John Nash Hallucinations

John Forbes Nash Jr. was born on June 13, 1928, in Bluefield West Virginia. In his childhood years his father was an electrical engineer, and his mother was a schoolteacher. As a child he was introverted and preferred to play in solitude, and soon became noticed for his talents in the classroom. His abilities were truly shown after his father brought home books for John to read, and eventually led him to learn more at home than he did at school. He showed such an interest in mathematics that in 1941, at the age of 14 he was accepted into Bluefield College, where he won a scholarship through the George Westinghouse Competition and was accepted into the Carnegie Institute of Technology. At Carnegie he received an M.S. and a B.S. in mathematics

Many of the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia are similar to the actions and behaviors of John Nash. The largest of which is John’s hallucinations in which he sees many different individuals and makes up fantasies in his head to distort his reality. The hallucinations are one of the main reasons why Nash can be identified with this disease, however the similarities do not stop there. Nash also shows great paranoia in all aspects of his life, from his work to his personal life he is always watching out for new people who he doesn’t know. He shows unexplained anger when reality does not go how he likes it, which can be explained by his inability to determine reality from fantasy, and overall, his hallucinations. Similarly, Nash has an inability to connect with people on an emotional level, due to his hallucinations which interact with him in a way which he finds pleasing, unlike reality. To top all of this off he has a severe case of anxiety, one which can be characterized by his constant habit of itching his forehead, which becomes more common when he is nervous or uncomfortable. Due to the immense connections between John’s behavior and the symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, it is clear that he has this