Mr

Schizophrenia is said to be a severe disturbance of the brain's functioning. Current evidence concerning the causes of schizophrenia is varied. The data suggests that there are multiple factors involved. These factors include changes in the chemistry of the brain, changes in the structure of the brain, and genetic factors. Head injuries, as well as viral factors, may also be involved. Some theories suggest that schizophrenia is a group of related diseases caused by different factors. It may develop so gradually that the family and even the person with the disease may not realize that anything is wrong for a long period of time. This was evident in the case of John Nash and his wife. This slow deterioration is referred to as gradual-onset or insidious schizophrenia. A gradual build-up of symptoms may or may not lead to an acute or crisis episode of schizophrenia. An acute episode is short and intense, and involves hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and an altered sense of self. I have decided to write about John Nash, a true story presented in the titled movie "A Beautiful mind." This story is just too good to pass up as it presents a man who was brilliant, yet had a darker side that pulled his mind into an imaginary world that at times appears to be as genuine as the material world. Along with John's story, I will explore the various misconceptions concerning schizophrenia

Student years

A Beautiful Mind relates the story of a man who develops, through his struggle with schizophrenia, an alternate underworld of subterfuge, and imaginary people, who seemingly coexist with him during his rise from student at Princeton to Nobel Prize winner in the field of mathematics. When he first arrives at Princeton one is immediately introduced to two major problems that separate John from his fellow classmates; lack of social interaction, as well as a sense of his overblown ego. The chess game highlights both his contempt for games with no clear logical conclusion, and his inability to admit defeat. At first one would see this as a character flaw, but further analysis would reveal this as a man with a sense of logic that many people may not or would not want to possess. The difficulty is that there are a number of different solutions for nonconstant sum games, and no one is clearly the "right" answer in every case. Hence, Nash's possible frustration with the traditional game of chess (McCain Roger A., "Solutions" to Nonconstant Sum Games, retrieved Oct 3 ) .

It is no surprise that many famous writers were frustrated with mental illness. World famous writers, poets, and artists, battled mental illness throughout their lives: Michelangelo, Lord Byron, Coleridge, T.S. Elliot, and Robert Lowell as well as many others. Van Gogh, Hemingway and Virginia Woolf committed suicide because of it (NMAI, Famous People, retrieved Oct 5).

Perhaps the reality that there were other artistic students gifted with similar intelligence, or even the deep fear of power without capability, served to solidify John's fears of normalcy. All that intelligence and there seemed to be no way to actively bring a final world peace. I recall a part in the movie where John interacts with his imaginary roommate by throwing his desk out the window from his frustration with his mathematical theorems. His obsession with paper seemed to bare a kinship with a little known emperor of San Francisco. "...Norton enjoyed the powers and privileges befitting an emperor, but he did more than simply accept the tribute of his subjects. Norton I was a working monarch. While much of his time was spent inspecting his domain, he never neglected his paperwork. During his reign, Norton issued a wide variety of royal documents, and, as loyal subjects, newspaper editors followed his command and printed them..." Hence, as I stated prior, perhaps John Nash felt deeply his "power without the capability" (Carr, Patricia E. Emperor Norton I, retrieved Oct. 4).

The added frustration of his fellow student's success serves to fuel John Nash's decision to stop going to classes, but instead opts to work solely on his power through his mathematical theorems. Strangely, the movie ignores John Nash's real life encounter and obsession with meeting Albert Einstein. Somehow he must have seen a soul mate in the character of Albert Einstein, who shared a common bout of marriage trouble, as well as lack of finesse with the opposite sex. Love is more emotional than logical at times, and it is quite an interesting moment in the film where John's encounter with the blond women in the bar actually allows a seed to germinate toward his eventual success. Through this encounter germinates the concept in which he is able to show how, without a government to set rules, a small number of business rivals could reach a stable solution that would benefit each. "... To his baffled classmates, he explains: "Adam Smith said the best result comes from everyone in the group doing what's best for himself, right? Adam Smith was wrong!" The message: Sometimes it's better to cooperate..." (Landsburg, Stephen E. Mindless, retrieved Oct 5).

Teaching years

John was eventually inducted into the real world of MIT, where, through cooperation among other things, he was expected to teach as well as do research. Was it the Cold War that motivated him to seek a solution to the unsolvable? How could countries with nuclear arms truly be safe? Like the theory he eventually created, equilibrium was never a clear solution. His theories saw through the economics as a guide to keeping the possibility of a nuclear war at a very low risk. This struggle must have plagued an otherwise balanced mind. While John's subconscious mind struggled with the hidden threat of nuclear war, his conscious was suddenly awakened to the sometimes illogical workings of love. His student, Alicia, finally breaks through his often preoccupied mind, bringing him to the realization that even famous scientist deserve to love. But alas, his desire to safeguard the world drove his mind to even inner deeper delusions of grandeur. His subsequent marriage to Alicia brought love, but a garage became the elemental Pandora's Box that seemed to hide his so-called contact with former illusion William Parcher. Parcher was a substance of his subconscious that fueled his urge to continue the fight of possible foreign dangers through code breaking.

Perhaps in a way, John's Schizophrenia was a product of his human need