Examples Of Delusion In A Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind The film, A Beautiful Mind, opens with a professor speaking to an incoming class of graduate students at Princeton University in 1947 (Grazer & Howard, 2001). The professor tells the group of students about the impact mathematicians have had on the United States, particularly in regards to the war against the Soviet Union. He inspired the students by challenging them to create and publish something new in the world of mathematics, in hopes of impacting the world as other mathematicians have. These words would later impact one student, John Nash, in particular. Upon hearing these words from his professor, Nash becomes obsessed with publishing his thesis on an original idea. While setting out to do so, Nash became good friends with his roommate Charles, a graduate student studying literature. Charles inspired Nash by telling him that his answer will be found out in the world, not in his room, where he spent most of his time. While out at a bar with his friends, Nash formulated the idea of “Game Theory.” After …show more content…
A person’s delusions are unchangeable regardless of conflicting evidence, such as proving that a belief is false with concrete evidence. John Nash had multiple delusions that he believed to be true (Grazer & Howard, 2001). All of the delusions stemmed from his belief that he had been assigned to do work by the CIA, which was his most dominant delusion. Nash believed that Parcher assigned him to de-code radio waves and find hidden meanings in newspapers and magazines in an effort to find where the Soviets were hiding an atomic bomb. Other delusions included the belief that the Soviets were trying to track him down and harm him. Nash also believed that Parcher had placed a microchip in his arm, which would help him gain access to a location where he was to deliver his completed work to a secret mail box (Grazer & Howard,