Occupational Therapy and a Beautiful Mind

Disorders

A Beautiful Mind

The subject that will be of focus for this paper will be the case of John Forbes Nash, Jr., the real life man whose life directly inspired the film A Beautiful Mind. (2001) The protagonist is played by actor Russell Crowe. The film is classified as a "biopic," short for a biographical picture/film. Crowe as John is an extremely interesting case from start to finish because of the intensity of is paranoid schizophrenia, and because of his intellectual & emotional journeys over the course of his life. According to public records and accounts of family and colleagues, John exhibited exceptional intelligence earlier on his life as well as symptoms of psychological or emotional disturbance at a very young age. John's passion was for mathematics, and not for normative, healthy social interaction with peers and family. His home life was moderately stable, but the marital issues his parents experienced affected how he saw the world and how he saw himself in that world. It was not until he was a late adolescent/early adult that he was formally diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The film takes place primarily over the course of John's adult life.

At the same time his symptoms manifested with increasing intensity and frequency, his intellect flourished and he composed texts that were decades ahead of their time, in addition to later becoming the reasons why he would receive the Nobel Prize. John did not live a normative lifestyle and a number of his choices were for outside of the norm, which sometimes served him well, but at times, deterred him from making progress or becoming successful. At times, it was his choices to follow a normative lifestyle that catapulted him into deep episodes of maniacal behavior, such as getting married, raising a child, and working at a full time job in his field. Ultimately, after a few instances of forced institutionalization and medication, John overcame his illness, surprisingly, on his own, through focus, will power, and lack of medication. It was ultimately his choice to not succumb to his schizophrenia and to choose his family and his exceptional talent in mathematics instead.

With respect to the cognitive, behavior, and emotional components of John's case, he was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, when first reviewing this case, it might seem to some readers/viewers that John was Autistic and not schizophrenic, as some of the early symptoms of his disturbance also align with autistic savants, who display abnormal behaviors, lack of social intelligence, pica, in combination with exceptional talent in a specific field of study, such as art, science, or in John's case, mathematics.

Cognitive, behaviorally, and emotionally, John did not show much regard or care for what was considered normal behavior, nor did he seem overly concerned with what others thought about his own behavior, particularly as an adult. The stress of making a girlfriend pregnant sent him into a kind of rage and psychological retreat. He was in extreme denial regarding his responsibility in making the baby, arguing that he did not want to even be put on the child's birth certificate.

This is a film that I would recommend to other students studying mental illness. The film shows the traumatic experience of living with a mental illness. It is not just the symptoms of the illness that can be problematic, it is also (argubly, largely) the reactions of others to a person with mental illness that are extremely challenging. The film shows both of these angles. There are people who admire, respect, and love John; they were also the people who were most angry at him and hurt by him. The film shows how health care can be frightening and seem like a prison. It also shows how health care has the potential to heal. It seems like there is a lot left up to chance -- money can buy top quality care, but what does it matter if the intentions of the health care providers are insincere or sinister? The film also shows how finding answers to mental illness is not an easy or short process. The film definitely shows how personal motivation and commitment to health can benefit a person with a mental illness, yet the film additionall illustrates how mentally ill people need a system and environment that supports mental health and diminshes mental illness. In addition, the film itself was well made, so it was entertaining to watch as it confronted these issues.

Occupational Therapy would have made a difference in John's life, depending on if he was in a stage of his life when he was accepting help for his mental illness. OT could have help John develop coping skills, helping him learn how to stay calm and recognize triggers. OT could have also provided him ways to stay organized (mentally). OT could have helped John improve his executive functioning. It would have probably helped John a great deal if he had a mental health professional that had a different perspective on mental health and mental illness. Many people in John's life felt pity for him and envy. They pitied that he was not "normal" and could not "keep it together" enough to take advantage of his skills and opportunities. People around John wanted him to be fixed, wanted him to be more like what they wanted him to be. An OT could have simply served as a person in John's life that was there to help him, but did not have the same attitudes regarding mental illness and health care.

The film repeatedly show John as demonstrating, what most people consider, as very strange behaviors, some of which is clearly a result of his mental disturbance, but could also be a result of the intense and frequent ridicule he experienced as part of his childhood and adolescence. An OT intervention would have assisted John in coping with a bullying situation and his reactions to feeling bullied.

It is arguable that the egocentrism and elitist attitude his colleagues at MIT later characterized him as having could have served as a form of protection or latent response to the mockery his experienced later in life. It seems that John was constantly on the border between normal functionality and complete mental breakdown. Throughout his life, he demonstrated the potential to effectively combat his disorder, or to be completely be destroyed by it; this is perhaps one of the most compelling aspects of his character and his story.