A Beautiful Mind Realistic Representation of Psychological Concepts Free Essay Example, 1250 words

At MIT Nash gets acquainted with Alicia (Jennifer Connelly), a lovely and remarkable student. They marry eventually, but their happy life gets under the threat when John is diagnosed with schizophrenia and is apparently falling into insanity. In a psychiatric hospital Nash undergoes therapy through electroshock to get rid of his delusions, but he nevertheless finds it next to impossible to work or be a proper husband. Besides, as soon as he ceases to take his medication, the delusions come back. But despite all that, his wife Alicia provides a great support to him as he does not want to be again hospitalized, and with time John learns how to control his delusions. Finally, when John Nash is granted a Nobel Prize in economics he can be said to have gained the greatest victory of his life, but the one which he could hardly achieve without the love and help of Alicia. Psychological concept #1 Perhaps the most stunning display that the film provides is that of a debilitating condition of a person suffering from schizophrenia, a psychiatric term that is used to describe a mental disorder with various symptoms that in combination lead to changes in the reality perception and to consequent impairments in common social functions of an affected person. We will write a custom essay sample on A Beautiful Mind: Realistic Representation of Psychological Concepts or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The very word schizophrenia can be translated as "a shattered mind", which, ironically, is so a fitting characterization of the Nash`s condition. People with schizophrenia left untreated usually manifest disorganized patterns of thinking and have auditory hallucinations and delusions, often quite acute (Green, 2001, pp. 1-16). In this connection, the film depicts such symptoms of schizophrenia in a very vivid and distressing way, moreover that we as viewers learn that what we had previously perceived as reality and as key people in the life of Nash were actually his hallucinatory visions. Besides, aside from affected cognition, a person with schizophrenia can also develop alterations in his or her emotion and behavior. Such behavioral changes in their turn may lead to a social isolation that is further reinforced due to other factors that emerge from this medical condition, for example as when social cognition of a person becomes inhibited he or she may tend to avoid social situations with potentially stressful outcomes, thus further worsening the condition and increasing social isolation (Green, 2001, pp. 82-85). We can see some symptoms of this process in the film as John from the very beginning is very awkward in relations with most people, and he himself says that "I dont like people much".