Assignment 08: C04I Introduction to Psychology, A Beautiful Mind
Assignment 08: C04I Introduction to Psychology, A Beautiful Mind (2001)
Part A
1.
John Nash, the star of the film as well as the character with mental illness, has schizophrenia. According to DSM-IV, schizophrenia has five significant symptoms, and at least two of these symptoms must be present for a patient to be diagnosed for schizophrenia. The symptoms include catatonic behavior, delusions, disorganized behavior or speech, negative symptoms, and hallucinations (McLean et al. 2014). Hallucinations are extremely common whereby the patients may hear voices or see people who keep suggesting or commanding the patient to do something, and sometimes they can be ignored, and others the patient becomes overwhelmed. Equally, delusions of being wronged are common, and the patients can hold a firm conviction that there is someone out to get them. Negativism involves an unwillingness to do as one is told where they may pretend not to hear instructions, or they may choose to do the opposite of what was asked (Brown University, n.d). Hence, a schizophrenic patient with presenting symptoms may be easy to spot because they may be rumbling incoherent things and appear to be speaking with someone even when they are alone. Additionally, they may refuse to undertake normal activities such as hygiene, eating, and sleeping.
In the film, John Nash presented with most of these symptoms. For instance, he was delusional throughout most of the film. Still, the most outstanding one was his belief that he was working with the military under a man called William Parcher and that Soviet spies wanted to get rid of him. Similarly, he had visual hallucinations where he would see and hear things that others knew were not there. There is a point where he thought his delusional supervisor Willam Parcher had pulled a gun to his wife, he lunged at him, and the only person there was his wife holding a baby, so he knocked her to the ground. Disorganized speech and behavior are observed when his roommate found his shouting that he will not fail, and he had hurt himself on the forehead. When asked what was going on, he could not explain coherently. Nash also had the habit of avoiding normal activities such as the scene where his roommate found him in the library where he had been for two days without eating, sleeping, or showering. Furthermore, when he agreed to get something to eat, he left the library barefoot. Therefore, Nash can be clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia.
2.
Studies show that while genetics explain the presence of a mental disorder, it is environmental factors that increase the possibility of the symptoms developing. For example, factors such as trauma, isolation, poverty, and social defeat can push an individual over the brink. For instance, most of these factors are associated with the idea that someone has lost their sense of self and has no idea how to relate with themselves or others (Malla et al., 2015). Correspondingly, before the onset of the illness, some symptoms may appear that may seem like personality peculiarities by others, some of which involve being an introvert and having foreign interests (Brown University, n.d). Furthermore, this description was typical in the case of Nash. To begin with, even before the audience realizes that Nash may be sick, he appears to have some peculiar interests. He prefers isolation, and in the earlier scenes, he is heard telling his roommate that he thinks that other people don’t like him, and he also does not like other people.
Consequently, some of the advanced symptoms begun presenting when he realized that all the other students in his class had published, and he had not, and his search for an original idea was eluding him. The professor called and told him his work was not enough for him to receive a placement anywhere, let alone his number one choice. From that state, things began unraveling, starting with his incoherent rumblings about not failing, and his belief that his thoughts are blocked.
3.
John Nash received was then considered a standard treatment for schizophrenia, insulin shock therapy five times a week for ten weeks. The observed experience was overly painful, yet even during the treatment when he was still at the psychiatric hospital, his symptoms, particularly that of delusion, were present. Case in point, when his wife comes to visit him in the mental hospital, Nash tells her that they should speak in low tones as people were trying to listen in on their discussion. He then began to tell her how she should find a way to break his out of the hospital because there were Russians who were trying to stop him from continuing with his work (Howard and Grazer, 2001). For this reason, I would not recommend this same treatment. Instead, I would treat him using antipsychotic drugs as are used presently.
Atypical antipsychotics are considered more superior to typical antipsychotics (Brown University, n.d). Hence, I would use the former because Nash seems like a patient who, when overwhelmed by side effects, would decide to abandon his medication. Additionally, there are three types of atypical antipsychotics, and all have their distinct side effects. For example, Clozapine may cause leukopenia. Consequently, olanzapine may lead to diabetes, and risperidone may cause Parkinsonism (Brown University, n.dd). To be safe, I would give Nash the olanzapine because diabetes cannot be compared to life-threatening leukopenia or damaged nervous system. Lastly, once the advanced symptoms reduce, I would suggest family therapy because Nash and his wife would need a platform to talk about the impacts of the disease on their family. In short, they also need guidance on the way forward.
Part B
1.
The good guards did not intervene when the evil guards tortured and humiliated the prisoners because of fear and self-preservation. The evil guards were trying to establish a position of authority. For instance, their goal was to emphasize the pecking order by showing the prisoners who were the alpha in the situation. In this pursuit, the good guards were forced to respect the decisions of the evil guards to avoid getting into a pissing match with them. From the brutality of the bad guards, it was evident who would win if they tried to overrule them.
2.
The prisoners did not try to seek outside help due to hopelessness. The situations seemed real. Hence, some of the following ideas dawned on them like they believed that everything that was happening was partly their fault as they got themselves into that situation. Secondly, they had to think that these guards were doing what was instructed from above as no one had tried to intervene so far; therefore, it was them against the world. Lastly, their togetherness made them believe that if they worked together, anything would be possible.
3.
Guards’ brutality could be associated with their character and not the situation because there were different types of guards, and some of them did not commit cruelty. As explained, there were three groups of guards, the rule followers, the bad and the good. Therefore, when the evil guards were violent, it is hard to be about them because why didn`t the others behave in the same way? Secondly, some guards were obsessed with asserting their authority. Therefore, they would force harsh punishments or humiliate the prisoners for no reason. In short, prisoners knew that even when they behaved and followed the rules, some guards would find some fault in it to show their superiority.
4.
It was ethical to conduct this research because, in the pursuit of knowledge, some sacrifices need to be made. The experiment had been advertised, and the students were paid to participate in a simulation of prison life. Thus, by responding to the advertisement, they made the decision autonomously. Similarly, most of the bad things that happened are precisely the things that occur in prisons. Therefore, being a simulation of jail, it was not atrocious or forced.
References
Brown University. (n.d). Schizophrenia (DSM-IV-TR #295.1–295.3, 295.90). Retrieved from https://www.brown.edu/Courses/BI_278/Other/Clerkship/Didactics/Readings/Schizophrenia.pdf
Grazer, B and Howard, R. (2001). A Beautiful Mind. [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K71boVsE26I&t=827s
Malla, A., Joober, R., and Garcia, A. (2015). “Mental Illness is like any Other Medical Illness”: a Critical Examination of the Statement and its Impact on Patient Care and Society. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. 40(3): 147-150. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4409431/
McLean, D., Thara, R., John, S., Barrett, R., Loa, P., McGrath, J., and Mowry, B. (2014). DSM-IV “Criterion A” Schizophrenia Symptoms across Ethnically different Populations: Evidence for Differing Psychotic Symptom Content or Structural Organization? Cultural Medical Psychiatry. 38(3): 408-426. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4140994/
Zimbardo, P. G. (1971). The Stanford Prison Experiment. Retrieved from https://www.prisonexp.org/