Psychological themes in the Movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (Essay Sample)

Psychological themes in the Movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’ Name of Student Institution Affiliation Introduction ‘A Beautiful Mind’ is an American Movie produced in 2001. It falls into the biographical drama genre because it is based on the life of John Nash. John Nash was a Nobel Prize winner in the field of economics in the year 1994. This was because of his game theory which proposed a theory that could be used to determine the best choices in life. The movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’ specifically focusses on the life of John Nash from a psychological point of view. This essay will first summarize the movie, then discuss the psychology behind it. Finally, the importance of the message contained in the film is addressed. Summary of film The movie starts when Nash is a graduate student joining Princeton University. From the moment Nash joined Princeton he demonstrated an immense level of skill. With one other mathematics student called Martin Hansen, they won the prestigious Carnegie Scholarship for mathematics. The genius in Nash was further demonstrated by the way he crafted his first paper. Nash was out in the pub with his friends and they had a heated discussion over how to go about approaching a group of Women. Nash’s accomplice argued that the best way was for every man to fight for himself. Nash, on the other hand, believed that the best strategy was for them to work as a team. This is how he came up with the governing dynamics theory that his first paper was based on (Harris, 2013). It was not long before Nash met a lady called Alicia Larde. Alicia asked him out for dinner and just like that, they fell in love. Two short years later Nash Proposed and the two got married. In the subsequent scenes of the movie, it is slowly revealed that Nash is suffering from a mental illness. Out of his imagination, he creates a character called William Parcher. William Parcher works for the United States Department of Defense. He has sought the help of Nash in finding a bomb hidden by the Soviets. In the process of helping, Nash ends up believing that there are people following him who want to kill him. This paranoia eventually becomes intolerable when he becomes violent. Nash is taken to a psychiatric clinic and this is where he is diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia (Harris, 2013). Here he goes through insulin shock therapy and then he is given antipsychotic medication. Once he started using this medication Nash stops having the delusions. This newly founded psychological well-being does not last for long. Nash stops taking the drugs because of their side effects. This leads to a relapse in the disease. With the help of his wife, he realizes that the Soviets are merely a part of his imagination. Nash decides to handle the disease without using any drugs. He does this by training his mind to ignore the hallucinations. He is successful at this and ends up returning to work at the University. It is during this phase that he wins a Nobel price. Application of Psychological theme to the Film’s Message The theme that cuts across this film is mental illness. Specifically, the effectiveness of conventional treatment in restoring social cognition and perception. According to DSM V, there are five cardinal symptoms of schizophrenia. These five are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, negative symptoms, and grossly disorganized disorders. An individual with two or more of these symptoms is schizophrenic. Nash fits this criterion since he presented with both delusions and hallucinations. The initial treatment given to Nash is mainly biological. At the core of this biological treatment are antipsychotics given to reduce the symptoms that are associated with schizophrenia (Lysaker & Roe, 2016). These drugs have been proven to be effective in reducing the extent of symptoms. This conquers with the events of the movie where the main character gets a relief of symptoms after taking the drugs. The other form of biological treatment used in the film is Insulin Shock therapy. This is merely a trial treatment whose effectiveness has not been proven. At the peak of the disease, Nash is a confused man with a poor relationship with other members of the community. After treatment, he regains his social cognition and perception. He is now able to relate well to his family and the teaching fraternity. Although biological treatment works, it is far from perfect. They are often associated with side effects, some of which may be intolerable. The alternative to this is found in the attitude and persuasion theme of social psychology. This theme forms the foundation for the ideal therapy for mental illness which is commonly referred to as psychotherapy. Psychotherapy takes a psychological approach to treating mental diseases. The main character uses psychotherapy when he trains his mind to cope with the hallucination. This approach inv...