A Beautiful Mind 

is a 2001 film based on the true story of American mathematician John

Nash, who lived a horrific life due to his disease. He studied Mathematics at the Princeton

University, during which he was trying to come up with an original idea. He felt that he would

only become important by coming up with one, and thought that it was pointless to be attending

classes. This movie shows the timeline of John Nash’s life, which begins upon entry of graduate

school at Princeton, where the early symptoms of his disease started. The film then goes on to

show the later parts of Nash’s life and in the end, we see that despite his diagnosis, John went on

to being one of the greatest mathematicians of all time; ultimately winning the Nobel Memorial

Prize in Economics.

Nash arrives at Princeton as a new graduate student and as a recipient of the prestigious

Carnegie Prize for mathematics. Although promised a single room, he was greeted by his

roommate Charles, a literature student who soon becomes Nash’s best friend. He also meets a

group of other promising math and science graduates, with whom he strikes up an awkward

friendship. As Nash was seeking a truly original idea for his thesis paper, John was under

increasing pressure to develop his theses to begin work. Charles then suggested that he take a

break and go to a bar to which he agrees. A particular harsh rejection from a woman at the bar is

what ultimately inspires John’s fruitful work in the concept of governing dynamics, a theory in

mathematical economics. (A beautiful mind, n.d, para 2). After the conclusion of his studies at

Princeton, he accepts a prestigious appointment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(MIT), along with his friends Sol and Bender. Five years later while teaching a Calculus class at

MIT, he placed a rather interesting problem on the board that he dares his students to solve. One

of his students Alicia Larde then went to his office to discuss the problem, and the two soon fell

in love and eventually marry.

On a return visit to Princeton, John ran into his former roommate Charles and his young niece

Marcee, whom he adores. There he also encountered William Parcher a mysterious Department

of Defense agent, who asked Nash to decrypt a complex enemy encrypt, which to Parcher’s

surprise, he decrypted mentally. John was then given a new assignment to thwart a Soviet plot

and write a report of his findings then place them in a specified mailbox. He is then seen being

chased by the Russians in an exchange of gun fire, which left Nash increasingly paranoid which

in turn caused him to behave erratically.

John Nash was diagnosed with schizophrenia, which is a chronic brain disorder that affects less

than one percent of the U.S. population (Psychiatry, n.d, p.1). Some major symptoms of

schizophrenia include: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or

catatonic behavior. The DSM-5 outlines the following criterion used to make diagnoses of

schizophrenia; In order to be diagnosed you must have, Impairment in one of the major areas of

functioning for a significant period of time since the onset of the disturbance. These areas of

functioning include: work, interpersonal relations, or self-care. Some signs of this disorder must

last for a continuous period of at least 6 months, during which the period must include at least

one month of symptoms (or less if treated) that meet criterion ‘A’ (active phase symptoms) and

may include periods of residual symptoms (Katie, 2020, p.3).

Throughout the film we saw why it was quite evident that Nash was diagnosed with

schizophrenia. He had delusions and hallucinations that impaired his functioning at both work

and school. Further in the film, we then saw it revealed that Charles, Marcee and Parcher were

figments of his hallucinations. However, it is important to note that in real life, Nash suffered

from auditory hallucinations not visual ones. After observing John’s erratic behaviour, Alicia
informed a psychiatric hospital. When he was delivering a guest lecture at Harvard University,

he thought that he was being watched by a hostile group of people and attempted to flee.

However, he was forcibly sedated and sent to a psychiatric facility where he viewed the officials

of the facility as Soviet kidnappers. Alicia was desperate to help her husband, so she went to the

mailbox to retrieve all of Nash’s never-opened “top secret” documents that he had delivered

there. When he was confronted with this evidence, John was finally convinced that he was in fact

hallucinating. He received a painful series of insulin shock therapy sessions, and was released on

the condition that he agreed to take antipsychotic medication, which early trials had

demonstrated that could help relieve the hallucinations and delusions experienced by persons

with paranoid schizophrenia.

However, the drugs created negative side-effects that affected his relationship with his wife

and his intellectual capacity. Because of this, Nash secretly stopped taking his medication and

hoarded his pills triggering a relapse of his psychosis. He once again started having these

delusions of Charles, Marcee and Parcher. He almost caused his son to drown claiming that

Charles was watching him while he was in the bath, then Alicia ran to the phone to call the

psychiatric hospital for emergency assistance. Parcher urged Nash to kill his wife to which he

refuses, and after arguing with Parcher, Nash accidentally knocked Alicia to the ground. She

tried to flee with their child but was prevented from doing so by Nash, who after a moment,

came to terms with his hallucinations as he saw that Marcee had remained the same age since the

day he met her. Only then did he really accept that all three persons were a part of his

hallucinations. Nash and Alicia ultimately decided to try to live with Nash’s abnormal condition.

He consciously said goodbye to Charles, Marcee and Parcher, in an attempt to ignore his

hallucinations but he still suffered with them and mentioned taking newer medication. In time,
Nash was able to live with and largely ignore his psychotic episodes, humorously ensuring that

any new acquaintances are in fact real people.

As aforementioned, the film highlighted ways in which John Nash was helped. He was given

individual therapy, as well as medications to deal with his disorder. However, I also think that he

should have been given family or group therapy. This treatment proves to be more effective

when persons with schizoaffective disorder, are able to discuss their real-life problems with

family members. This effectiveness is as a result of the psychological therapies, assisting both

the individual living with schizophrenia along with his family in order to better cope with the

illness. Supportive group settings can also help reduce social isolation, provide a reality check

during periods of psychosis, increase appropriate use of medications and develop better social

skills. Nash could have also been given life skills training where he could learn social and

vocational skills, which help reduce isolation and improve the quality of life. Social skills

training centralizes on improving communication, social interactions, as well as the ability to

participate in daily activities. New skills and behaviors specific to settings such as the home or

workplace can also be practiced. Vocational rehabilitation and supported employment on the

other hand, focuses on helping people with schizoaffective disorder prepare for, find and keep

jobs. (Schizoaffective disorder, 2019, para1)

What stood out to me the most from the film was the fact that Alicia never left her husband’s

side. She did not give up on him. It showed me what real love looked like; being able to stay

with your partner in good days and bad. John also gave me hope in the sense that, he learned to

live with his hallucinations and essentially got better as he got a handle on them. He even went as

far as persisting intellectually until he won a Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in
1994, for his game theory which continues to be valid and useful in the strategic field. John fought

with his illness his entire life, and eventually came out victorious. He managed to live a life

contrary from what his illness had dictated, and can be said to be a true pillar of hope for those

suffering alike.

Reference page

A Beautiful Mind (n.d.) Retrieved December 10th, 2020 from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Beautiful-Mind

Katie H. (2020) What is Schizophrenia? DSM-5 Schizophrenia Definition & Symptoms.

Retrieved on December 10th, 2020 from

https://pro.psycom.net/assessment-diagnosis-adherence/schizophrenia-dsm5-definition

Psychiatry (n.d.) what is schizophrenia. Retrieved on December 10th, 2020 from

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/schizophrenia/what-is-schizophrenia

Schizoaffective disorder (2019) Retrieved on December 10th, 2020 from

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/schizoaffective-disorder/diagnosis-
treatment/drc-20354509