The book A Beautiful Mind, by Sylvia Nasar - Literature review Example

Beautiful Mind Abstract John Forbes Nash, Jr. 1928-, American Mathematician, b. Bluefield, W.Va., grad. Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon Univ., B.A. and M.A. 1948), Ph.D. Princeton 1950. In 1949, he established the mathematical principles of modern game theory beginning with his doctoral thesis. In four papers published in1950-53 he made influential contributions to both non-cooperative game theory and to bargaining theory. In 1959, he began to experience what he termed "mental disturbances" and remained in shut from the world for the next 3 decades, suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. When he recovered from the debilitating illness, Nash returned to his academic research for his landmark work on the mathematics of game and for his Nobel Prize. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2008). John F. Nash is one of the three co-recipients of the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science as a young faculty member in the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of technology) mathematics department. He came to MIT in 1951 as an intructor in mathematics. He became an assistant professor in 1953 and was promoted to associate professor in 1957. Game theory is not his only achievement in economics. He shared the 1994 Nobel prize with two other pioneers in game theory, John C. Harsanyi of the University of California at Berkeley and Reinhard Selten of the University of Bonn in Germany. (News Office, 1994) Summary A Beautiful Mind is a book about a winning mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr. and the staggering truth of his illness. Sylvia Nasar, the author of this best-selling biography, published the book in 1999, which later became a best-seller. It is a detailed account of John Nash who was diagnosed by his psychiatrist as having schizophrenia while being robbed of his wonderful career as a mathematician momentarily. The book, later inspired to be in the movie, won the 1998 National Book Critics Circle. The biography was quite dramatic in nature as the author relived the life of a genius whose career was hampered by a debilitating illness. Nash believed that messages are being sent to him through newspapers or media. Like any other suffering from such illness, his personal and career life were intertwined with interrupted delusions and eventually his life disintegrate. After thirty years of devastating mental illness, Nash recovered and gained him the Nobel Prize in 1994 for his contribution in Economics. His 26-page Ph.D. thesis, "Non-Cooperative Games", written at Princeton, while he was still in his early 20s, eventually won him a Nobel Prize, but only after his career was interrupted by a 30-year stint with paranoid schizophrenia. From his lonely childhood in West Virginia to his college years at Princeton University, John Forbes Nash, Jr. encountered Albert Einstein, John von Neumann, and a host of other mathematical greats. Nash is described as the handsome, but arrogant, ambitious and eccentric graduate. He rarely interacts with people and exists as a loner. Nash had little eminent misbehavior during his younger years. As a youngster, he enjoyed torturing animals. He once constructed a tinker toy rocking chair, wired it electrically and tried to get his sister to sit on it. He did similar pranks to some neighboring children. He, along with his friends, was also been caught by the police for fooling around with homemade explosives. But he grew up with having none even one close friend. Just as he learned to deflect his parents’ criticism of his behavior with his intellectual achievements, he learned to armor himself against rejection by adopting a hard shell of indifference and using his superior intelligence to strike back. John’s apparent sense of superiority, his occasional cruelty is a way of coping with uncertainty and loneliness. At twenty-one, he invented what would become the most influential theory of rational human behavior in modern social science. His contribution to game theory has revolutionized the field of economics. Then, as a young professor at MIT, he invaded the mathematical world by solving a series of deep problems deemed impossible by other mathematicians. As unconventional as he was, who would expect that John would marry someday. He married the pretty physics student of his at MIT, Alicia Larde and soon had a son. This took place before Nash suffered a catastrophic mental breakdown. In 1963, Nash and his wife were divorced but Alicia continued to care for him and for their son, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager. His loyal ex-wife and a handful of friends in the mathematics world, Nash lived quietly in Princeton for many years having to cope with series of delusions, hallucinations, and messaged who scrawled on blackboards and tried his ingenuity to decode the numbers believing that these have special meanings. Slowly, Nash descended into insanity. He was hospitalized several times but his wife got him from there and promised to continue the medication which Nash didn’t do so. However, Nash’s story is one of a kind, a heartwarming triumph over a tragic illness. His world returned to him when he was acclaimed the honors in science. He, the man, thought to be “mad” was eventually given an accolade for his grandiose genius conquering the world of the famous. Nash’s early achievements gave him a miracle—a survival from a hopelessness and a sudden decision of the Nobel prize. (Jo Kadlecek, 2002) As for the Nobel Prize, John Nash’s name first appeared as a candidate in the mid-1980s. By 1984, the "obvious" Nobels had been handed out to the likes of Samuelson, Arrow, and Tobin. The committee was looking further a field among newer branches of economics, and nothing was newer or hotter at that particular moment than game theory. (Simon & Schuster, 1994). Diagnoses John Nash, the main character, has the same mental illness that is being experienced by more than two million Americans and 1 in 100 people across cultures: Schizophrenia. (Jo Kadlecek, 2002) Schizophrenia usually strikes people in their late teens or early twenties, unlike Nash whose illness was not conspicuous until he was thirty. This gave him time to explore his theories and establish a social network that enabled him to survive later. Nash was more than fortunate compared with other patients suffering from the same illness because only few can recover. Schizophrenia is a chronic, severe and disabling brain disease that has no known single cause according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The patient, John, believed that people were after him. Common emotions such as apathy, speech defect, lacking interest of the outside world are negative symptoms which are hard to diagnose. And often, people do not believe that they are ill as in the case of Nash until he finally realized that the hallucinations were all made up by him. The illusions and hallucinations are a distorted view of the reality. Hence, this leads to paranoia. Moreover, John displays a behavior much apparent from his peers. He is the type who apart from the “world.” Being a loner most of the time, mingling with his theories inside his room while nibbling the edge of his coffee cup, is a sign that John doesn’t want to “interact” and has come up with associations with the “other” world. When comes in contact with people, his aloofness is very much evident and the way he speaks, his blunting manners realizes his disinterest of people. Specifically, John was suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia. And this is categorized under Axis I (Clinical Syndromes) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). Code: 295.30 Disorder: Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type Category: Psychotic Disorder This is what is typically thought of as the diagnosis e.g., depression, schizophrenia, and/or social phobia. (AllPsychONLINE, 2002) People suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia are preoccupied with delusions about being punished or persecuted by other people. However, their thinking pattern, emotions and speech remains normal. Paranoid Schizophrenia: Definition, Symptoms, Causes, Effects, and Treatments Paranoid schizophrenia is defined as one of several types of schizophrenia, a chronic mental illness in which reality is interpreted abnormally. The classic features of paranoid schizophrenia are having beliefs that have no basis in reality (delusions) and hearing things that aren't real (auditory hallucinations). (Mayo Clinic staff, 2008) Still according to the article, the ability to think and function in daily life may be better than with other types of schizophrenia if one is having the paranoid type. Even if you may not have as many problems with memory, concentration or dulled emotions, paranoid schizophrenia is a serious illness, a condition that can last a lifetime which can often lead to many complications, including suicidal behavior. However, effective treatment will help the patient recuperate and work his way toward a healthy life. Causes There are a number of factors that contributes to the development of schizophrenia in a person. This includes; heredity or genetics, abnormality in brain, environment, brain chemistry. Heredity or Biological There is a high possibility of children developing schizophrenia passed from parents as the illness tends to run in a family. Most scientists believe that schizophrenia is a biological disease caused by genetic factors, an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, structural brain abnormalities, or abnormalities in the prenatal environment. (Schizophrenia, Psychotic Disorders, n.d.) Abnormality in Brain Another factor contributing to development of schizophrenia in a person is abnormal brain structure. Environment Environment may be another factor in acquiring the illness. Poor social relations or stressful relationships can cause Schizophrenia especially when the body of a person undergoes physical and hormonal change. People with schizophrenia may avoid others or act as though others do not exist. They often show decreased emotional expressiveness. They may also have difficulties experiencing pleasure and may lack interest in participating in activities. Symptoms Schizophrenia (in Greek, “split mind") is a severe mental illness characterized by a variety of symptoms including but not limited to: loss of contact with reality. (Schizophrenia History, n.d.) The following symptoms are found in Nash’s behavior: bizarre behavior disorganized speech decreased emotional expressiveness diminished or loss of contact with reality Though the exact paranoid schizophrenia causes are still unknown, researchers suggest that a person is highly capable of developing the diseases if he/she comes from a family that traces the same illness, and this could be in their genes. In case of twins, the other may develop the symptom too. Research has shown that the brains of people with schizophrenia are different from the brains of people without the illness. Like many other medical illnesses such as cancer or diabetes, schizophrenia seems to be caused by a combination of problems including genetic vulnerability and environmental factors that occur during a person's development. (Duckworth, 2007) Unlike the popular belief, a paranoid schizophrenia brain does not result in multiple personality disorder. In fact the patient is generally not even violent and is capable of functioning and taking decisions without support. Though schizophrenia is controllable, it requires the usual medication and treatment course, which is required in case of most other diseases. The paranoid schizophrenic patient may show dizziness, abnormal facial expressions, abnormal leg and arm movements and restlessness. In acute cases, delusions may cause the victim to endanger others or even themselves. Worse in the later stages, symptoms are more visible as the person begins to act more bizarre. As they hallucinate, they believe that they can control their actions. They may also imagine sensing, seeing, and smelling things. Consequently, the patient may become withdrawn from the rest of the society and might show lack of emotion and motivation. They might even get obsessed with things. No one symptom positively identifies schizophrenia. All of the symptoms of this illness can also be found in other mental illnesses. But they are generally divided into three categories -- Positive, Negative, and Cognitive. Positive Symptoms Positive symptoms are easily spotted. These include delusions, thought disorders, hallucinations and movement disorders. Delusions are not based on reality. However, a person refuses to give up the beliefs even when they are presented with realistic information. Hallucination involves perception of feelings that are not real. This will include hearing voices that are not heard by other people or smelling strange odors or seeing people who are not actually present. On Delusions Delusions are false beliefs that appear obviously untrue to other people. For example, a person with schizophrenia may believe that he is a superhero when he is not. People with schizophrenia may have delusions that others, such as the police or the FBI, are plotting against them or spying on them. They may believe that aliens are controlling their thoughts or that their own thoughts are being broadcast to the world so that other people can hear them. On Hallucinations People with schizophrenia may also experience hallucinations (false sensory perceptions). People with hallucinations see, hear, smell, feel, or taste things that are not really there. Auditory hallucinations, such as hearing voices when no one else is around, are especially common in schizophrenia. These hallucinations may include two or more voices conversing with each other, voices that continually comment on the person’s life or voices that command the person to do something. (Jenny Kennard, 2008) Negative Symptoms Negative symptoms display loss of ability to express emotions, speak and plans initiation. Some of the negative symptoms include; withdraw from relatives and friends, loss of interest in life, poor hygiene, swing moods and decreased energy. Disorganized or Cognitive Symptoms These symptoms pertain to thinking processes. For example, people may have difficulty with prioritizing tasks, or organizing their thoughts. Inability to make decisions, forgetting things, illogical reasoning, inconsistency in gestures and movements are more of the examples under this category. Effects The effect of schizophrenia is quite obvious. It affects the mood. Patients become depressed, experience mood swings and even bipolar-like states.   When mood instability is a major feature of the illness, it is called schizoaffective disorder, meaning that elements of schizophrenia and mood disorders are prominently displayed by the same individual.   It is not clear whether schizoaffective disorder is a distinct condition or simply a subtype of schizophrenia. (Duckworth, 2007) Treatment The treatment for paranoid schizophrenia unusually mixes a number of therapies, developed according to one’s individual needs. For instance an anti-psychotic medication treatment may reduce disordered thinking and hallucination symptoms (though it cannot do much to help one against the socially withdrawn behavioral pattern). The medication must be taken properly, a failure of which, even at the time of remission can cause relapse. Psychotherapy, the usual option for treating paranoid schizophrenia, addresses social and emotional issues. Group therapy encourages scope for socialization among patients suffering from the same paranoid schizophrenia symptoms. If somebody is suspected to be suffering form paranoid schizophrenia, it is advisable take up the cause immediately and help him or her get paranoid schizophrenia medication without delay. (Schizophrenia History, n.d.) In some severe cases, schizophrenia may be treated in the hospital to deal with patients who exhibit extreme symptoms. The objective is to prevent the patient from hurting themselves or the others. In the hospital, medical experts provide stability for the patient as they give medication. Treatment for an acute attack can require full-time hospitalization in a locked inpatient unit. As symptoms subside, you may be transferred to a partial care program in which you are able to return home after each day's therapy. (Paranoid Schizophrenia, n.d.) Defense Mechanisms Employed There are different forms of defense mechanisms according to Sigmund Freud. The ego has developed a number of defense mechanisms to cope with anxiety. Although we may knowingly use these mechanisms, in many cases these defenses occur unconsciously and work to distort reality. In the case of our main character John Forbes Nash, Jr. keeps himself in “denial”. Denial is one of the best known defense mechanisms, used often to describe those who seem unable to face reality or admit and obvious truth. Nash refuses to admit or recognize that something he sees or believes is not real. Examples like alcoholics or drug dependents, they often deny that they have a problem, while victims of traumatic events may deny that the event ever occurred. For a prolonged period of time, John lived a life where he thought somebody had commanded him to break some military and become a military spy. When reality strikes, John could not accept the painful truth. Other defenses are also used to keep these unacceptable feelings from consciousness. Rationalization is another defense mechanism quietly observed on Nash’s behavior. As he, a genius who knows complicated math solutions and theories is not the type who will accept failure. During the first time when his paper was rejected, Nash’s resisted the idea that his work is inadequate or insufficient. Thereby, working hard on it, investing most of his time, he thought none other things but to succeed in his field. Losing or failing is not a part of his game plan. When confronted by success or failure, John tends to attribute achievement to his own qualities and skills while failures are blamed on other people or outside forces. (Wagner, n.d.) Main Character’s Description Psychodynamic Behavior In Psychodynamic approach, the behavior and feelings are powerfully affected by unconscious motives. (Freud, n.d.) J.F. Nash, Jr. was a genius who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and was in and out of mental institutions for most of his life. Naturally introverted, even at a young age, Nash was described as being bookish and slightly odd. Nash was prone to daydreaming in school, which led his teachers to describe him as an underachiever. A loner and the ultimate nerd, his best friends were books, his bedroom resembled a science lab, he was always the last to be chosen for baseball, and at a school dance, he danced with chairs rather than girls. (Beautiful...and Intriguing, Review on A Beautiful Mind, 2002) By high school, he was deciphering problems without using pencil or paper. In college, his math professors would call on Nash when they themselves ran into problems solving complex equations. But together with his brilliance were eccentricities that became more evident as Nash aged. Those close to him characterized him as "disconnected" and "deeply unknowable." (Beautiful...and Intriguing, Review on A Beautiful Mind, 2002) Nash was known for solving difficult problems using no references but his own mind. His peers called the results he was able to obtain beautiful and striking, perhaps his greatest achievement being his work on game theory, which led to a Nobel Prize for economics in 1994. Humanistic Perspective . Despite having a mental illness, cases like Nash’s help us realize that he still had contributed a lot to society. Based on his amazing recovery, John Nash has proven that he had survived the pits of his illness, in which, only a few opportune people could recover from and still manage to blaze a trail in the field of Mathematics. Humanistic psychology begins with the existential assumptions that phenomenology is central and that people have free will. Personal agency is the humanistic term for the exercise of free will. Personal agency refers to the choices we make in life, the paths we go down and their consequences. A further assumption is then added - people are basically good, and have an innate need to make themselves and the world better. The humanistic approach emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of human beings. The approach is optimistic and focuses on noble human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair. (Humanism Introduction, n.d.) Nash's recovery is not necessarily a normal thing. Schizophrenia usually strikes people in their late teens or early twenties, unlike Nash who slide into the illness when he was already thirty. This gave him opportune time to survive later. He was able to rebound. It's a beautiful outcome. That can be difficult because for John in the beginning doesn’t believe that he has an illness in the first place until his wife came into the rescue, making him realize how important his life is, his family, his career, his dreams, the love and triumph that he must achieve. As an individual who valued his worth John Nash was able to come back and regained his glory. Never too late for a genius who deserves the accolade he had pursued all along, robbing him of his madness, then who would imagine that for three decades, John would emerge again. With the kind of treatment employed on Nash, it is quite amazing to believe that he has survived knowing that he refused medications. But whether the treatment is realistic or not, that would not seem so important anymore. What’s more in significance is the reincarnation of the gifted soul in John Nash. Although seemingly noticeable that still, Nash is never completely healed. He used his strength and will power inspired and moved by the love of his wife and child (and also his golden career), he ignored the disturbances that might affect his sanity again, perhaps putting faith that in life hope is endless. Bibliography: AllPsychONLINE. (2004). Psychiatric Disorders. AllPsych and Heffner Media Group, Inc.Retrieved on April 4, 2009 from http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html Columbia News the Public Affairs. Retrieved on April 4, 2009 from http://www.columbia.edu/cu/news/02/01/beautiful_mind.html Duckworth,K, M.D.(n.d.) About Mental Illness, NAMI: National Alliance for Mental Illness. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=54&ContentID=23036 Freud, S. (n,d) Psychodynamic Approach. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/psychodynamic.html Humanism Approach, (n.d.). Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://www.simplypsychology.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/humanistic.html Kadlecek, J. ‘A Beautiful Mind;' Psychiatrist Roberto Gil: Schizophrenia and Recovery. Kennard, J., Paranoid Schizophrenia. Retrieved on April 5, 2009 from http://www.healthcentral.com/schizophrenia/c/674/36339/schizophrenia/2 News Office (1994). Economics Nobelist Nash did early work at MIT. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/nash-1019.html News Office. (1994). Economics Nobelist Nash did early work at MIT. Retrieved on April 5, 2009 from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1994/nash-1019.html Psychiatric Disorders. (n.d.) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) Retrieved on April 5, 2009 from http://allpsych.com/disorders/dsm.html PSYweb.com (n.d.) Schizophrenia, Get the help you need. Retrieved on April 3, 2009 from http://psyweb.com/Mdisord/jsp/schid.jsp PSYweb.com (n.d.) Schizophrenia, Psychotic Disorders. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://psyweb.com/Mdisord/MdisordADV/AdvSchid.jsp Reviews on A Beautiful Mind. (2002). Beautiful...and Intriguing. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/A3W15RPXRZPZZE?ie=UTF8&display=public&sort_by=MostRecentReview&page=2 Salon Books (2000). A Beautiful Mind. Retrieved on April 2, 2009 from http://www.salon.com/books/sneaks/1998/06/29sneaks.html Salon Books. (n.d) Paranoid Schizophrenia, Your Prescription Drug Destination. Retrieved on April 4, 2009 from http://www.healthsquare.com/mc/fgmc2415.htm Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders: Paranoid type. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV-TR. 4th ed. Arlington, Va.: American Psychiatric Association; Retrieved on April 1, 2009 from http://www.psychiatryonline.com. Schizophrenia History (n.d.) The Travails of Schizophrenia, Cause and effects of Paranoid schizophrenia. Retrieved on April 6, 2009 from http://www.schizophreniahistory.com/Paranoid-Schizophrenia-Cause-and-Effects.html Simon & Schuster (n.d.) A Beautiful Mind. Retrieved on April 3, 2009 from http://books.simonandschuster.com/9780684853703 Simon & Schuster, (n.d.) A Beautiful Mind. Retrieved on April 3, 2009 from http://books.simonandschuster.com/9780684853703 The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/books/review/Zachareck -t.html?pagewanted=2 Wagner, K. (n.d.) Defense Mechanisms. About.com. Retrieved on April 5, 2009 from http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/ss/defensemech_6.htm Read More