“A Beautiful Mind” is the story of a Mathematician named John Nash. In the movie, John has amazing experiences which later are determined to be inside of his head. He is diagnosed with Schizophrenia and is practically unable to function on and off of his prescribed treatments. After he learns to cope with his illness, he receives the Nobel Peace Prize from his college work.
I believe John's symptoms began before the movie even introduced him. With his introduction, John had already displayed his anti-social tendencies and his calmness towards skipping his classes. He had many other symptoms of Schizophrenia, the main one being hallucinations. In the movie, John Nash has the closest relationships with these hallucinations. One of them was his best friend, Charles Herman, who encouraged him to reapply himself at school and go out more to socialize. Later in the movie, he had a daughter with him, named Marcee. The other hallucination was Mr. Parcher, who was involved with the government/military and had John working on Classified assignments. These characters appear to encourage Nash. Instead of being internal though, these motivators are projected externally for him to interact with.
The treatments used on John were effective only in the sense that they diminished his hallucinations. However, his quality of life actually appeared to decline as a result. Also, John begins to smoke cigarettes, which is common for people with Schizophrenia. This maybe his own coping method for the situations.
The first treatment was an electric shock sent through his body. This most likely degraded him as he was strapped to the bed and had a sticks put into his mouth, only to be put into seizures. This treatment seems very animal and didn't appear to be as effective as was his wife's exposed frustration and anguish towards the illness.
The medication prescribed to John stopped the hallucinations, but slowed down his mind. Because of this, he could not work. Work, to most people is a necessary evil, but in the absence of it John appeared as a broken man. He didn't seem to have a purpose in his life, and most likely felt like a burden to his wife.
The turning point in John's recovery occurred after he had almost drown his own child. I believe he had realized it to a smaller extent before this occasion, but was overwhelmed when the hallucinations returned. When he told Mr. Parcher that he was glad that he was real, I believe it wasn't because he didn't believe he was ill in the first place. I think he was relieved to know that he wasn't crazy, and that he really did have a purpose in his life, a usefulness.
However, he was rudely awakened from these delusions once more at the near loss of his child and wife. It was at this time that he finally realized that the only way to recover from his illness, was to live with it. He knew that the people were real to him, and because of this, he had to deal with them as living people; he had to ignore them.
With the help and encouragement of his wife and the new understanding he had towards his mind, John was able to live with Schizophrenia. His hallucinations never went away, but he was able to cope with their constant existence. The prescribed treatments did not seem near as effective as John's own understanding of his mind. In the end, his own solution allowed him to live his life and accomplish things that he never thought possible.
