Any body, including Schizophrenics themselves!!!!!, can answer this question. Do you think this film is accurate in portraying Paranoid Schizophrenia? in terms of the delusions, the representation of the hallucinations, etc..
shareI believe Schizophrenics do not suffer from visual hallucinations, only auditory. Understandably, they changed this to suit the visual medium of cinema.
This world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel.
they do have visual hallucinations according to the dsm but i think cinema has inaccurately shown the visual hallucinations as i think there would not be as clear and 'real-looking'
shareAuditory hallucinations are probably the most common (which I have experienced), but visual and even tactile (also in my case) are possible.
shareYeah by the way schizophrenic people suffer from visual, auditory and other sensory hallucinations. NOT JUST auditory!
shareEumenides is correct. Schizophrenics don't see people tat aren't their but they o hear voices. This causes them to become paranoid and irritable. It's a sd illness but psycology and medicene have come a long way since Nash's time.
shareI personally do have schizophrenia, and while some things in the film are a little exaggerated (the car chase with the Russians being a prime example) the hallucinations can be incredibly realistic.
As well as having schizophrenia I also have Dissociative Identity Disorder, an illness that often comes hand and hand with schizophrenia. Anyway the point is, my alters often appear to me as concrete and realistic as Charles and Parcher do in the movie. Often they look exactly like real people.
So while not entirely factual, this movie does portray a pretty accurate representation of schizophrenia.
Thank you for sharing that. So, regarding these "alters", I was fascinated by Nash's breathtakingly rational way of "filtering" for them - when a stranger appears, he simply asks someone he knows to be real, if they can see/hear the person. Effing brilliant, you might say. But, whether the real Dr. Nash experienced this, or employed this tactic, is it realistic; do people who have these experiences use this simple, elegant test?
shareAnd adding to the question above mine, how can folks affected by the disease tell when they are indeed experiencing a hallucination? Meds? Or just learning to deal with it as Dr. Nash did?
www.associatedcontent.com/article/259055/arrghh_pirates_is_back_again. html
Only after bringing it under control, most likely with meds, can you understand what was happening. While it's going on it's just too real. It is absolute hell.
shareThis is an old post, but I'm a schizophrenic and insomnia is kicking my ass right now, so I'd like to touch on a few things;
Auditories are far more common, but we get visuals too. Sometimes tactile ones, like someone mentioned earlier. I've heard of people smelling things that didn't exist, but I've never experienced that. I-ve had Vivid memories of things that never happened to me, so I joke that I hallucinate memories too.
I always try to filter things by using the intellectual part of my mind to look for clues that don't add up, like when Marcee ran through all those birds on the ground but none of them flew away.
Right there's a cat sitting on my computer chair, but I know it's not real. Looks real enough to walk up to it and pet it, but I know it's not. I live alone and don't own a cat. That's an easy one but you get the idea. There are usually subtle clues you can pick up on
Our hallucinations seem extraordinar ily real to us. As authentic as reality is to you. That's why we sometimes can't tell the difference, and why is so maddening.
I have no problem asking friends and family if I'm not sure of something's reality. I was diagnosed almost 30 years ago, so they're used to it. One of my best friends likes me to describe things I'm seeing or hearing. He's fascinated by it, and being able to be that upfront and honest about it really helps me, so it's a win/win situation.
Also, I knew there were some things I was seeing that weren't real long before I started meds. The meds would lower the intensity of my hallucinations, and sometimes the frequency, but they were never gone completely.
Thanks for being up medications, that needs to be discussed too.
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If I've never seen it before, it's a new release to me!
I've done it a few times, I'll ask a friend if that fetching young lady who has just entered the room is in fact really there. But another way to see if they are real is to try to see if they have any effect on the environment around them. Do dogs notice them? Can they open doors. But even this can be fooled by the hallucinations. See the trouble with schizophrenia is often the paranoia that comes along with it. We are often mistrusting even of real people, so even if we ask them and they say yes or no, we are still not sure. How do we know that person we just talked to is really there?...It's kind of a paradox. But I guess it would work for Nash since he has to deal with people every day. Unlike me, who avoids people like the plague.
The vast majority of the time it doesn't really matter to me if the person is real or not. They seem real to me, so why should I not consider them to be real?
I guess I'm asking the question posed in The Matrix. What defines real? I can see them, I can hear them, and I can touch them, so are they not real to me? What makes them any less real then the "real" people I see everyday? I suppose that's one of the problems that goes along with being both DID and Schizophrenic, an increased detachment from the collective reality...That's the problem. Sometimes the hallucinations feel more real than "reality".
Oh, by the way, your referring to Nash's hallucinations as alters is actually incorrect. An alter is a split personality. I have 9. I was just explaining that mine appear to me in hallucinations rather than just sticking in my head. As far as I know, Nash didn't have DID.
i have read that dissociative identity disorder is often confused with schizophrenia (and bipolar disorder as it can easily be as extreme as schizophrenia).
nice to have an opinion from a real schizophrenic. im surprised that the hallucinations.
i have thought until now that cinema's representation of a hallucination was inaccurate as hallucination is something that is created from the mind could be so clear and realistic looking.
Tell me about it. I was absolutely convinced and insisting to other people that I had some kind of parasite in me. Scares me just to think about it and it's awful hard to write about. Brings back awful memories. I take Risperdal and haven't had any more trouble with it for about 6 years.
shareI have a cousin who is paranoid schizophrenic & judging by what I've learned from him the film gives a pretty good representation of it. My cousin does have visual hallucinations where he actually sees something that is not there. For a long time he believed there was a black panther that followed him around. He asked me if I could see it. While he did have visual hallucinations he mainly hears 'voices'. His voices are negative and in the begining they told him to kill himself. Now that he has been on meds he said the voices don't bother him as much. Every once in a while they bug him really bad but he does his best to ignore it.
"Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off"
The film is accurate and at least it doesn't portay them as crazy for the sake of making look stupid.
There should be a similarly-made film about BD (Bipolar Disorder) as the hallucinations and delusions can easily be as bad as Schizophrenia.
Nice to hear your Cousin is doing well on meds but the side-effects can be terrible though. If he shows signs of TD go straight to the doctor.
There should be a similarly-made film about BD (Bipolar Disorder) as the hallucinations and delusions can easily be as bad as Schizophrenia.
shareMy cousin is in a prison mental hospital at the moment so the psychs have been keeping what seems to be a pretty close watch on him. He has been taking different meds and some have had side effects so the docs have been trying to find something that works for him. I forget what he's on now but it does seem to work for him. Every once in a while he says his voices won't let him sleep. It's so sad, I can't imagine what it would be like to hear something that won't go away.
"Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off"
from what i heard, schizophrenics often suffer from auditory and visual hallucinations, but john nash only suffered from auditory
shareyeah, they were only voices, he never saw anything in real life. i'd say its accurate, but of course it differs with the severity of the illness in people with schizophrenia, some have it in a quite chronic form, others have a mild form, some have it and its barely noticeable.
shareSeeing as how this movie is a portrayal of someone who actually exsisted, and I believe still lives, I think it's safe to say this film portrays it correctly. I mean, with any disease effects can vary.
shareSeeing as how this movie is a portrayal of someone who actually exsisted, and I believe still lives, I think it's safe to say this film portrays it correctly.
To say a film must portray something correctly because it's abouat a real person, is pretty naive. Films take liberties with "based on true stories" all the time for dramatic effect, and this film is no exception. The film takes liberties with Nash's life, including how his schizophrenia manifested itself. He did not have visual hallucinations as the movie portrays.
You must be the change you seek in the world. -- Gandhi
When I first started getting migraines (in my 40s), they took a while to diagnose because they were presenting as a very virulent sinus infection. To help me deal with the pain, I was given codeine that I took multiple times a day. Don't know whether it was the med or the headaches, but I would hallucinate conversations with people that I knew. One time was at a little league baseball game, when I asked a friend about a conversation I had 'just had' with his spouse. I pointed out where we had been sitting at the time, and my husband mentioned that she hadn't been there. I think having that as a constant in one's life would be terrifying.
shareno
shareYes, Schizophrenics can have extremely real hallucinations. Sure it's usually auditory, but seeing people that are not there is also common.
Anyway, this movie did portray the schizophrenia in the best way that I've ever seen Hollywood portray it. Even the part about Nash going off his meds is exactly what a lot of schizo's do, they are on their medication and they feel like they're cured but the meds make them sluggish and clouds their brains so they decide to stop taking them. Weeks later the symptoms return and they end up back at the hospital and on stronger medication. It's a vicious cycle.
Sometimes the only sane answer to an insane world is insanity.
I have schizophrenia, but no hallucinations, just the paranoia & thinking someone is gonna kill me, also trouble with focus on things like school work.. Im so glad I don't hallucinate because it would probably freak me out a lot...
The part in the Psychiatrists office where the english guy (his roommate, I can't remember his name) doesn't respond and looks away after a while is pretty accurate (although mine never talked just made weird nosies).
Also they look black and white-ish
Hallucinations are scary as *beep*