Schizophrenia

A Beautiful Mind was a wonderful film about a man, John Nash, victimized by schizophrenia. Nash was a brilliant mathematician, and even with the debilitating illness he was persistent enough to become successful later in life. The change in the character is clear as he first starts out as a cocky young man and later shifts into paranoia driven by hallucinations of Russians sending codes to him in the newspaper.

At first we see his roommate Charles as a real character, we don’t suspect Nash’s schizophrenia. But he soon begins to see patterns where no patterns lie. In the scene where he and Alicia – his wife – were looking at the stars, Nash finds the pattern of any object that she names in the sky. A romantic moment….. until Alicia finds a thousand other patterns he’s ripped up from newspapers, taped all over his office. At this point we start to suspect that something is off with Nash. The moment the schizophrenia is confirmed comes when the movie reveals that Charles and his cute niece are in fact one big hallucination.

The movie has a way of pushing the darkness of the illness under a blanket of love. The devotion that Alicia shows Nash is remarkable and it plays a huge role in Nash’s recovery. She supports him and loves him throughout, sticking by him when he is at his worst. When he refuses to take the pills she molds into his comfort zone and encourages him to interact with society and begin teaching again.

I think the best part of the movie was when Nash finally realized his images of people were not real. This is when he looks at his son, and then looks at the image of the niece, and realizes that the niece never grows older. And although schizophrenia is an incurable disease, when he finally believed that his images were in fact hallucinations, he was able to come to terms with it and take on courses of action.

The movie was absolutely beautiful, and took the audience on a rollercoaster of emotions. It was grotesque, funny, sweet, and tragic. I loved that the movie gave a sense of hope to the word schizophrenia, and though the ending was not ideal, it was more or less a happy one.

Comparison Paper Watching these two movies, “What about Bob? ” And “A Beautiful Mind” really opens your eyes to problems that many people In our world face throughout their daily lives. These movies provide us with an opportunity to become better acquainted with the reality of disorders and help us realize that real people do struggle with these issues and that these issues can affect the person themselves or their family or even their psychiatrist.

But what we also can learn from these movies is that everyone, even people with disorders, can contribute good things to the world around them. In “A Beautiful Mind,” John Nash Is a smart man who soon develops schizophrenia. His schizophrenia consists of seeing people and believing people are out to get him. His schizophrenia becomes so bad that it burdens his wife and friends. It becomes difficult for his wife to love him and she is uncomfortable around him. At one point in the movie, his delusions cause him to almost drown his baby and cause him to knock his wife on the ground.

John Nash, after going to a mental hospital, and seeing a therapist, still had bad delusions, but, he was so smart that he himself figured out owe to Ignore his delusions and continue on with life semi-normally. Although Nash still has schizophrenia he is still super intelligent and uses his intelligence too help the world around him. Nash goes on to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for his work on game theory, which helps with economics, political science, and psychology, as well as logic and biology.

The Nobel Prize is an award for outstanding contributions to the field of economics, generally regarded as the most prestigious award for that field. Receiving this award proves that even though Nash has a reverie disorder he Is still able to contribute a lot to the world around him. John Nash also contributes his knowledge to young college students. Nash, after figuring out how to control his delusions began again working at Princeton university as a professor. Being a professor at an Ivy League school like Princeton is a pretty admirable accomplishment.

Teaching college at the Ivy League level is definitely contributing to the world around him, because, not only is he teaching the younger generation, he Is teaching some of the smartest people in the world. Now, because of Nash these students can go into the real world having learned very valuable information. Lastly, John Nash contributed something good to a very close part of his world. John Nash was married and his wife loved him very much. Although his schizophrenia was a burden to his wife and the love between them, she still loved him very much and wanted to be with him.

He gave his wife love, which, I think Is the best thing you can give to someone. In “What About Bob? ” Bob Wiley Is a man with separation anxiety disorder and many phobias. Because of these problems, Bob, is always apprehensive and in a state of panic. Bob is a very difficult client for therapists because he becomes so attached to people. He drove away his first therapist and caused his second one, Dry. Marvin, to go insane. Although Bob is annoying to be around and causes problems for some people, he also helps people Marvin tried numerous times to teach Saggy how to dive into the lake but he was unsuccessful.

Bob tried to teach Saggy how to dive and he was successful. While trying to teach him how to dive, Bob realized that he is afraid of docks and water and diving into the water. Bobs fears make Saggy want to teach him that it’s not that scary. So while showing Bob how to dive, Saggy Inadvertently teaches himself to not be scared and he couldn’t have done it without Bob. Bob also brought Joy to Dry. Margin’s family. Although, Dry. Marvin was not very fond of Bob, Bob made the Marvin family happy and helped them to really enjoy their vacation because of his personality.

He brought Joy to them because they all came together and kind of took Bob in and took care of him; he was like another child in the family. Dry. Margin’s wife enjoyed Bob’s resend so much that she invited him to stay for dinner and then sleepover their house one night. Dry. Margin’s daughter also enjoyed Bob’s presence so much that she invited him to hangout with her and her friends on their sailboat. Despite Mr.. Marvin hating him, Bob helps him in a few ways. The first way Bob helps Dry. Marvin is during dinner one night. Dry. Marvin is choking on food and Bob saves him by giving him the Heimlich.

Although this really has nothing to do with Bob’s disorder it still shows that he can do good things for the people around him. Bob also helped Dry. Marvin with his interview on Good Morning America. Bob was originally not supposed to be in the interview but because of his attachment to Dry. Marvin he got himself on the show. At first Dry. Marvin thought that this was an awful idea but soon that proved to be wrong. Dry. Marvin froze up and didn’t know what to say while Bob, posing as Dry. Margin’s patient, talks very highly of the Dry. Margin’s book and talks about how good of a therapist he is. Bob’s presence on this show really helped Dry.

Marvin look really good to everyone. Both of these movies present us with characters that have pretty severe disorders in their respective spectrums of severity. These movies show us how their disorders really make daily life difficult for them and others surrounding them. While showing the bad sides of their disorders these movies also show their good sides and what they can offer to the world and everyone around them. I have grown up with and around people with disorders and disabilities and I know for a fact that each person, even with a disorder, can contribute something special and unique to the world.

Many ethical issues can be presented when working in the medical field; a few major issues are presented in the case of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which people may hear voices in their heads that tell them to do immoral things, which are not there. A Schizophrenic person may also sit for hours without moving or talking, and are not completely sane. This disorder is a result of genetic and environmental factors. One of the issues that are involved with schizophrenia is telling schizophrenics, partial truths or lies.

Studies have shown that when a schizophrenic is directly confronted, they usually do not return for treatment. As a result, some psychiatrists tell their patients “half-truths” or lies such as treating patients but telling them the medication is for anxiety or dysphasia, this way patients receive adequate treatment. Ultimately the psychiatrist is doing what is best for the patient, but is it really okay to lie to a patient? Another issue is presented during the treatment of a schizophrenic patient, occasionally a patient will ask a psychiatrist for heir opinion on whether or not to pursue a lifelong dream they may have.

When this occurs, the psychiatrist is presented with the decision of whether or not to support the patient on their dream. If the psychiatrist believes the patient is not capable of accomplishing their goal because of their mental disorder, they might discourage the patient form pursuing it because if they were to pursue it and fail, it could possibly worsen the disorder. On the other hand, the psychiatrist might support the patient in their dream, because in the situation where the patient accomplishes their goal, the notation may improve and could result in a better quality of life.

So what should the psychiatrist do in this situation, when is it okay for the psychiatrist to decide what goes on in a patient’s life? A third issue would be the whether or not to ask a patient dealing with this disorder if they would like to write their advance directives. Advance directives are written consent of what would happen to the patient in the occasion that they lose decisional capabilities, what type of treatment they would receive, etc.

Although advance directives maybe taken as a precaution and not because anything is occurring with the patient, upon being asked for these documents a patient may be caused fear which could result in worsening of the illness. So should the psychiatrist ask a patient for the advance directives knowing it may have a negative result on their health? The involvement of family in the life of a schizophrenic could be extremely beneficial, but convincing a schizophrenic to involve their family is yet another issue.

The process of persuading a mental disorder patient at some point becomes coercion, which is never morally correct because it could be considered as taking advantage of a mentally challenged person. Although coercion is never technically correct, in the long run the involvement of the family will have enormous benefits on the patient, so the psychiatrist must make a decision on if they should or shouldn’t coerce the patient to involve their family. I believe that all the ethical issues presented are difficult, but the psychiatrist should always keep the patients well.

A Beautiful Mind takes place over the course of forty seven years in John Nash’s life. It is based on a true story. The film begins with John Nash as he is entering into graduate school at Princeton in the late 1940’s and lasts through the reception of his Nobel Prize in 1994. During his schooling he lives on campus alone, but a few years after he graduates, he meets Alicia Larde. Eventually he marries her, and they move in to together and have a son. Throughout the p of the film he develops schizophrenia and his condition progresses, until he is diagnosed, after which treatment is implemented.

He seems to suffer from schizophrenia paranoid type, because of the prominence of his delusions, as well as his numerous interpersonal problems. The first symptom that John Nash displays which can be used to classify him clinically as schizophrenic is disturbance of language. When he is working on a difficult mathematics problem, or walking from one place to another, he mutters unintelligible things to himself. Often when coming out of one of his hallucinations he is under a lot of stress and begins talking nonsense, such as when he was giving his infant son a bath.

When his wife returned to find the baby nearly drowning, John Nash insists, even though he is alone in the room, that his old college roommate, who doesn’t exist, was watching the baby. Further, he claims that Charles was injected with a sort of serum that made him invisible. The meaning of his claims doesn’t make sense within the context of the situation. Also, at the beginning of the movie, in response to a challenge, he tells his classmate that he is “terrified, mortified, petrified, and stupefied,” by him, which could be a form of clanging, although it actually makes sense.

His disturbance of language mainly results from his disruption of perception, which includes rather complex hallucinations. The first hallucination he has, which follows him for the rest of his life, is his roommate, Charles Herman, whom he ‘meets’ in graduate school. Soon after, John Nash is introduced to six year old Marcee, Charles’ niece. After graduating, and being appointed to a position at Wheeler Lab, his work with the government prompts another hallucination-this time of a top secret government investigator, a William Parcher, who goes on to give Nash an assortment of ‘assignments. The many delusions that he suffers can be classified under disturbance of thought. First of all he exhibits delusions of grandeur.

He estimates himself at such a high importance level that he feels as though he is invincible, and should not be capable of losing-even in a board game. Also after doing minor work with the government, he thinks he’s a spy, allowing him to work with top secret government documents, but that is just a part of his delusions of grandeur. Really believing he is a spy has to do with his confused sense of self. Being a spy is a position he has created for himself.

Even after being forcibly admitted to the psychiatric hospital, he continues to believe they are his enemies, that they hospital staff are merely Russians trying to trick him into divulging his secrets. He’s so paranoid, that when his wife, Alicia, comes to visit at the hospital, he warns her that ‘they’ may be listening through microphones. John Nash feels persecuted by his friends and the doctors. He thinks they are simply out to get him, because he cannot realize the condition he is in. There are two clear examples of inappropriate emotion that Nash exhibits in this film.

When he is studying in the library at Princeton, he casually mentions how he watched a woman get mugged, and then continues to display the mathematical equation he drew depicting the event. As his hallucination of Charles Herman points out to him, it’s not normal to sit by calmly and watch as a woman’s purse gets stolen. Second of all, when his baby nearly drowns because of his carelessness, he does not seem very upset, and cannot understand why his wife is so distraught. John Nash can be considered abnormal by evaluating him under several characteristics.

All of these symptoms that he displays throughout the movie fit the criteria perfectly. First off he shows a deviation from normal and ideal mental health. People in his life began to notice that something is just not right with John. His wife finds herself in denial, but near the end she sees it, too. Because of his condition he suffers from nearly constant personal distress and discomfort. His classmates taunt him, and even losing a simple game with one of them upsets him and sends him off running, mumbling to himself in a disturbed way.

His frustration with himself at not being able to solve math problems or come up with a topic for his doctorate thesis, interfere with his functioning in everyday life. He spends the majority of his time obsessing over his work-real and imagined. Hours and hours every night he pores over magazines for his government “boss” (one of his hallucinations) trying to discern top secret codes and patterns, but in reality he is just idling away his time that should be spent with his family or performing his job.

He can’t seem to control his obsession with following the instructions his hallucinations give him to the point where it impairs his functioning as an instructor, a husband, and a father. He’s a danger to himself, as well as to others. In graduate school in a fit of frustration he cracks his head against a glass window, cutting his head open, and once committed to the psychiatric hospital he digs a hole in his arm until he starts bleeding, trying to find the secret code he believes is implanted in his skin. Dr.

Rosen, the psychologist, after a careful examination of John Nash, gives him the professional diagnosis of schizophrenia. Of the two types of schizophrenia, reactive and process, John Nash is most likely suffering from process schizophrenia, because of factors involving the way the disease progressed. His symptoms developed gradually, beginning as early as graduate school in Princeton, when he first started ‘seeing’ his college roommate, Charles Herman-rather than resulting from a specific precipitating stressor.

The symptoms began, as noted, supposedly close to the time when he begins graduate school, and continue to get progressively worse as time passes, lasting throughout his entire life. This type of schizophrenia has a poorer prognosis compared to the sudden-onset Reactive schizophrenia, and even though the doctors administer insulin shock and prescribe pills for John Nash, his symptoms still persist into his old age. This film begins simultaneously with John Nash’s entrance into graduate school, and that is also when development of his schizophrenic symptoms began.

Despite the fact that the film does not give evidence of his pre-morbid personality, it can be inferred that Nash has always had social problems. At one point he informs his ‘roommate’ that he doesn’t much like people, and neither do people much like him, which leads the audience to believe that he has struggled with social relationships for most of his life. In the several bar scenes, he attempts conversations with women, but finds himself lacking the social skills necessary to keep any of their favors the moment he opens his mouth to speak.

In his opening line to one girl he proposes “intercourse,” in addition to mentioning something regarding “the exchange of fluids. ” And his best friend in the world turns out to be a hallucination. John Nash manages to maintain only one close relationship during the entire film, and that is to his wife, Alicia-and even that tie becomes stressed when his symptoms began to increase in severity. To put John Nash’s behavior into a theoretical framework, both of his methods of treatment can be taken into account.

His doctors at the psychiatric hospital administer him a vigorous program of insulin shocks to begin treatment. After which he is put on a prescription of drugs to control his symptoms. According to the Biological theory his schizophrenia had to be caused by some abnormality in his genes, resulting in either a dysfunction in his nervous or endocrine systems. To correct for this Dr Rosen, his doctor, prescribed a course of medical treatments, which seemed to work, because Nash’s hallucinations, as well as other symptoms, went away.

The medicine had unpleasant side effects for Nash-interfering in his work because he could not focus on equations, and disrupting his personal life, because he could not respond to his wife sexually, nor interact with his son-so he decided quit taking the medication and to try a different method. John Nash’s personal opinion was that he could learn to control his symptoms on his own. He felt that life wasn’t worth living if he couldn’t do it on his own terms, if he couldn’t work, relate to his wife, or raise his son. He took on an Existential perspective, holding to beliefs that he had the freewill to be responsible for his own condition.

He decided that he did not have to pay attention to his hallucinations, and while they never left him completely, he was able to live day to day without getting caught up in them to the point where it would interfere with his functioning. He chose to get better, and thought the symptoms did not go away, he was able to develop discipline on his own to ignore them. My question is how the lack of social skills is related to his development of schizophrenia. Did he suffer from poor social skills, and as a result, his condition was catalyzed by the consequential lack of meaningful relationships?

Or were his poor communication proficiency and lack of perception early warning signs of the disease to come? For the paranoid type of schizophrenia, there are automatically interpersonal problems taken into account, because of the bizarre behavior, regarding interaction with their hallucinations. People suffering from negative symptoms-and thus having few social skills-tend to have a smaller social network to support them throughout the difficulty of their disease, which deprives them of the ability to function independently (Macdonald, 1998, p. 275).

Lack of social skills and appropriate social responses has been determined to be caused by the slowing down of visual processing in schizophrenics. By administering a test of visual apprehension, it was shown that schizophrenics take longer to visually register gestures and facial expressions, and often the social clue lasts too briefly to be understood (Sergi, 2002, p. 239). John Nash, to begin with, has a very difficult time operating in social situations. Even his third grade teacher commented that he was give two brains, and only half a heart, so apparently his lack of social skills stems from his childhood.

Since he was not able to build up a social support network prior to the development of his disorder, it was more challenging for him to be able to function normally within society again on his own. Eventually, though, it is his relationship with his wife, and his desire to be there for her, which helps him in dealing with the ongoing symptoms so that he can survive from each day to the next without giving in. Research has found that neurocognitive functioning, or a dysfunction in neurocognitive functioning-due to a biologically based disorder, like Schizophrenia-may have an effect on specific social skills.

In turn, the hindrance of those skills could then indirectly affect the level of social functioning in an individual (Addington, 1998, p. 65). Thus, the disorder is not the cause or the social dysfunction, but neither is the lack in social skills a risk factor for developing Schizophrenia. While these two factors do not have a causational relationship, they do seem to have a correlational relationship-meaning the presence of one would indicate a higher probability of also detecting the other.

This paper sets out to look at the mental illness of Schizophrenia and will examine two theories on the cause of this disorder and how they relate to genetics and the environment. The two theories we will discuss are, ‘The Dopamine Theory’ and ‘The Genetic Theory’ Schizophrenia is a chronic and disabling brain disorder which is characterized by gross distortion of reality. The name ‘Schizophrenia’ derives from the Greek words skhizein meaning “to split” and Phrenos (phren) meaning “mind” (Taylor, 2011).

The condition is categorised by either Positive or Negative Symptoms which are unique to each individual. Individuals suffering from positive symptoms of the disorder experience on-going episodes of psychosis affecting their ability to distinguish, what is real or imagined. Positive symptoms can be defined as symptoms of behaviour that are present but should be absent; they include behaviours such as delusions, hallucinations, fragmented thinking and unusual patterns of speech or behaviour.

Negative symptoms on the other hand are the absence of normal behaviours which result in symptoms such as flattened emotional response, inability to express pleasure, apathy, poverty of speech and social withdrawal (Norman, 2004: 365). Schizophrenia is a very complex disorder, and despite on-going debates, researchers have failed to identify one single cause of the disorder, however, it would appear that the consensus is that both biological and environmental factors could play an important role in the occurrence of the illness.

One of the most well debated theories on the cause of Schizophrenia is the dopamine theory. The dopamine theory postulates that schizophrenia occurs as a result of hyperactivity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the synapse. There are four main dopamine pathways which have been implicated in the disorder of Schizophrenia and they are; the Nigrostriatal pathway which is involved in motor control, Tuberoinfundibular pathway associated with sensory processes and the Mesolimbic and Mesocortical pathways which are connected to memory, motivation and emotional responses (Stahl, 2002: 10).

Research has given much attention specifically to the mesolimbic pathway which is a brain circuit dependent on dopamine. The mesolimbic pathway is often referred to as the ‘reward pathway’ due to its key role in linking certain behaviours to the sensation of pleasure, such as those associated with the use of psychostimulant drugs like amphetamine, MDMA (Ecstasy) and cocaine (Stahl, 2008: 272). The evidence to support the theory that mesolimbic dopamine plays a role in Schizophrenia, follows logically from the treatment of the disorder with antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine and fluphenazine.

These drugs work by blocking dopamine D2 postsynaptic receptor sites, which inhibits the binding of dopamine, thus reducing positive symptoms (Seeman, 2011). Furthermore, several studies have suggested that the use of Psychostimulant drugs (such as amphetamines and cocaine), which work by enhancing dopamine neurotransmission, have been shown to induce psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and disorganised speech and thinking, all of which demonstrate a marked resemblance to the positive symptoms exhibited in patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia (Laruelle, et al. , 1996; Breier, et al. , 1997; Abi-Dargham, et al. 1998).

Although some research has implicated excess dopamine as a possible cause of schizophrenia, there is still much controversy surrounding this theory. It could be argued that the theory is reliable because research demonstrates that alterations in levels of dopamine either exacerbate or reduce symptoms, however, there are limitations with this theory, as blocking of the dopamine D2 receptor sites will only have an impact on the positive symptoms of schizophrenia, and not the negative symptoms such as apathy, speech and working memory, which are associated with the mesocortical pathway (Wayandt, 2006: 130).

It has been suggested by Stahl (2008), that the reason for this may be, that unlike the mesolimbic pathway which is hyperactive in dopamine, the mesocortical pathway may already be deficient in dopamine, therefore blocking of the D2 receptors in the mesocortical pathway could further increase negative symptoms. Swerdlow (2010: 359) suggests that an argument against the dopamine hypothesis may be that some patients may be unresponsive to the more traditional neuroleptic drugs such as chlorpromazine which acts upon the D2 receptor sites.

However, studies conducted by Brier and Buchanan (1996) on the use of a new atypical anti-psychotic drug called clozapine, claimed to show a 40-60% improvement in symptoms for patients of schizophrenia who did not respond to the traditional neuroleptics (Pincus & Tucker, 2003: 119). Clozapine still plays a role in blocking the D2 receptor site but with less intensity than traditional antipsychotics. However, it is also responsible for blocking a variety of other receptor sites including dopamine D4, 5-HT (serotonin), norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and histamine (Moses, 2012).

With this in mind, it could be said that dopamine does not operate in isolation, and may form only part of the etiology in the manifestation of Schizophrenia. What is clear is that the dopamine theory is far from conclusive, which would suggest that much more research is needed to examine the role that other neurotransmitters may play in the disorder. Furthermore, if dopamine does play a primary role in schizophrenia then this leads us to the question, what causes this dysfunction in the dopamine neurotransmitters?

Studies to date have identified that several of the genes which are closely linked with Schizophrenia are directly involved in dopaminergic pathways (Howes & Kapur, 2009); this therefore leads us to a further conclusion that genetics and gene mutation may play a key role in the development of schizophrenia. Evidence suggests that there is a strong genetic predisposition to developing the disorder and the more closely someone is related to an individual with Schizophrenia, the higher the chance of them developing the disorder themselves (Nolen-Hesksema, et al. , 2009).

Family, Twin and adoption studies demonstrate that there are higher concordance rates between monozygotic (Identical) twins than there is with dizygotic (non-identical) twins. Studies conducted by Gotteman (1991) found that dizygotic twins had a 17% risk factor if their twin sibling had the disorder; however, for monozygotic twins, the rate increased to a more significant 48%. Further studies have revealed that children of schizophrenic parents showed similar concordance rates of 46%, however, children born to schizophrenic mothers but adopted by non-schizophrenic mothers only showed a risk factor of 17% (Kalat, 2009: 451).

These findings suggest that Schizophrenia is not entirely genetic, and that environmental factors may also play a role in the development of the disorder. However, in giving strength to the genetic theory, new research in epigenetics has found that, whilst monozygotic twins share the same DNA, there are variations in the levels of methylation detected in a gene called ST6GALNAC1, which has been found in individual schizophrenic twins (Times, 2011).

Whilst these changes in segments of DNA offer some explanations for the discordance in monozygotic twin studies in Schizophrenia, it is suggested that these mutations develop as a result of environmental influences (Coghlan, 2011: 16). Moving on, it has become apparent, that both dopamine and genetics play an important role in the predisposition towards schizophrenia. However, evidence appears to suggest that, whilst an individual may have a predisposition, this is not a guarantee that they will develop the disorder.

Theorists believe that for those individuals who do have a predisposition towards schizophrenia, environmental factors can greatly influence the development and life course of the condition. One environmental factor which may be linked to the dopamine theory is the associated risk between prenatal exposure to viral infections and adult onset of schizophrenia (Psychiatry, 2011). Research suggests that prenatal environmental insults such as viral induced anaemia in the first and second trimesters, may lead to deficiency in myelination of neurons and dysfunction in the dopaminergic pathways (Brown, 2011).

In support of this claim, a study by (Aguilar-Valles, et al. , 2010) used rat models to produce viral induced iron deficiency, and found that the biochemical and behavioural changes which occurred in the rats were characteristic of those found in adult schizophrenia. Moreover, Brown (2011) also suggests that iron deficiency significantly contributes to de novo mutations in DNA, and this may be due to a possible disruption of oxidation in the cells. Consequently, researchers have also identified significant representation of de novo mutations in Schizophrenics (Krebs & Rouleau, 2011).

De novo mutations do not occur as a result of hereditary factors, but instead, are alterations which take place around the time of early conception (Reference, 2012). These findings may support the theory that prenatal environmental insults could be responsible for the increased risk in someone developing the disorder. Furthermore, this may also offer some explanation for the manifestation of schizophrenia in individuals who have no family history of the disorder.

In conclusion, schizophrenia still remains one of the most perplexing and misunderstood disorders faced by mental health professionals. It is evident that dopamine, genetics and the environment all play a role in schizophrenia, however not one of these factors appears to work in isolation. In short, it would appear that the environment interacts with both biochemical and genetic factors and determines whether or not an individual is likely to develop the disorder.

Nowadays, society sees schizophrenia seems like an outdated topic. A topic not many seem to care about. A topic that is not even taboo, because many do not even know about it. However, this topic is affecting so many on a day to day basis. Worldwide, about one percent of people are diagnosed with this mental illness. That is 1.5 million people.

Even worse, sixty percent of everyone that suffers from schizophrenia makes at least one attempt to commit suicide (WebMD).That is 900,000 people. That is three cruise ships filled with people (Mental Health Schizophrenia). That is one full football stadium. Some may ask themselves, what is schizophrenia? Well according to the National Institute of Mental Illnesses “schizophrenia is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves.” (NIMH). Schizophrenia is caused by genetics, biology and sometimes even viral infections.

Schizophrenia has been misunderstood throughout the years; It is characterized by a shift in perception, disturbed sense of self and psychotic manifestations.A shift in perception can not only affect the patient’s emotions, but it can also greatly impact their physical life. Schizophrenics suffer from various shifts in perceptions that makes them change the way they act, not only physically but also mentally. When you suffer from schizophrenia you develop many symptoms.

Meanwhile, many were not discovered until the mid-1990s. However, Schizophrenia was discovered back in 1887 by Doctor Emile Kraepelin. Before Kraepelin however, many believed people with psychotic disorders were possessed. This caused the treatment to be electric shock therapy, exorcisms, lobotomy and even drilling a hole in the patient’s eye socket which left patients with worse mental health than what they started with.

This type of treatment started to be popularized with schizophrenia patients in the middle ages until the late 1880s. Schizophrenia and its treatments are one of the main reasons why society now know mental asylums as dark and scary places. When The Priory of Saint Mary of Bethlehem was founded to try to treat ‘mad men’. They believed this illness came from supernatural forces such as demons. By the patients seeing hallucinations and delusions was basically proof of a demonic possession.

They were treated so badly, most of the ‘mad men’ that attended the mental asylum ended up dying, either by experiments, failed treatments or suicide. Today Kraepelin was the first to differentiate between what he called dementia praecox and manic depression. According to Psychology Today “The oldest available description of an illness closely resembling schizophrenia can be found in the Ebers papyrus, which dates back to the Egypt of 1550 BC.

And archaeological discoveries of Stone Age skulls with burr holes drilled into them (presumably to release ‘evil spirits’) have led to speculation that schizophrenia is as old as mankind itself” (Burton, M.D.). The first doctor to coin the term Schizophrenia and notice the patients shift in perception was Swiss psychiatrist, Eugen Bleuler back in 1911. Schizophrenia comes from Greek roots schizo (split) and phrene (mind) as a reference to showing how the patient’s brain works.

Schizophrenia brings you to a point where the patient has a disturbed sense of self. This has happened to not only to unknown patients but many well-known people and celebrities have suffered through forgetting who they are and why they are here. This list includes many people, for example, the ex-singer and founder of Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett’s real name was Roger Barrett, and he used his real name for much of his life, which started in 1946 and ended in 2006 by pancreatic cancer.

He was an English songwriter, singer and guitarist best known as a founding member and songwriter of the rock band Pink Floyd. Barrett’s partnership with the band finished after failure to perform during concerts various times. These were speculated to be caused by delusions and hallucinations, two very common schizophrenia symptoms. He had been the main songwriter which greatly affected how the band worked after his resignation.

Barrett withdrew from the public after that, but released two solo albums in 1970 called “The Madcap Laughs” and “Barrett” Pink Floyd went on to become massively popular and successful, their style evolving towards progressive rock since their songwriter left. Syd/Roger Barrett lived a simple and solitary life, receiving royalty payments from his ex-band. His access to spending money had been controlled by his family (Willis 143).

There has been much speculation about why Barrett ceased to be a member of Pink Floyd, withdrew from the public eye, shunned his own fans, left behind the nickname that he had never himself used or liked. Syd/Roger was diagnosed with the mental illness after an apparent heavy usage of LSD. According to his family and close friends, he did LSD nearly every day for years. After his resignation of Pink Floyd, he did not just start having atrocious hallucinations daily but also he fell into clinical depression.

This leads to another story of a maybe one of the most famous artists of all time. Vincent Van Gogh. He had an eccentric personality and unstable moods suffered from recurrent psychotic episodes during the last two years of his extraordinary life and committed suicide at the age of thirty-seven by a gunshot. (Blumer) According to PsychiatryOnline.org “One of Van Gogh’s psychiatrists recognized the crucial role of alcohol in the manifestation of Van Gogh’s major psychiatric symptoms.

By his own confession, Van Gogh required “a glass too much” to numb his inner storms when they became too intense. The artist was not known to become intoxicated and may not have been drinking more than many of his contemporaries, but he was particularly vulnerable to the epileptogenic properties of absinthe, the favourite drink of the French artists of his time” (Blumer).

The well-known part of Schizophrenia is the symptom of psychotic manifestations. According to Healthline.com “Psychosis is characterized by an impaired relationship with reality. And it is a symptom of serious mental disorders. People who are psychotic may have either hallucinations or delusions” (Carey, P.H.D.).

Hallucinations are sensory manifestations, they occur mostly visually or auditory. For example, someone might hear someone yelling when nobody is there. Or maybe they see someone or something that isn’t actually there. These for the patient seem real. They also experience delusions, which is for the person to have a contrary thought to actual evidence. For example, the patient thinking a stranger they just met wants to kill them.

These symptoms are powerful and dangerous. Strangely, these symptoms are the most attacked by society. Many believe these delusions and hallucinations are made up and make up false beliefs about this. Some false ideas are: Schizophrenics have multiple personalities, them being possessed, the patients are faking it and even that it’s not an illness.

The first one is made up because as clearly stated before, the symptoms of schizophrenia have nothing to do with that. The illness in which the patient have multiple personalities is a psychiatric phenomenon called DID, which stands for dissociative identity disorder, which involves the patient has multiple personalities which each have their own voice, manners and characteristics. This illness can be seen perfectly in the movie Split (2016) by M. Night Shyamalan.

This is not schizophrenia. Schizophrenics might hear voices but they only have one personality. The second hoax is the possession myth. This myth is mostly believed by Catholics. This myth comes back from middle ages as mentioned before.In conclusion, many schizophrenics are seen ever since the beginning of mental illnesses, many are affected by it and almost all society says about it is fake.

All in all, if you or someone you know is suffering from schizophrenia, please get help immediately and know that no matter your illness “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). Help is always there and never forget Jesus loves you. Schizophrenia has been underestimated to a point where society only knows it’s characterized by a change in view, confused sense of self and psychotic ideals.

Works Cited

• “A Brief History of Schizophrenia.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201209/brief-history-schizophrenia.
• “Biological Basis of Schizophrenia.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/psychological-disorders/v/biological-basis-of-schizophrenia.
• “Divine Madness – a History of Schizophrenia.” History Cooperative, 19 Sept. 2016, historycooperative.org/divine-madness-a-history-of-schizophrenia/.
• “Famous People with Schizophrenia: 6 Schizophrenic Celebrities.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/ss/slideshow-schizophrenia-famous-names.
• Marlene, Lili. “Incorrect Pleasures.” The Interesting Case of Syd Barrett, 1 Jan. 1970, incorrectpleasures.blogspot.com.co/2009/11/interesting-case-of-syd-barrett-for.html.
• “Psychosis: Symptoms, Causes, and Risk Factors.” Healthline, Healthline Media, www.healthline.com/health/psychosis.
• Schiller, Lori, and Amanda Bennett. The Quiet Room: a Journey out of the Torment of Madness. Grand Central Publishing, 2011.”Schizophrenia.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/psychological-disorders/v/schizophrenia.
• “Schizophrenia.” Mental Health America, 29 Mar. 2017, http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/schizophrenia#symptoms.
• “Schizophrenia.” Mental Health America, 29 Mar. 2017, www.mentalhealthamerica.net/conditions/schizophrenia.
• “Schizophrenia.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/.
• “Schizophrenia.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/schizophrenia.
• “Schizophrenia and Suicide.” WebMD, WebMD, www.webmd.com/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-and-suicide.
• “Schizophrenia Symptoms, Patterns And Statistics And Patterns.” Mental Help Schizophrenia Symptoms Patterns and Statistics and Patterns Comments, https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/schizophrenia-symptoms-patterns-and-statistics-and-patterns/
• “The Illness of Vincent Van Gogh.” American Journal of Psychiatry, ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/appi.ajp.159.4.519.The History of Schizophrenia, schizophrenia.com/history.htm#.Willis, Tim. Madcap: the Half-Life of Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd’s Lost Genius. Short Books, 2002.

Living with Schizophrenia “The mind is indeed a beautiful thing. It is the reason for our ingenuity, artistic originality and maybe even our humanity. What happens however when the mind works against us? When it tricks us into believing that what is not real to be the actual, destroying our sense of being? ” (Angelo) We see this played out firsthand in the life of John Forbes Nash Jr. in “A Beautiful Mind. ” The film was directed by Ron Howard and starred Russell Crowe, who plays John Nash, Paul Bettany, who plays Nash’s imaginary friend Charles, and Jennifer Connelly, who plays Nash’s wife Alicia.

The movie “won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actress. It was also nominated for Best Leading Actor, Best Editing, Best Makeup, and Best Score“ (A Beautiful Mind). “A Beautiful Mind” “presents itself as a biography of the flesh-and-blood John Nash. And in fact, it is really only a flashy, sentimental Hollywood movie, inspired by a few particular details of the John Nash story. (Overstreet) This review is accurate in this description, director Ron Howard delivers a brilliant master peace but it is not all fact. For instance, John Nash never had visual hallucinations and he divorced his wife and later remarried. Though it is not an accurate representation, John Forbes Nash, Jr. did suffer from schizophrenia. John Forbes Nash, Jr. , or John Nash as he is referred to in the movie, was born June 13, 1928 in Bluefield, West Virginia where he was raised. Nash took classes from Bluefield College while still attending Bluefield High School. After graduating from high school in 1945, he enrolled at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on a Westinghouse scholarship, where he studied chemical engineering and chemistry before switching to mathematics. He received both his bachelor’s degree and his master’s degree in 1948 while at Carnegie Tech. ” (John Forbes Nash, Jr. ). The film begins as Nash is attending Princeton University for his postgraduate work in mathematics and writes his thesis on non-cooperative games which he later receives the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.

In the movie Nash gets a job at Massachusetts Institution of Technology after graduating from Princeton. It is at MIT where Nash meets his future wife, Alicia, and falls in love with her and she remains his faithful mate even through his maddening episodes of schizophrenia. The film differs from reality in many instances, his love life being one of them. In reality Nash had a trivial relationship with a nurse by the name of Eleanor Stier, they had a son together and named him John David Stier.

After the child was born Nash abandoned both of them and went through a homosexual stage, in the mid-1950s he was “arrested in a Santa Monica restroom on a morals charge related to a homosexual encounter” (John Forbes Nash, Jr. ). This was said to have caused him to lose his job at MIT and caused him to want to get married. Only now is Alicia brought into the picture, a student of his at MIT from El Salvador. John Forbes Nash, Jr. and Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Larde get married in 1957 and two years later Alicia admits John Nash to the mental hospital.

In the movie he is tackled by two men and a third, Dr. Rosen, administers a sedative and they haul Nash away in their car, all while students and teachers are watching. Schizophrenia is described as being a “mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. ” (Schizophrenia) Normally it occurs in young adulthood and manifests itself in auditory hallucinations paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, while visual hallucinations are possible they are extremely rare and John Nash Jr. said that he only had auditory hallucinations.

The visual manifestations in the movie were only to intrigue the audience and to clarify the sincerity and the reality of the disease. Schizophrenia is a very rare disease, affecting half of one percent of the population of the world and scientists and doctors know little more about it presently than when John Nash was diagnosed. While knowledge of schizophrenia is scarce people have found some useful treatments such as Insulin Shock Therapy and certain medications such as Typical Antipsychotic and the newer Atypical Antipsychotic, we see John Nash undergo the Insulin Shock Therapy in the late 1950s and the early 1960s.

Insulin Shock Therapy however has been replaced by newer and more effective medications. The Typical Antipsychotics are the pink pills that Nash takes after his hospitalization. He says these medications make it hard for him to focus and he cannot respond to his wife so he stops taking them. This only causes further pain when Nash’s hallucinations all come back. Nash eventually learns how to cope with these hallucinations and just ignores them. In conclusion, the movie “A Beautiful Mind” is a very inspirational film that fills the audience with we and intrigue as they watch Nash learn to live with schizophrenia and attempt to remain a viable part of society. John Forbes Nash Jr. has influenced economics, mathematics, and physics, he taught at two major universities, he got married, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and he showed millions that it is possible to do all these things while living with schizophrenia. Works Cited Angelo. “Beautiful Mind, A (2001)” MovieFreak. com – The Film Palace. 13 January 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. Overstreet, Jeffrey. A Beautiful Mind (2001)” Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter, Inc. 12 May 2004. Web. 04 March 2010. http://www. rottentomatoes. com/m/beautiful_mind/ “A Beautiful Mind (Film)” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 04 March 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_(film) “John Forbes Nash, Jr. ” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 04 March 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/John_Forbes_Nash,_Jr “Schizophrenia” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 01 March 2010. Web. 04 March 2010. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Schizophrenia