~!Blog of suppa team!~

The film “A Beautiful Mind” depicts John Nash’s experience with schizophrenia and the consequences of these mental problems on his family life, his productivity as a university professor, and his relationships with his friends. The film also presents information that enables an examination of Mr. Nash’s symptoms and behavior using the biopsychosocial model of disease. We can look at the causes of his condition from a biological, psychological and social perspective.
First, let us focus on biology. Here we can notice brain disorder, some difficulties with neural activity in frontal lobes. We can concentrate on what effect medical treatment causes. Insulin shock which was applied to John Nash for every 5 days for 10 weeks was to reduce his hallucinations and brain activity, and later, pills were to hold this effect. But side-effects were that he started to lost his math talent and concentrate on math, moreover he could not have sex, which badly influenced his relationships with wife and made more stress on her.
Second is psychological approach. Here we can distinguish following symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia: hallucinations – Charles, Marcie and Parcher; delusion of grandeur – Nash’s thinking that he works on government on special secret assignment, his self-esteem is high, he thinks he is a genius, he is somehow supercilious, he beliefs in his big mission; and delusion of persecution – thinking that Russians trying to kill him and his family. The negative symptoms: social withdrawal, difficult communicating to people, strange behavior-talking to imaginations.

Third is social view. Here we can determine US cold war with USSR, whole population’s fear of Russians and their expectation of new hero –new Einstein, to protect them from soviets as causes of sickness. John Nash thought he is this “Einstein”. He was socially isolated by himself, he did not like people, he had few friends, but his best was imaginary Charles, he did not know how to treat woman. Moreover, here we must pay attention on Nash’s relationships within family, with friends, his work and carrier. As we saw in the movie, his decease badly effected all the three, but all these three later helped him to “recover”, despite not completely, but still. His hallucinations might cause his child’s death (while washing the baby, John thought that Charles was looking after him, so he could be drowned); almost split-up with his wife, distrust from her side, her despair and psychological stress(remember when she was screaming and breaking a mirror in the bath, and her sexual dissatisfaction; no social activity (unless throw out the garbage and later – work) and no work and carrier (at the moment of illness progression)
To sum up, we can trace all three prospective in this particular case of John Nash, but only social care, i.e. his Wife’s love and trust, his friend’s trust and kindness(when he accepted Nash to work in Princeton). And his main patience – math, brought him to social “recovery”.