Schizophrenia: John Nash and His Battle with Mental Illness - Essay Example

? Schizophrenia: John Nash and His Battle with Mental Illness Due Introduction Mental illness has very likely existed since the beginnings of mankind. Throughout history there are tales of people who saw things that no one else could see, hear things that no one else could hear, and have a perception of reality that varies considerably from what is considered to be normal; it is easy to see how people might become fearful and intolerant. It wasn’t until the recent history that researchers lent credence to the idea that there is no such thing as, simple, madness, but a number of mental conditions each with their own differing root causes and symptoms. Mental illness is, often, hereditary, but can, also, afflict an individual without any family history; mental illnesses are equal opportunity conditions. The rich, famous, talented, and gifted are not spared from potential mental illness. History is littered with historical figures, like Virginia Woolf and Vincent Van Gogh, who, also, suffered serious mental illness.(Nasar, 1994) John Nash is one such individual. A man of great intelligence and greater academic abilities, which would ultimately earn him a Nobel Prize, he, also, suffered from schizophrenia. Despite his achievements and great intelligence, much of his life was spent being victimized by the condition. The details of many of his life and struggles, which can be described in the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind,” starring Russell Crowe and produced by Ron Howard, dramatizes, the novel, of the same name, by Sylvia Nasar. The life of John Nash proves that even the most brilliant of minds are not immune to the diseases of the mind. Background John Nash was born in June of 1928, in Bluefield, West Virginia. Young Nash was a scholarly and introverted young man. His mother, once a teacher, insisted that her son would excel academically; John learned Latin, skipped a school grade, and was reading at age four. His mathematic talents appeared in, approximately, the fourth grade and he would continue to excel throughout his education. Nash was accepted to Princeton University, where he focused in a field called “game theory.” It is his doctoral thesis on this subject that would change the economics and would earn him a Nobel Prize in the years to come. He became a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge, or MIT, where he met Alice Larde, whom he married in 1957. He was a gifted man well on his way to academic fame. However, that all started to change around his 30th year.("A brilliant madness-people," 2001) John Nash was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, quit his job, and would spend more than a decade in and out of mental hospitals. By the time he was 40 he had lost his employment, his friends, and his marriage; John and Alice divorced in 1962. In truth, it would not be until the 1980s, well after Nash had faded into obscurity that contemporary scholars demanded that he be recognized for his work. In 1994 Nash received the Nobel Prize for his work on game theory. Many who were familiar with the man once described him as having a genius mind and an Olympian’s physique and good looks had changed drastically, he was now hallow, gaunt, and somewhat sickly. All the same, it was after this event that seemed to “resurrect” Nash; it renewed his interest in society and mathematics (Kuhn & Nasar , 2001) During his later 40s and 50s he continued to be bothered by delusional thoughts and voices, but they were far less extreme than in the past, and he had trained himself to reject them and remain focused on his work.(Madden , 2000) Discussion “Schizophrenia is a devastating, complex disorder that has generated a vast…body of literature.”(Stredny, 2005) There are several different forms of schizophrenia including disorganized, undifferentiated, catatonic, and , in the case of John Nash, paranoid schizophrenia. Paranoid schizophrenia causes auditory and increasingly delusional thoughts of persecution which leads to a hyper inflated sense of paranoia of the world around them, along with a withdrawal from society, bouts of anger, and a lack of emotion or coldness, sleeplessness and change in physical hygiene, are also, notable in many cases There is an entire gambit of how and to what degree a sufferer will manifest these symptoms. Also, paranoid schizophrenia often does not present itself until the late twenties and early thirties, which means that many of those who have the condition may seem asymptomatic and functioning.(Bengston, 2012) Like most individuals suffering from schizophrenia Nash’s began as he approached 30 and, at first seemed, quirky or eccentric, but soon became something much more serious. Nash’s unusual behavior manifested itself the form of strange behaviors, including “dressing” as Baby New Years, for a costume party, proceeding to behave literally as an infant throughout the evening. He experienced voices in his head and delusions severe enough to convince him that, both, United States government and an alien race from space were intent on harming him.(Capps, 2004) He even went so far as to leave the country in order to escape this perceived persecution. His delusions became so severe that he genuinely believed that he was some sort of spiritual or religious figure of great importance, he perceived a need to go to the Vatican and seek out the Pope. Nash did not cope well with his sickness in the beginning and was forced to reside in and outside of hospitals, more for his safety than anything else. When his illness flared he retreated from, society and for many years lived in, general, obscurity. Nash’s illness struck him at the highest point in his young life, the schizophrenia did not contribute to his early success or aid him in choosing his career path. His academic skills and mathematical genius appeared long before his illness appeared. It would be presumptuous to say that the voices in his head or the delusions he experienced in any way contributed to his mathematical genius. However, it may have been a huge part of aiding in his, sudden recovery from the severest parts of his condition, after winning the Nobel Prize. The acknowledgments of his work, or, perhaps, a deep inner need to overcome the illness that oppressed him, was able to train himself to disregard the delusions and voices and focus on his works. (Kuhn & Nasar , 2001) It might be fair to say that Nash’s work influenced his mental illness, not vice versa. Over the course of years Nash’s treatments changed. For some time Nash was injected with insulin in order to induce a comatose state. It was believed that when the brain was denied sugar, the defective and weakest brain cells will die. This practice was abandoned later as dangerous and too costly. Shock treatment was, also, an option, but out of fear that might permanently damage his brain and genius, his family refused to allow that treatment to be attempted.(Singh, 1998) Modern treatment shows that the apparently most effective approaches involve drugs and therapy. Many professionals today admit that support of friends and family is essential to aiding a loved one with schizophrenia.(Bengston, 2012) Although divorced it was Alice’s support that helped Nash through many of his most difficult times. Conclusion In 2001, seven years after receiving his Nobel Prize, he and Alice remarried after decades of divorce In June of 2012 John Nash celebrated his 84th birthday. Today he continues to conceive of grand mathematics that the average person would seldom dare to tackle. John Nash’s schizophrenia, however controlled, was a continually nagging force that he actively has had to confront and tackle to separate what is real from what is a manifestation of his own mind.. This would likely be incredibly exhausting. Most of us could only begin to imagine what it would be like to hear voices that seem completely authentic to you, but no one else can hear, talking to you all of the time. Seeing things, sometimes frightening things, that no one else can comprehend. However, Nash relied on his knowledge and gifts to pursue mathematical equations and solutions and he succeeded in finding a way, not just to survive his condition, but to continue to live a tangible life. His amazing life and his later in life ability to overcome the most debilitating elements of his condition, sheds a light of hope for others who share his struggle. Although, such recoveries are not impossible, they are not overly common either, they are, in fact, inspiring. Ultimately, schizophrenia, even today, remains incurable, but John Nash stands as proof that it is not insurmountable. References Bengston, M. (2012, June 17). Schizophrenia and psychosis: Schizophrenia information & treatment introduction. Psych-Central, Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/disorders/schizophrenia/ Capps, D. (n.d.). John nash’s delusional decade: A case of paranoid schizophrenia. (2004). Pastoral Psychology, 53(3), 193-218. Retrieved from http://www.uamont.edu/facultyweb/brown/PSY4683/Capps(2004).pdf Kuhn, H. W., & Nasar , S. (2001). The essential john nash. Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://press.princeton.edu/chapters/i7238.html Madden , S. (n.d.). Book reviews-a beautiful mind: The life of john nash by sylvia nasar. (2000). The Psychiatrist, 24, 77-78. Retrieved from http://pb.rcpsych.org/content/24/2/77.2.full Singh, S. (1998, Hune 14). Between genius and madness. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/06/14/reviews/980614.14singht.html Stredny, R.V. (n.d.). Book reviews-The american psychiatric publishing textbook of forensic psychiatry: The clinician’s guide-Understanding and treating schizophrenia: Contemporary research, theory, and practice (2005). Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 33(1), 143-144. Retrieved from http://www.jaapl.org/content/33/1/143.full.pdf+html A brilliant madness-people & events: John nash. (2001). Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/peopleevents/p_jnash.html Read More