John Nash Medical Model

I believe John Nash was protected from the worst impacts of the medical model due to the fact that he was “a genius”, he was a white man and the hospital he was occupied in treated the rich and famous. According to the 2012 Annual Convention of Psychiatry between the 1970s to our current day; “black men are 5-7 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia.” The main reason why he avoided more punishment inside this system was that he was this mathematical genius and he may have been seen as more of a superior figure among the other patients there. When he was at McLean Hospital he was considered one of the wealthy because of his mind. He avoided a lot of harmful treatments and the fact that his lawyer got him out in 50 days helped …show more content…
Reflecting back on our class about the DSM/Medical Model and the slides we learn that this model “understands mental illness” as a biological vulnerability.” This predisposition lives in the body and can be set off by stressful events. John Nash was working hard everyday and it took a toll on him. In the documentary we find out that the anxiety, self doubt and fear was building up inside of him due to his work. Then one day he starts speaking about aliens communicating wit him through the New York Times, secret organizations are after him and that he was going to be the Emperor of Antarctica. The model could have helped him by identifying what caused him to start saying all these things considered “not …show more content…
In the Rosenhan Experiment he sent in 8 of his students to a hospital faking hallucinations. They ended up telling the honest truth and told the doctors about the experiment. All but one of the participants was released with the diagnoses of schizophrenia. When he told them he would do the experiment again the hospital said that 41 people participated in his study, but it turns out he sent no one. The DSM decides what is normal and anything listed in the book is considered not normal. John was failed in the present day because there haven’t been strides in mental health, and by that I mean we are deciding what’s normal and not normal. In class I used an example of how I always check if the doors are locked, and if there is a car outside I will watch that car until I feel I’m safe. Does this make me fall as a schizophrenic? The DSM would think so. I think that’s fine that I check the doors and my surroundings. John found these “hallucinations” normal for him, but to the people in his surroundings and what the DSM states it