A Beautiful Mind Reflection Questions

A Beautiful Mind Reflection Questions 1. During the first third of the movie John Nash’s character personality seems to be just a extremely smart, socially awkward individual. He is very standoffish, has a persona that he smarter than everyone else until he is proved wrong by being beat by Martin in the park playing the game with the rocks. For some of the first part of the movie it seems his only friend is his roommate Charles which we learn later that is just a figment of his imagination. 2. In the second third of the movie John Nash’s character is secretive towards his friends and girlfriend/wife. He has a more confident demeanor about himself and more comfortable around his colleagues. He is very comfortable in his work and what he does in reality vs what he does when he is in his own mind. Then his personality takes a change and he becomes obsessive over the “work” he is doing secretively which lead ultimately to a break. 3. Three events in the film which reflect the signs and symptoms: a. Hallucinations1. Charles is a hallucination at Princeton with him. He is the first one. 2. Parcher is the second hallucination when John believes they are on a shoot-out and he is doing all the work for Parcher. 3. Marcee is the third hallucination that John sees. She is Charles niece and the first realization that John makes that she isn’t real is that she doesn’t age. This is a turning point in the movie for him. b. Paranoia1. John is paranoid after him and Parcher are in the shoot-out that everyone is following him or going to kill him. 2. He makes Alicia keep the lights out at the house and go stay with her mom because of thinking that Parcher or Russians are out to get him. 3. Then his paranoia is personified when he is in the lecture hall about to guest speak and he sees the psychiatrists walk in with his guys and thinks they are the Russians there to get him, so he runs. c. Poor Hygiene1. Right before he is taken to the psych hospital his hygiene is limited. You can tell by his face not being shaved and his hair not washed. 2. At Princeton when he is working on his theory, he spends days not eating or taking care of himself and Charles talks him into eating which leads to him having better hygiene. 3. The last time his hygiene is affected is when he stops taking his meds that Alicia is giving him and starts to hallucinate again. This results in him believing Parcher and seeing Charles which leads to the almost drowning if his child. After that break he doesn’t have good hygiene until he regains support from Alicia, and they talk with his Dr. d. Irrational behavior1. Irrational behavior is displayed throughout the movie, but he starts when Charles “helps” him push the desk out of the window at Princeton. 2. When he gets his “job” from Parcher he is irrational about finding the codes for him. Scattering the papers covering the whole office to work out codes. 3. There is irrational behavior when he runs from what he thinks are Russians but really are the Psychiatrist and his assistants. e. Break from reality1. He has a break from reality when he is at the psych hospital and tries to dig the implant out of his arm. 2. When he takes the baby in to bath him and he almost drowns him he told his wife that Charles was watching him while he closed the windows. 3. The times when Parcher gets him to start and restart his “job” finding codes to solve where the Russian bomb is. f. Violent Episodes1. When he got upset and slammed his head on the window in his room at Princeton. 2. After the shoot-out with Parcher when he was telling him he wanted to stop, and he yelled at him in the hall. 3. When he is older back at Princeton and Parcher is outside with him yelling at him about being a solider, but John is trying to ignore him but yells back and points. 4. If someone I loved was diagnosed with a mental illness then I would do whatever I could to try and be as supportive, nonjudgmental, and caring towards them. Johns wife went above and beyond with her support and love for him in this movie. Helping them would be a harder part because it would be trying to find a schedule that helps them and figuring out triggers. Also just making sure that medications are working or following their wishes according to medications like Alicia did for John. Helping myself would be a little easier because it would be just to try and find time to decompress every day. This could include doing something that I like before bed like reading or looking through social media. 5. There is no cure for schizophrenia there is only treatment available. John Nash continues to ignore the people that he sees which are not there in reality which are Parcher, Charles, and Marcee. He asks for help when he sees a new face to make sure that the person is in fact real and not a hallucination. He continues, even though he struggles, to maintain a normal consistent life schedule daily. Then he also stated that he does continue to take some of the newer medications. His wife is such a lifesaver for him in this movie. When she could/should have walked away from him she stayed and trusted and supported him.