John Nash's Diagnosis Of Schizophrenia In A Beautiful Mind

In the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, Princeton student John Nash is introduced as a mathematician with a prestigious scholarship. The movie follows his Nash through his studies at Princeton, working at MIT, meeting his wife, and beyond. During his tenure at MIT, he meets Agent Parcher, who recruits him to work for the Pentagon in order to decode hidden messages from the Soviets in magazines and newspapers. This work soon consumes Nash’s daily life, and he starts to neglect the work he is supposed to be doing at MIT in order to focus on the decryptions for Parcher. It is later revealed that Nash has Schizophrenia, and Parcher and his missions do not exist. According to the definition in the DSM V-TR, the diagnosis of Schizophrenia was appropriate in Nash’s case due the presence of

One reason that the diagnosis of Schizophrenia was accurate for John Nash was the incidence of several Criterion A characteristic symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, and avolition. Nash suffered from multiple hallucinations that, at times, influenced his delusions and his life. The audience meets Nash’s roommate Charles, and later on his niece Marcee. It is later discovered that Charles and Marcee were not real, but they served as powerful motivators for Nash, especially Charles during Nash’s time at Princeton. Another one of Nash’s hallucinations was Agent Parcher. The manifestation of Parcher marked a turning point in Nash’s life and career. Once John was introduced to Parcher, he became obsessed with working to decrypt secret codes in magazines and newspapers. This