Paranoid Schizophrenia: A Beautiful Mind by Don Howard - Case Study Example

Paranoid Schizophrenia: A Beautiful Mind by Don Howard The 2001 movie, A Beautiful Mind, directed by Don Howard, and written by Akiva Goldsman, describes the life of a person called John Nash who developed paranoid schizophrenia during the course of his life. Russell Crowe handles the lead role of John Nash in this film. John Nash has undergone different phases of delusions during his life span because of various reasons. John Nash was an intelligent person who had excellent academic qualification in Economics and Mathematics. He spent majority of time for finding out unique things like mathematical theorems. Even though he had some close friends, he spent majority of his time in loneliness in an attempt to find out new things. Gradually he developed paranoid schizophrenia and lost grip on reality. In fact he started to live in an imaginary world which is far away from the real world. The film portrays various stages of Nash’s life with schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia is one of the major psychological problems facing by the current generation. It is a mental disorder in which the victim may lose complete control of his thought processes and of emotions. Because of the popularity of the film; A beautiful mind, and the increasing cases of schizophrenia in the contemporary society, I decided to research more about it to get a clear picture about this mental disorder. Theoretically-based analysis of the etiology of Schizophrenia Vaskinn et al (2011) have pointed out that “neurocognitive dysfunction is present in schizophrenia”(Vaskinn et al, 2011, p.499). Even though the exact reasons for the occurrence of neurocognitive dysfunction are unknown, some psychologists are of the view that heredity and environment plays an important role in the development of neurocognitive dysfunction and subsequent occurrence of schizophrenia. In the case, of Nash, environment played an important role than heredity in developing neurocognitive dysfunction. He was in search of new theories in mathematics and as a result of that he failed to lead a normal life. His life in isolation caused severe mental dysfunctions and distresses. Anxiety, sleeping problems, attention problems, lack of emotions, hallucinations, staying away from others, etc are some of the major symptoms of schizophrenia. In the case of Nash, the first two problems were more prominent. He was anxious about the possibility of success in finding out new theories and as a result of that he forced to spent sleepless nights. Proper sleep is necessary to settle mental functions or processes to its normal stages. But in the case of Nash, such things never happened and he started to develop neurocognitive dysfunction. “When compared with healthy men and women, respectively, data indicate that men with schizophrenia are more likely to have neurocognitive deficits than women with schizophrenia are” (Vaskinn et al, 2011, p.500). There are plenty of differences in the mental processes of men and women. Even though, men appear more stable in their thoughts, majority of the mental disorders affect men more than women. This is because of the differences in their behaviour and thinking pattern of males and females. It should be noted that men behave more aggressive than women because of the differences in their thinking pattern. “Schizophrenia is a disorder that lasts for at least 6 months an includes at least one moth of active phase symptoms like delusions hallucinations disorganized speech grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour” (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR, 2000, p.298). Moreover, “Schizophrenia shares features such as paranoid ideation, magical thinking, social avoidance etc” (Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR, 2000, p.311). In the film Nash undergo various stages of delusion. Delusion is a mental disorder in which people think differently from normal people. People with delusions may try to create a world of their own and will stay within the boundaries of that world. Moreover Nash’s ability to discover new theories can be attributed to the magical thinking ability he possesses as a result of his disease. Moreover he tried to avoid social interactions as much as possible which is another symptom exhibited by schizophrenic patients. The treatment for Schizophrenia According to Heerey (2010), “in situations in which behaviours and/or goals are rewarded on a daily or hourly basis, people with schizophrenia engage quite readily” (Heerey, 2010, p.483). In other words, rewards play an important role in the treatment procedures of patients with schizophrenia. Instead of blaming the patients, family members should help the patient to overcome the difficult situations with the help of encouraging words and rewards. Punishments will never help a person with schizophrenia. Childish behaviour is quite natural among schizophrenic patients as portrayed in the film, A beautiful mind. It is well documented that family environment influences the prognosis of schizophrenia. A substantial body of research on expressed emotion (EE) has documented the important role of the family and studies have noted that level of expressed emotions in a family is highly predictive of relapse in recently discharged patient with schizophrenia who are in contact with their relatives (Nasr & Kausar, 2009, p.73) In the film, A beautiful mind, the lead character Nash portrayed as recovering from paranoid schizophrenia with the support from his loving wife, his friends, and the force of his own will. Medications have limitations in helping in schizophrenia patients. Complete recovery is possible only with the help of the family members of the patient. In simple cases, hospitalization is not necessary for schizophrenia; however in chronic cases, hospitalization is necessary. In other words, the care received by the patients in the family plays in important role in the case of schizophrenic patients. Family members should take immense care in avoiding or minimising patient’s chances of relapse. “Family “psychoeducation,” which includes teaching various coping strategies and problem-solving skills, may help families deal more effectively with their ill relative and may contribute to an improved outcome for the patient “(Overview of Schizophrenia, 2002) Prognosis of Schizophrenia “Several factors have been associated with a better overall prognosis: Being female, rapid (vs. insidious) onset of symptoms, older age of first episode, predominantly positive (rather than negative) symptoms, presence of mood symptoms, and good pre-illness functioning”(Schizophrenia Prognosis, 2011). Mental strength is another factor which determines how well a person may face the challenges raised by schizophrenia. In short, biological as well as environmental factors are equally prevalent in causing schizophrenia. Mental faculties which control neurocognition and social functioning among men and women are different and therefore the symptoms of schizophrenia may appear in different forms among men and women. Male schizophrenia patients could be easily agitated than female schizophrenia patients because of the differences in their cognitive abilities and social interactions. References Heerey EA, Matveeva TM and Gold JM.(2010). Imagining the Future: Degraded Representations of Future Rewards and Events in Schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 120, No. 2, 483–489 0021-843X/10/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0021810 Database: EBSCOhost Nasr T & Kausar R. (2009). Effects of family psycho education On relapse prevention of Schizophrenia patients in Pakistan. Journal of Pakistan Psychiatric Society Date: July 1, 2009. Database: EBSCOhost Overview of Schizophrenia (2002). Retrieved from http://www.schizophrenia.com/family/sz.overview.htm Schizophrenia Prognosis, (2011). Retrieved from http://www.news-medical.net/health/Schizophrenia-Prognosis.aspx Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-IV-TR, (2000), American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association. Task Force on DSM-IV. Vaskinn A, Sundet K, Simonsen C, Hellvin T, Melle I & Andreassen O.A (2011). Sex Differences in Neuropsychological Performance and Social Functioning in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. Neuropsychology. American Psychological Association 2011, Vol. 25, No. 4, 499–510 0894-4105/11/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0022677. Database: EBSCOhost Read More