A Beautiful Mind discussion thread

[Jedi]

Here is where we discuss the movie A Beautiful Mind.  Enjoy the discussion everyone!

[lena]

I learnt about nash's game theory in university. The man was brilliant. His game theory applies to so many facets of life including: war, stock markets, human relationships and etc. What moves me more is that he was mentally ill. There are so many mentally ill ppl in this world all with some remarkable abilities. Stigma and media paint us to be dangerous, violent and vengeful. I just wish there could be other movies like this one to show what we are capable of instead of portraying us serial killers.

[Fern]

SPOILER ALERT!

I watched A Beautiful Mind for the first time in years a few weeks ago. My plan is to read a study guide or two and watch it again for a better post. I wanted to make one note now, though.

I was terribly sad when I discovered Charles was a hallucination! What a wonderful "character" and such a good influence on Nash. Proof not all hallucinations are negative in nature.

That's all for now, more to come.

[CCB]

Omg, Fern I absolutely shared your disappointment when finding out Charles wasn't real. You make a good point about not all hallucinations being bad. I think one of the reasons it took Nash so long to be diagnosed was because for so long his main hallucination was Charles, whom like you said was actually good for Nash. Had he been delusional and paranoid in college the way he was later on in life they may have realized sooner rather than just thinking he was peculiar.

I think this is a really good portrayal of both mental illness and loving someone with mental illness. However, I'm not sure how realistic it is in the fact that Nash was able to just ignore his hallucinations and delusions and learn to live side by side with them and go on to function in life. Although I do believe at the end of the movie it said he was on some of the "newer medications". But still. What do you all think about how realistic it is to learn to live with hallucinations and delusions?

Full disclosure I am not sz for what that's worth.

[Fern]

Due to migraines and family concerns, I have yet to rewatch the movie. However, I did want to address the question you raised, CCB. It wasn't until my early 50's that I allowed myself to be properly diagnosed and treated for my hallucinations. I never let anyone know about them. My first voice spoke clearly to me when I was 15 and was with me since then. I developed my own technique to keep them apart from my daily life, essentially allowing myself to ignore them (easier said than done) rather than Nash's technique of being aware of them, but not letting them interact with him except for the occasional break which he overcame according to the movie. I described my technique in a different thread called "Isolating Voices," so I won't bore y'all with repeating it. Suffice to say I walled them off which cut the voices down to a dull roar I for the most part was able to ignore. It's only recently I've tried interacting with them and even then just a little. Very different dynamic at work since then.

All that said, it's not a technique I would recommend to anyone else as The Way. I'm incredibly grateful to have the medicinal therapy making my life so much easier on a psychiatric level! I had my reasons for keeping it all secret, but am glad those are no longer keeping me from getting the care anyone with sz/sza requires.