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Dopamine and schizophrenia case studies
John nash schizophrenia delusional friend
Examples of John Nash having schizophrenia in A beautiful mind
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“A Beautiful Mind”, tells of John Nash and his experience with a psychological disorder, starting during graduate school through to his later life as a Nobel prize winner. Nash displays multiple symptoms beginning with disorganized behaviour presented as agitated walking and fidgety hand movement. Along with this, Nash exhibits the negative symptom of asociatlity exposed through his lack of close relationships with friends and family along with his inappropriate comments and inability to connect with the opposite sex. However, Nash’s most prominent symptoms were delusions and hallucinations, beginning with visual and auditory hallucinations of his roommate Charlie, followed by Charlie’s niece Marcee, and later William Parcher a defense agent. …show more content…
Initial studies on the role of neurotransmitters suggested that excess dopamine activity is related to the onset of schizophrenia. Research regarding dopamine is mainly related to the positive and disorganized symptoms of the disorder, which is specifically relevant to Nash’s case. Though he did portray negative symptoms in the form of asociality, his main symptoms, delusions, and hallucinations were positive, and so excess dopamine activity is an adequate explanation. Further confirmation is demonstrated when Nash is put on a regimen of antipsychotic medication that functions by blocking dopamine receptors and experiences a decline in his positive symptoms. Additional research also suggests that underactivity of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex may be the main cause of negative schizophrenic symptoms, which would explain the slight asociality that Nash did portray. Within the prefrontal cortex, low levels of the neurotransmitter glutamate also lead to an increase in dopamine action, causing the disorganized symptoms like the fidgety movements that Nash presented. In regards to brain structure, one of the main connections between schizophrenia and the brain is enlarged ventricles. This is particularly important in Nash’s case as enlarged ventricles are correlated with poor medication response which …show more content…
Along with this subjects were required to draw themselves in relation to these networks using distances to describe how close they were to the specific group (Kaz'mina et al., 1998). Following this, they completed a questionnaire regarding their networks, used to describe each member. The illustrations were later analyzed and described to find that those who depicted themselves closer to their social networks, were less symptomatic when interviewed for a follow-up one year later (Kaz'mina et al., 1998). In relation to Nash, these results point out that by attempting to regain a social network by working out of the library at the university and teaching again, he was able to gain stronger community bonds, and reduce his
A Beautiful Mind stars Russel Crowe as Nash, and Jennifer Connelly as his wife, Alicia, who’s pregnant with their child when the initial symptoms of his disease first come to light. It shares the narrative of a man whose intelligence contributed immensely to mankind while simultaneously betraying him with unnerving hallucinations. Crowe breathes
In the movie A Beautiful Mind, the description of schizophrenia is shown in many accurate ways. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) states that the symptoms of this disease are delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, or unorganized or catatonic behavior. People with schizophrenia are also socially withdrawn and awkward when in contact with other people. These traits of the sickness are shown in detail throughout the movie by way of the character John Nash’s struggle with the disease. Nash is a very intelligent professor but believes he is working with the government to foil a Soviet attack plot. Nash eventually goes onto win a Nobel Prize for one of his theories. The movie shows the effects of schizophrenia on not only one man, but also on the friends and family of the ill individual. Treatment is discussed but not to any great length due to him ignoring the doctor’s orders on medication. Overall the movie shows some very prevalent traits of the disease in great detail during certain parts of the film.
From long time, dopaminergic hypothesis of schizophrenia has got importance because of increased dopaminergic activity in subcortical brain areas associated with the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. In contrast to increased dopaminergic activity in the subcortical area, evidence indicates that dopaminergic activity is decreased in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenic patients (Perlstein et al., 2001). Reduction in dopaminergic D1 receptors and density of dopaminergic fiber...
1. Hallucinations can sometimes feed emotional needs for the person who experiences them. Discuss John Nash's needs that may have driven his hallucinations.
John Nash’s needs largely influenced his hallucinations. John Nash struggled to connect with other people his entire life. He was an outcast and spent most of his time studying mathematics. His need to connect with another person was fulfilled when he hallucinated he had a roommate. This fictional roommate, Charles, was his closest companion. John confided in Charles whenever he faced a problem. Charles helped him through the struggles he faced while attending Princeton. Charles would also praise John whenever he made accomplishments in his work. John wanted to be appreciated for his hard work at Princeton and Charles made him feel important. John hallucinated that Charles had a young niece, Marcee. The hallucination of Marcee met his need to be a parental figure. He loved Marcee like she was his own daughter and wanted to care for her. Marcee was also comforting presence for John. She was an innocent child who would never harm anyone. John also hallucinated he was working with a secret government official, Parcher. John thought Parcher sought him out for his excellent skills in math. This met John’s need to be praised for his work in mathematics. John wanted to feel important and wanted to use his skills to help the world. When he imagined he was
The type of emotional disturbance John Nash experiences is paranoid schizophrenia. Some hallucination John Nash had was his imaginary roommate Charles Herman and Marcee. He had trouble distinguishing what was real and when he thought he was a spy hiding from the Russian. He had problems communicating with others.
Schizophrenia is classified as a long term mental disorder that causes both positive symptoms such as hallucinations and delusions, negative symptoms such as disorder also creates cognitive symptoms that may cause changes in memory, or issues with thinking. This essay will explore biological explanations of schizophrenia, such as the ‘dopamine hypothesis’, where an increase in dopamine in the brain can cause schizophrenic symptoms as suggested by Carlsson and Lindqvit (1963). After, inheritance of genes found amongst biological families will be discussed, as this has been found to be linked to schizophrenia, however, genetics combined with environmental factors may play a role. Along with this, social factors may play a part in the development of schizophrenia, such as family dysfunction, where parents may show conflicting and contradictory emotions towards a child, leading them to become confused, and showing negative symptoms. Lastly, sociocultural factors such as the ‘urban effect’, where it has been found that schizophrenia patients are more common in more built-up areas, as oppose to rural areas.
The movie A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, tells the story of Nobel Prize winner, and mathematician, John Nash’s struggle with schizophrenia. The audience is taken through Nash’s life from the moment his hallucinations started to the moment they became out of control. He was forced to learn to live with his illness and learn to control it with the help of Alicia. Throughout the movie the audience learns Nash’s roommate Charles is just a hallucination, and then we learn that most of what the audience has seen from Nash’s perspective is just a hallucination. Nash had a way of working with numbers and he never let his disease get in the way of him doing math. Throughout the movie the audience is shown how impactful and inspirational John Nash was on many people even though he had a huge obstacle to overcome.
“A Beautiful Mind” is a remarkable movie that sheds light on a complicated and debilitating disorder, in which the person seems to have no control over. It is enlightening and heart warming, I would highly recommend this movie. I must admit, the first time I watch the movie, I went into it not knowing anything about schizophrenia and when it was over, I still felt like I didn’t fully understand the disorder; however, the second time I watched with the knowledge of what schizophrenia is and all of the various symptoms and I find it astonishing that Nash was able to overcome the disorder by sheer willpower over his own mind, as he chose to ignore the voices in his head.
The movie, A Beautiful Mind, depicts the life of John Nash and his struggle with the disorder, showing the symptoms and treatment methods used during the time period. In the movie, the main character, John Nash, experiences positive symptoms in which bizarre additions are added to the person’s behavior like disorganized thinking or in Nash’s case, hallucinations. At one point in the movie, John could be considered to have tactile hallucinations (sensations of tingling, burning) mixed with his visual and auditory ones when Parcher implants a device into his arm, causing a stinging or painful sensation. His visual and auditory hallucinations, although auditory hallucinations are considered more common in schizophrenics, the audience is not aware of these symptoms until mid-way through the movie, however, the nonexistent “people” he sees start in grad school with the first one being Charles Herman, his “roommate.” During this time, the main character would be in the prodromal stage of the disorder where the function is decreasing and the symptoms come on gradually at a rate unnoticeable to others, because he is
If prescribed a neuroleptic drug, Nash would most likely follow in the footsteps of other patients suffering from schizophrenia and decide that the side effects of the medication are more unbearable the symptoms of the disorder itself. New drugs are being made in order to address the issue of undesirable and intolerable side effects of conventional antipsychotic drugs.
The first scenes of the movie, “A Beautiful Mind”, take place at Princeton University. John Nash attends as a graduate student studying mathematics. The scenes reveal how socially inept Nash tends to be when dealing with people. Nash, regardless, of lack of social cues,
The movie "A Beautiful Mind" tells the story of Nobel Prize winner John Nash's struggle with schizophrenia. It follows his journey from the point where he is not even aware he has schizophrenia, to the point where Nash and his wife find a way to manage his condition. The movie provides a lot of information and insight into the psychological condition of schizophrenia, including information on the symptoms, the treatment and cures, the life for the individual and for the individual's family. The movie is effective at demonstrating various concepts related to schizophrenia, and provides an insight into the disease of schizophrenia.
As portrayed in A Beautiful Mind, John Nash is clearly suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia, although a case could possibly be made for a secondary diagnosis of OCD. His condition is clearly displayed through a pattern of behavior and symptoms including: distorted perceptions of reality, social withdrawal, paranoia, hallucinations, self-inflicted harm and general irrational behavior. He imagines 3 specific individuals throughout the movie, who accompany him throughout the remainder of his life. He avoids social situations, and when faced with them, has a difficult time relating to others, such as approaching a woman in a bar and forwardly asking to skip the usual pleasantries and go straight to sex. Unsurprisingly, this approach fails to achieve his goal. Paranoia is also on display on several occasions, seeing people watching him, believing himself to be spied upon, seeing shadowy figures outside his home. He also believed that an object had been implanted into his arm, prompting him to tear his skin apart in order to remove the object, which was never there to begin with.
A Beautiful Mind tells the life story of John Nash, a Nobel Prize winner who struggled through most of his adult life with schizophrenia. Directed by Ron Howard, this becomes a tale not only of one man's battle to overcome his own disability, but of the overreaching power of love - a theme that has been shown by many films that I enjoy.