be a ‘geek’ who was abnormal in his conduct (Shorter, 2015). In such scenario, Schizophrenic Nash developed a hypothetical roommate who used to interact with him and provoked him to live life as he pleased. Nash got that irrational support for his activities which he could never have done under normal circumstances. It was very late when he realized that no such character actually existed and he was merely in a fantasy world of hallucinations.
Schizophrenia and consequent impact on social life
Nash had some very supportive friends who helped him at the peak of his illness and had a very caring wife who kept along with him in spite of various risks. Nash often landed up in creating ruckus amongst the fellow faculty members and with students whenever the hallucinations and real life worlds clashed for him. Still, his family and friends supported his existence as a normal society member and prevented him from going to the asylum (Rettner, 2015). This initiative led to overpowering of real life characters over his hallucinations and he gradually learned to ignore them. The film shows that during the last phase of his life, John Nash was extremely normal and used to ignore the presence of any imaginary character amidst normal people.
Bibliography
Nutt, Amy.2015. Did John Nash’s schizophrenia boost his ‘beautiful mind’? Washington Post, [online] 26 May. Available at : <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2015/05/26/did-john-nashs-schizophrenia-boost-his-beautiful-mind> [Accessed on 2 February 2016].
Rettner, Rachel.2015. How 'Beautiful Mind' Mathematician John Nash's Schizophrenia 'Disappeared'. Livescience, [online] 2 June. Available at: <http://www.livescience.com/51058-schizophrenia-recovery-john-nash.html> [Accessed on 2 February 2016].
Shorter,Edward. 2015. A Beautiful Mind: What Did John Nash Really Have? 2015. Psychology Today, [online] 27 May. Available at: <https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-everyone-became-depressed/201505/beautiful-mind-what-did-john-nash-really-have> [Accessed on 2 February 2016].
