
Media presentations are a powerful influence on the public’s perception of facts and reality. Often, the media must “twist” or alter true events in order to captivate a mass audience. The case of John Nash is no exception. John Nash is a brilliant and influential mathematician whose contributions to the field of economics were officially recognized when Nash was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1994. However, for 35 years prior to winning the Nobel Prize, John Nash struggled with paranoid schizophrenia. The disorder significantly affected his personal, social, and professional life.
In 2001, Universal Pictures released the film A Beautiful Mind as a biography of John Nash’s struggle with schizophrenia. A Beautiful Mind was subsequently nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won four Academy Awards. The success of the film is a testament to the public’s fascination with schizophrenia; unfortunately, the film also serves as the only exposure most people have to the life and times of a schizophrenic individual. Hence, the public is being educated largely by a single case study influenced by the pressures of Hollywood’s need to appeal to a mass audience. The public perception of the facts and myths regarding schizophrenia may require some adjustment in order to more closely resemble the plight of schizophrenic individuals in society at large. Debunking myths that may stem from inaccurate or altered facts portrayed in A Beautiful Mind requires contrasting the film to the real-life story of John Nash and to the general picture of schizophrenia as it manifests in the general population.
The film A Beautiful Mind follows a different sequence of events than the actual occurrence of John Nash’s symptoms. According to the film, the progression of Nash’s schizophrenic symptoms start from his arrival at Princeton University in 1947 and follow a steady sequence up to the Nobel Prize ceremony in 1994. The increase in the severity of symptoms is marked by significant events occurring in Nash’s life. These “stages” of Nash’s schizophrenia is separated into 9 distinct segments of the film.
First, Nash’s arrival at Princeton in 1947 is almost immediately followed by the appearance of a mysterious roommate who becomes Nash’s best friend for several years. The roommate is later discovered to be a hallucination. In addition to the roommate, Nash also seems to display certain other symptoms. His manner of speech is eccentric and often inappropriate, and his emotional expressions seem reduced or muted at times. Nash’s stress seems to stem from his indecision in choosing a topic for his thesis paper, which implies the disorder had begun to interfere with his academic work. While at Princeton, he completed the theory which set the stage for his later fame and Nobel Prize. In Nash’s autobiography written for the Nobel Foundation, he does not mention any symptoms occurring during his time at Princeton {Nash 2005}. Rather, he indicates that his time at Princeton was filled with interesting topics and research, some of which he planned to refine for later publications. In fact, Nash’s schizophrenic symptoms did not begin until his time as an instructor and researcher at MIT {Comer 2007:415}. The average age of onset of schizophrenia in a male is age 21; Nash’s symptoms began at age 30 {Comer 2007:412, 415}. The earlier onset of symptom portrayed in the film may have been an attempt to align Nash’s symptoms with those observed in the general population. Even when Nash’s symptoms became apparent, he never experienced the visual hallucinations that fill the span of the film. In reality, Nash experienced only auditory hallucinations {Comer 2007:415}. Auditory hallucinations are a more common symptom seen in psychotic patients, including those with schizophrenia {Comer 2007:418}.
The second stage portrayed in the film occurs in the Pentagon where Nash consults with the Department of Defense on a matter of national security. Nash quickly completes the complex task the Pentagon asked of him. While in the Pentagon, Nash catches a glimpse of a character that would later be identified as another hallucination. The film portrays the great stress of the Cold War and a fear of the Russians, leading to Nash’s next symptom: the delusion that only he can save the world and that Pentagon will stop at nothing to ensure that Nash is the one to accomplish the task. While such delusions of grandeur are prevalent in schizophrenic individuals, delusions of persecution are far more common {Comer 2007:419}. Some instances of delusions of persecution are evident in the film, but these symptoms seem secondary to delusions of grandeur. Other symptoms evident in schizophrenic individuals are absent from Universal Picture’s portrayal of John Nash; symptoms such as inappropriate affect, alogia, psychomotor symptoms, and flat affect are not portrayed, though it is unclear whether these were symptoms Nash actually experienced. Other symptoms are present in the film, though they receive less attention, such as social withdrawal and avolition.
Entering the third stage of the film, Nash is back at Princeton. His preoccupation with saving the world has taken over his life, and he has recurring hallucinations of the same figure he saw in the Pentagon. He meets his future wife, Alicia, and the stress of being found socially acceptable by a real woman sends his hallucinations and delusions into overdrive. He becomes cut off from the world and locks himself in his office for hours, and disappears at night to run mysterious errands. Nash marries Alicia, who begins to express some concern regarding her husband’s erratic behavior.
At Cambridge in 1954, Alicia becomes pregnant and again Nash’s symptoms and erratic behavior increase. The symptoms have now eliminated Nash’s ability to function both in his personal and professional lives, and he is forced into a mental institution against his will. A psychiatrist is able to convince Alicia Nash that many of her husband’s friends and jobs are not real, but convincing John Nash of the same information proves difficult. In the film, Nash is institutionalized only once, but he was actually in and out of mental institutions many times {Comer 2007:415}. Additionally, Nash states his mental disturbances begin in 1959 {Nash 2005}. However, the majority of action in the film takes place prior to 1959 and the film does not spend any time describing the events of this particular year. The film is correct in the portrayal that institutionalization was done against Nash’s will; Nash later reveals that, “I later spent times of the order of five to eight months in hospitals in New Jersey, always on an involuntary basis and always attempting a legal argument for release. {Nash 2005}”
One year later, in the fifth stage of the movie, Nash is released from the mental institution and is still on medications. His son has been born and Alicia takes care of both her husband and son. John Nash experiences several difficulties related to his medications, and chooses to stop taking them. His hallucinations return to the same nature and severity as they had been prior to his institutionalization. In the film, Alicia gives birth to only one child, but John and Alicia Nash had two children. The other child is an older son, and the younger son portrayed in the movie also developed schizophrenia {Comer 2007:415}. Though Alicia remains married to John Nash throughout the film, she had divorced him in 1963 while still remaining devoted to his recovery {Comer 2007:415}. Interestingly, none of the unwanted effects often seen in conventional antipsychotics are mentioned in the film. Extrapyramidal effects such as Parkinsonian symptoms and tardive dyskinesia are not mentioned, though many patients on conventional antipsychotics develop these symptoms {Comer 2007:444}.
Another year later, in 1956, John Nash is portrayed in a full-blown relapse. His paranoia and dependence on hallucinations has increased to the point where he is aggressive to his wife. After a major confrontation with Alicia, he realizes that the people in his hallucinations never increase in age. It is at this point that Nash begins to come to grips with his disorder. However, he refuses any further treatment and hospitalization, claiming he can overcome his symptoms on his own. It is unclear whether any therapy approaches helped Nash develop skills to control his symptoms. The film implied that Nash was unable to complete his work while struggling with schizophrenia, though Nash’s description of his career indicates that he never stopped publishing papers even when he was unable to complete research to his own standards {Nash 1995}.
The seventh stage of the film, set in 1956, two months after the sixth stage, illustrates Nash’s struggle to overcome schizophrenia using only his mind. He chooses to use his intellect to reason with himself what is real and what is not. He begins ignoring the people he is hallucinating. However, the hallucinations continue to follow him and never go away.
The eighth and ninth stages wrap up the film; by 1978, Nash has regained a grip on reality and is back on medications. However, instead of taking the conventional antipsychotics that caused him problems several years prior, he has started taking the new atypical antipsychotics and claim they help. The film ends in 1994 at the Nobel Prize ceremony. John Nash claims he never took any medications after the year 1970, the year his mother died and he reunited with his ex-wife Alicia {Comer 2007:415}.
The story of John Nash is interesting because it describes someone who prevailed against all odds. Nash had a challenge particularly difficult to overcome, but he rose above it and continued to make incredible contributions to the world of academia. For someone to be able to overcome a debilitating illness with only their own brain to assist them is admirable. For someone who is pursuing intellectual feats, Nash is a person who can be a source of hope and motivation when academics and “coming up with an original idea” becomes difficult.
References
A beautiful mind. (2001) (B. Grazer, A. Goldsman, & R. Howard & S. Nasar). Universal City, CA: Universal Studios.
Comer, R. J. (2007). Abnormal psychology: Sixth edition. New York: Worth Publishers.
Nash, J. (1995). The Nobel prizes 1994. In Les prix Nobel (Edited by Tore Frangsmyr). Retrieved July 16, 2009, from Nobel Foundation: http://nobelprize.org.
Filed under: Academic Discussions, History, Mental Health/Psychology, A Beautiful Mind, John Nash, media, psychology, schizophrenia