Personality traits of John Nash
Personality-trait is the relatively stable and consistent and enduring characteristics that are internal to the individual. It determines the behaviour patterns and the feelings of the individual. Personality traits are effective in predicting and explaining the individual’s conduct. The paper will describe the personality features of a character, named John Nash, the mathematician, from the movie “A Beautiful Mind”. The movie is based on the life of the American mathematician, John Nash who was a Nobel Laureate in Economics. The film starts with John Nash in his college days. Early in the film, he is shown to have developed paranoid schizophrenia disorder with episodes of delusion. John Nash had a lifelong battle with the disorder which was depicted effectively in the movie. However, he later claimed that he was treated for the disorder without medication later in life. Paranoid schizophrenia is that disorder which leads clients to become hypersensitive.
The personality trait of John Nash was beautifully portrayed in the movie “A Beautiful Mind”. The personality trait as shown in the movie included delusion of grandeur. John Nash was possessed with his study and intervention which gave him little time to relax and socialize (Dole 2020). He also had less time for personal hygiene. Later in the movie, it was realized that John also had hallucinations and delusion. His symptoms started at an age of 20. His friend, Charles Herman, was from Princeton. Later in the movie, it was also known that he had fear of persecution as well. He showed a lack of interpersonal relations as he was posed with his discovery and did not have much time for interpersonal relationships. He often gave speeches in incoherent language. All symptoms were effectively portrayed in the movie. John had the onset of his symptoms from the early 20s. This might not be correctly portrayed in the movie but can be predicted from the disposition of the movie. He also showed Delusion of Grandeur. The sense of grandeur was effectively reflected, which is a common sign of paranoid schizophrenia (Radzinski 2021). He is seen in the movie, stating that the ideas given by his friends were not original, however his ideas were original and that he is working on original ideas. He had an exaggerated sense of significance and personality in the society (Cho 2019). The movie depicted the impact of the disorder on John’s life. John with schizophrenia depicted trouble differentiating the reality from his fictional state. During a scene, it was seen that John Nash considered men in suits to be soviet spies. He had delusions that those soviet spies were sent to capture him. However, in reality, those men were sent for him but to take him to the mental health psychiatric hospitals for his mental health treatment. John’s delusion made him consider that he was working for a special force (Murphy et al. 2018).
Progress in character
The level of schizophrenia enhanced over time as the movie advanced. With the advancement of the movie, the viewer could understand that John Nash was suffering from Schizophrenia and paranoia with the side effects of hallucination and delusions. With the advancement of the movie, information about the symptoms and treatment could be understood about Nash from the movie. With the advancement of the movie, one would know that Nash does not have many friends, one friend he had was imaginary. Later in the movie, it could be understood, though he married one of his students when his synonyms enhanced, he could not respond to her needs (Lilla 2017). With the advancement of the movie, viewers could understand that John Nash was suffering from auditory and visual hallucination. In the movie, John Nash was working for the top-secret agency for the government to protect the nation. She was deeply into the work. However, with the advancement of the movie, it could be understood that it was his imagination or hallucination that he was working in the agent. With the advancement of the movie, it could be understood he was even hallucinating that the Russians were chasing him as they have found out that he has been working as the secret agent with the country (Arfani 2018). Later in the movie, in the scene when he was taken to the mental health hospital,. It was realized that starting from his friends, Charles Herman, his working as the secret agent was all part of his hallucination. Gradually with the advancement of the movie, it was realized that John Nash was not a reliable narrator. With the advancement of the movie, the audience could understand that the incidents never happened. John’s hallucination builds his character. Later in the movie, the audience realized that the unopened confidential envelopes that he often dropped at the mailbox of the stately mansion was never opened. When the mails were brought to him by his wife and disclosed, he accepted the diagnosis and finally the treatment (Regina 2022).
According to DSM V diagnostic criteria, when two or more of the following diagnoses can be detected in the individual, the client can be stated to be suffering from schizophrenia. A client with Schizophrenia can be detected to be suffering from delusion, hallucination or disorganized speech. The client can also often be detected to be suffering from grossly disorganized and catatonic behaviour, and dismissed emotional behaviour. John Nash can be detected to be showing symptoms like delusion and hallucination. He was hallucinating about working as the secret agent of the fact that Russian spies were behind him after discovering that he was working for the nation. His confidential mails being dropped at the mansion were never opened as the entire scenario was imaginative. He was often seen showing symptoms of disorganized speech. DSM V was also stated that that the symptoms need to be persistently be recent in the client for at least six months or the client might also show psychological effect of substance abuse. John Nash has not seen symptoms of substance abuse though, he smoked often. John Nash considered that his work was having an impact for the nation which was his hallucination, however the reality dawned on him, his confidence was squashed. His closest friend was also a hallucination with whom he communicated. These aspects can be considered to be “abnormal”. To any normal person realizing that the closest friend is a hallucination who gave him the opportunity to be social and the comfort zone open up freely (Ye et al. 2021). The medication he was taking was having depressive side effects, and it took him time to come to terms with the reality that he was having hallucinations (Hugdahl and Sommer 2018). At times delusions are considered to be a part of normal life stressors, for example it is normal to by mistake consider a rope for a snake. however, it is truly abnormal or pathological to believe in them to the extent to consider them the sole reality and hallucinate them to be a part of life (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 2022).
Conclusion
It can be concluded that “A Beautiful Mind” has beautifully depicted symptoms of schizophrenia which John Nash was diagnosed with. The movie begins with John’s initial days in college and ends beautifully with John accepting his mental health status and trying to cope with the condition. Gradually the audience gets to know that John Nash had paranoid schizophrenia. Thus, it can be stated that with the advancement of the movie, the audience could see the condition of schizophrenia improving in him. He was still hallucinating his friends, and the child, however, he was seen trying to ignore them, which was a sign of him trying to cope with his mental health. It can also be concluded that delusions can often be considered to be normal, for example, often due to delusion a rope can be considered to be a snake. However, it becomes pathological if the delusion is converted to faith.
References
Arfani, S., 2018. The Schizophrenia in The Main Character of A Beautiful Mind movie Directed by Ron Howard. Wanastra: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 10(1), pp.9-16.
Cho, J., 2019. Schizophrenia & Other Psychotic Disorders. Police Response to Mental Health in Canada, p.50.
Diagnostic And Statistical Manual Of Mental Disorders, 2022. [online] Repository.poltekkes-kaltim.ac.id. Available at: <https://repository.poltekkes-kaltim.ac.id/657/1/Diagnostic%20and%20statistical%20manual%20of%20mental%20disorders%20_%20DSM-5%20%28%20PDFDrive.com%20%29.pdf> [Accessed 24 April 2022].
Dole, R., 2020. John Nash’s Homosexuality and Schizophrenia. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 10(5), pp.405-407.
Hugdahl, K. and Sommer, I.E., 2018. Auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia from a levels of explanation perspective. Schizophrenia bulletin, 44(2), pp.234-241.
Lilla, M., 2017. A Beautiful Mind. In When Ideas Mattered (pp. 305-310). Routledge.
Murphy, P., Bentall, R.P., Freeman, D., O’Rourke, S. and Hutton, P., 2018. The paranoia as defence model of persecutory delusions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(11), pp.913-929.
Radzinski, I., 2021. The Imaginary in the Biopic: Deconstructing Convention in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind (2001). Journal of Film and Video, 73(2), pp.46-54.
Regina, 2022. A Beautiful Mind. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8prs4pXeKc> [Accessed 24 April 2022].
Ye, H., Zhu, X., Wang, K., Song, L., Yang, X., Li, F. and Fan, Q., 2021. Study of differences between patients with schizophrenia and healthy people in semantic processing. PsyCh Journal, 10(5), pp.698-706.
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