This movie has stood out for me amongst many since I watched in 2001. It took second time watching it to appreciate it. It has taken me years to talk about it. Mental health issues can now be freely talked about. In Africa, it been the silent stigma. Seeing successful people in business, sports and other fields come out and discuss this topic, helps to remove the shame associated with it.
The movie: a beautiful mind, is an adaptation of the biography by Sylvia Nasar. It touches the life of Dr. John Forbes Nash Junior. We are able to see his life as student in Graduate school at Princeton studying Mathematics. Early signs of schizophrenia can be seen through this stage in his life. He eventually wins the Nobel prize while still dealing with this disease.
Wikipedia says this about him, “He was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, differential geometry and the study of partial differential equations. His work has provided insight into the factors that govern chance and decision making inside complex systems found in everyday life.“
What made me talk about him now? I was watching a local television interview last week. A female politician being interviewed in a talk show, stated that her reason for missing in the political scene was because she was dealing with mental illness.
Mental health, just like physical health, can weigh you down making you immobile for awhile. At other times, it is possible to lead a successful life despite living with mental health challenges.
The movie specifically touches on schizophrenia. Several scenes in it help us to see the life long struggles that someone with this illness can go through.
I found this video on YouTube by Cadabam’s Group (www.cadabams.org) In it, they summarized the stages of the illness in various scenes of the movie as:
1. Dellusions of Grandeur. Most often, the early warning signs of schizophrenia aren’t noticed but mistaken as Genius acts. They have this firm and fixed believe that you can’t shake them from it, even though it isn’t real. It’s not easy to talk them out of it. Episodes when they are psychosis (breach in reality when the senses are picking up things that aren’t real) can last from afew days to life long.
2. Reduced Daily activities. Feeling low in daily activities, neglecting one’s own hygiene, withdrawal from the social world are often afew negative signs of schizophrenia.
3. Suspiciousness. It makes them believe that they are in danger of harm from someone relentlessly.
4. Hallucinations. The sufferers of schizophrenia often see or hear things that aren’t real. What some would consider as the mind playing tricks on them.
5. Self-harm. People with schizophrenia are often prone to self harm rather than hurting others.
6. Lack of Insight. It is a failure to recognize the need for treatment. They are unaware of their illness and the consequences.
We deal everyday with difficult people in life. Their actions might make us label them as toxic and cut them off. Since the pandemic began over a year ago, there are words I have read quoted in social media alot that rings true with many dealing with mental health struggles also….
This disease can make it hard to keep a job for some. Dealing with disorganized thinking, being withdrawn and removed from reality. Their families might not want them, and there are cases where some end up homeless.
Dr. Nash was widely regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of the 20th century. Known for the originality of his thinking and for his fearlessness in wrestling down problems so difficult that few others have dared tackle them
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/25/science/john-nash-a-beautiful-mind-subject-and-nobel-winner-dies-at-86.html
Despite his fame and contributions that inspired many, he wasn’t visible in a professional sense for many years. His example shows how important the support of family and close friends are to living and thriving with chronic illness. Because of them, he was able to continue doing what he loved. The female politician I had earlier on talked about, attributes the support of her spouse as necessary for her recovery in her downtime with the mental illness.
The pandemic might have forced us to face mental health issues in a different way altogether. In Africa, the taboo is gone. The realities of it are here. There are people who look healthy though with mental health struggles. They’re not mad. With the right medication, they can cope with their illness and thrive.
Sources:
1. https://youtu.be/TeBdPFYHKJM MedCircle. Life with schizophrenia, According to a psychiatrist.
2. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/n/nasar-mind.html
3. https://youtu.be/QUFe7M55NP8 Symptoms of Schizophrenia Explained by -A beautiful Mind (2001)
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