Summary Of John Nash's Diagnosis Of Paranoid Schizophrenia

John Nash was a brilliant mathematician. He revolutionized the way modern economics is approached with his Nash Equilibrium. Nash also suffered from Paranoid Schizophrenia. It is known that Nash was admitted to various mental institutions and placed on antipsychotics. It is also known that Nash had delusions and heard various “voices” (PBS 2002). Does this constitute the diagnosis of Paranoid Schizophrenia? According to Schizophrenia.com, “Paranoid schizophrenia is the most common type of schizophrenia in most parts of the world. The clinical picture is dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, delusions, usually accompanied by hallucinations, particularly of the auditory variety, and perceptual disturbances” (Schizophrenia 1992). This certainly fits a lot of John Nash’s later symptoms and a relatively few of his original symptoms. Nash’s first symptom was paranoia: he believed that people in red ties were out to get him. He also believed that new embassies were trying to create their own government (Nasar 1994). This paranoia, coupled with an incomprehensible lecture, is what the diagnoses of Paranoid Schizophrenia was based on. …show more content…
It is interesting to note that Nash spent long periods in a mental institution in the 1960’s (PBS 2002). It was during this period that Nash began to hear voices. Nash was last admitted to a mental institution in 1970, he also stopped taking treatments for his condition (PBS 2002). It also interesting to point out that the movie Beautiful Mind inaccurately depicted this part of Nash’s life. According to Nash, the screenwriter made it appear that Nash was taking treatment for his condition. The screenwriter did this because he was afraid that schizophrenia patients would stop taking their treatments after seeing the